Tricia Bader-BinfordA three-sport athlete in basketball, volleyball and track, Tricia Bader was a five-time state track champion, three-time all-state basketball player and led the Rams to the 1989, 1990 and 1991 state basketball titles.
She was a three-time all-state player and the player of the year as a senior. She won the 1991 Rocky Mountain News’ Steinmark Award and RFHS has named its “Three-Sport Athlete Award” after her. She was named Street and Smith’s High School All-American in 1991.
As great as she was on the court, she was equally great off it, maintaining great character, and inspiring many young women in rural communities to become involved in sports.
Tricia was all-world at Boise State, winning nearly every possible honor available, including Idaho Woman of the Year in 1996. She was also a member of the 1993 West Team at the U.S. Olympic Festival coached by current Connecticut head man Geno Auriemma.
A former WNBA and Australian professional player, Bader is the head coach at Montana State where she was the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year in 2015-16.
Playing in the NWBL in 1997, she set a single-game scoring record with 67 points - which was part of a quadruple-double along with 14 assists, ten steals and ten rebounds.
When Tricia took over the Montana State women’s basketball program in the spring of 2005, she inherited a program in search of stability and someone to guide the Bobcats back to the upper echelons of the Big Sky Conference.
She is MSU’s longest tenured coach – and winningest. Her teams have shown unprecedented level of excellence on the court, in the classroom and within the community.
Those three hallmarks make Bobcat basketball one of the most respected programs in the country. Last season was her finest guiding Bobcats to a school-record 25-7 mark.
