When I think of the top college women's basketball coaches, four names immediately pop into my mind: Pat Summitt of Tennessee, Curt Fredrickson of Northern State, Barb Felderman of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology and Dave Krauth of Augustana College.
Last month, Felderman stepped away as the Lady Hardrockers coach. This week, the school named a new coach.
It will be hard to think of the Tech women without Felderman.
Her teams went 474-397 in 32 seasons with a ton of classroom and basketball accomplishments. It is only fitting that the gym floor in the King Center will be named in her honor.
"She leaves an unparalleled legacy of excellence in Lady Hardrockers basketball," one Tech official told the Rapid City Journal last month.
The Doland native and Northern State graduate will be missed by the entire statewide sports community and the nationwide coaching neighborhood. Her impact was tremendous, and she left the sport better than she found it.
She is NAIA National Hall of Fame material.
Felderman told the Journal, "I have lived my dreams." Many Tech players lived their dreams because of Felderman.
Felderman led Tech to 11 conference championships and nine NAIA appearances, including five Sweet 16 appearances and two Final Four appearances (1998 and 1999). As a Tech volleyball coach for 13 years, her teams won seven conference championships. Felderman also coached the Tech men's tennis team to two district titles and led the Hardrockers to two national tourneys in the early 1990s.
She had other coaching gigs as well. She was the head softball coach at Ball State (Ind.) and coached and taught at high schools in Pierre and Kadoka. She also was the youth baseball coach of Tim Miles (now the Nebraska men's basketball coach) back in his younger days in Doland.
She was a teacher, coach and standout athlete for all seasons.
She is a member of many halls of fame - including NSU - and has won numerous coach of the year honors from a wide variety of sources.
Her student-athletes at Tech had a cumulative grade point average of 3.4. Over the years, hundreds of Tech graduates used the knowledge they learned from Felderman to score in sports, life and their communities.
Felderman was a gifted teacher and coach, and she gave away her gift every day.
John Papendick is the managing news-sports editor for the American News: jpapendick@aberdeennews.com.
Twitter: @jpapendick