Sherry Winn to speak at MSU-N

The Montana State University-Northern women's basketball team won an NAIA national championship in 1993.

Almost two decades

FormerMontana State University-Northern head women's basketball coach Sherry Winn, who led the Skylights to the 1993 NAIA national championship, will be speaking to incoming Northern students at New Student Orientation.

later, the woman who was at the helm of that championship team will return to Havre to speak at Northern's New Student Orientation.

Sherry Winn, who spent the last 11 seasons coaching at NCAA Division II University Charleston in Charleston, W. Va. will be speaking to incoming Northern students on the Saturday night of the event at the MSU-Northern Student Union Building.

Winn coached at Northern for five seasons and led the Skylights to 137 wins against just 19 losses, as well as five Frontier Conference titles and the 1993 NAIA DII national championship.

Overall, Winn, who recently stepped down as the women's coach at Charleston in order to pursue a new career in writing and speaking, coached women's college basketball for 23 years, compiling a 442 and 234 record.

She spent the last 11 seasons leading the Golden Eagles to a host of NCAA DII national tournament appearances and accumulated an overall record of 237-100.

Winn was also a player at Charleston, Winn holds the record for most points in a season at 682 ('85-'86) and career points per game average at 21.5. She was a two-time Olympian as she represented the United States in team handball during the 1984 and 1988 Olympic games.

Winn also spent two seasons at Minnesota-Morris, following her stint at Northern. She then moved on to coach five years at Colorado St.-Pueblo before being hired as the head coach at her alma mata.

She steps away from coaching at Charleston to pursue her passion for writing as she is in the process of completing her first book, while also delving into life coaching and public speaking. A quote that has long been a descriptive phrase for Coach Winn's philosophy on the bench is one that she will now follow in pursuit of her own personal goals.

"I believe what is important is not necessarily how many games we win in a season but how far we have traveled in our journey. What is essential is the growth of the people involved in our program. Have they overcome some of their fears? Have they learned to believe in themselves? Have they become more self aware? Have they learned to change their internal dialogue from negative to positive self talk? What I desire is for each one of my players to stretch and to grow and to find a part of themselves they did not know existed."