BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider

Outside of her husband and family, Robin Pingeton's first phone call upon accepting an offer to be the next Wisconsin women's basketball coach was to a friend and mentor who had an idea of what she was getting into.

Iowa State women's basketball coach Bill Fennelly once applied for, and was interviewed for, the UW job, an opportunity that ultimately went to Lisa Stone back in 2003. His top assistant at the time was Pingeton.

Fennelly wound up staying put in Ames, Iowa, where he built the Cyclones into a consistent national powerhouse, winning 800 career games and guiding ISU to 23 NCAA tournament berths in 30 years.

Wisconsin, meanwhile, has struggled to the tune of 14 consecutive losing seasons.

So, when Pingeton told Fennelly that she was Madison-bound, he was thrilled for her, her husband, Rich, and their sons, 18-year-old Blake and 13-year-old Zack.

"She called me on the way to her interview and called me back afterward and said she accepted it," Fennelly said. "I think it's a great fit. She's a Midwestern person. I think it's a place that needs a ton of work and she's the type of person that's going to dig in and go to work and do things the right way."

Things happen for a reason, Fennelly said, but it's still puzzles him that UW hasn't morphed into a consistent winner much less a national power.

"It's a place that it's surprising that it hasn't been better," he said. "Great school. Great college town. Obviously successful in football, men's basketball, volleyball, hockey. It's one of those things that most people on the outside are looking at going, 'Why?' And if it ever does go in a certain direction like the other sports, it could be really good. But unless you're on the inside, you really don't know."

Pingeton, 56, took the UW job less than a month after she stepped down following a 15-year run at Missouri that saw her compile a 250-218 overall record, including 30 victories over top-25 opponents and five 20-win seasons.

"I just felt it was time to start a new chapter," Pingeton said of her decision to resign, noting that her run with the Tigers was "filled with gratitude" but that her experiences coaching in the Southeastern Conference had only fortified her passion for the game.

"The game itself always been a part of me," she said. "I love the challenge. I love the competitiveness. I definitely wasn't ready to close the book on coaching. It's what I love."

Since taking the job, Pingeton has been holed up in her undecorated office at the Kohl Center participating in one transfer-portal zoom call after another. It's the nature of the beast regardless in these days of student-athlete freedom built around name, image and likeness, but even more so when you've lost all your starters from last season — including two-time all-Big Ten Conference first team pick Serah Williams — and you can almost count your available players on one hand.

Pingeton sounds undaunted.

"There's been so much success here," she said, noting the newly crowned NCAA champion women's hockey team as well as the elite volleyball program and men's basketball team.

"It's great to have the resources, but the people make the place," she continued. "I've been really, really blown away just by the people that I've already met in this community.

"To me this place is a gold mine. It's a sleeping giant and I'm ready to wake it up. We're approaching this that I don't  want to over-promise and under-deliver, but we're trying to put together a roster together that can compete in March."

The Badgers currently have six players on their roster. Pingeton, who made connections to Wisconsin while the head coach for seven seasons at Illinois State, has a blueprint for the type of student-athletes she's looking for.

"We want to recruit players that are excited to be here at Wisconsin, that have a high motor, that are passionate about the game, have a great work ethic and understand and have a like-mindedness about the kind of culture we want in that locker room," she said.

Pingeton grew up in Atkins, Iowa, the youngest of four to Arlo and Judy Becker. The kids got their strong work ethics by helping out in the family's farm and salvage yard.

There's an obvious metaphor here for Pingeton's penchant for taking over beat-up basketball programs and transforming them into keepsakes, but she hadn't considered it.

After graduating from St. Ambrose University, a private Catholic school in Davenport, Iowa, as an all-American in basketball and softball, Pingeton took over as head coach at her alma mater the age of 23. In eight seasons the Bees qualified for five NAIA tournaments.

After three seasons at Iowa State, Pingeton moved to Illinois State, where, in seven years, she put together four straight 20-win seasons before moving up to Missouri, where one of her greatest experiences was an upset of top-ranked South Carolina in 2021.

Now, another struggling program is in her hands.

"I've always had Wisconsin in this place in my mind, that, man, that could be an amazing place," Pingeton said. "This place is special and it didn't take long to feel that."

One of Pingeton's best friends from the business is former UW women's basketball coach Jane Albright, whose 161-107 record from 1994 to 2003 remains the high point of the program.

"So much respect for her," she said of Pingeton via text . "We share books. Conversations. Dreams. I'm so happy for her and for all my alums."

Fennelly sees an ideal match of coach and program.

"I think Wisconsin needs her and she needs Wisconsin," he said.

Pingeton has a tremendous perspective on life, which can be traced to her youngest son Zack, who was born with Down's Syndrome.

"I have learned so much from him," she said. "My faith got challenged. It was kind of out of the blue. A week after I delivered him, my husband and I threw all the information about Down's Syndrome that the doctors gave us in the garbage and we took on the family motto of No Limits — no limits for him, no limits for our family, no limits for my career.

"Little did I know that 13 years ago I needed him more than he needed me. I've learned so much through his lenses. I've learned that different can be absolutely beautiful."