After nearly 20 years as a head coach, Brenda Frese has won her 500th game!
In 1999 Bill Clinton was President, A Beautiful Mind won the Oscar for Best Picture and the U.S Women won the World Cup.
It was also the first year Brenda Frese won her first game as a head coach.
Now she's won the 500th of her career. An 81-63 win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers on the road.
The highlight of Brenda Frese's 500 wins as a head coach has to be the 2006 National Championship... just 4 years into her tenure at the University of Maryland.
"I was young... and a really young team... two freshman two sophomore and a Jr... one of youngest teams to win a National Chamiponshiop. We didn't know any better. We were just young and brash and confident and fearless."
Crystal Langhorne was on that team.
"a lot of wins. A great 4 years when I was in college. Just her energy, her enthusiasm as a coach... she rebuilt the program when it was struggling for a little bit. She made us a powerhouse again."
Frese is entering her 17th season with Maryland. Her 20th overall as a head coach.
She won AP Coach of the Year in 2002 with Minnesota, has been ACC Coach of the Year, Big 10 Coach of the Year, twice and taken her Terps teams to 14 NCAA tournaments.
The accolades, wins and losses, don't mean as much to her as the people.
"to be able to get 500 wins, I've been so fortunate in all my stops and 17 years here at Maryland to coach some incredible women and be part of some terrific families when you talk about mentorship of staff and support staff, it's the people for me versus the 500 wins."
Sarah Myers is a guard on this year's team. She's in her third year with Coach B as she's affectionately called.
"it's just her legacy, everything she's brought to Maryland. We're a winning program and she's brought that here."
Her favorite moments with coach?
"whenever she comes into the locker room after a win and dances, that's always fun. It's great to watch her moves."
The higs are great and the lows make the highs more meaningful. The wife and mother of two reflects back on a tough time in her career when her Terps team lost to Duke by 51 points. She wondered if she had what it takes to be a head coach.
"I got a call from Athletic Director Debbie Yow sharing with me how tough of a loss it was but some day we were going to beat Dke and it was gonna happen. Sure enough four years later you couldn't write the script any better to find them in the National Championship game and be able to go on and win a national championship... everything you hope at times comes full circle and it really did."