Head Coach Gary Rufsvold
Now entering his fifth season as head coach, Rufsvold was on the Wildcat coaching staff as an assistant for five seasons before moving into the head coaches chair in the spring of ‘06. In his first year as head coach Rufsvold guided the Wildcats to their first-ever MIAC playoff appearance and was named the 2006-2007 MIAC Women's Basketball Coach of the Year.
Overall, in his first three three seasons as head coach Rufsvold has led the Wildcats to a 52-51 record. He has also guided an MIAC individual scoring champion (Laura Kalbfell '08-09), had the MIAC team scoring leader ('06-07, 72.5 ppg), and he has worked with nine MIAC Conference award winners. Coach Rufsvold has also had an integral role in helping develop St. Kate’s junior varsity basketball program.
Prior to his arrival at St. Kate's, Rufsvold had coached the Academy of Holy Angels boys basketball team for 25 years. During his time at Holy Angels, Rufsvold's compiled an impressive 330 career wins. His teams won three conference championships and advanced to the regional finals seven times. Rufsvold worked with many top athletes including some that went on to play in the NBA. Gary also served as the Director of Athletics at the Academy of Holy Angels from 1972-2002 and is a member of the Holy Angels Athletic Hall of Fame.
Associate Head Coach John "Mo" Motherwell
Motherwell joins St. Kate's after spending the 2010-11 season as the recruiting coordinator for UND women's basketball program.
Prior to his stint at UND, Motherwell spent five seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. During that time the Panthers won a conference title and qualified for the NCAA Division I tournament.
From 2000-2005, Motherwell had similar success coaching and recruiting at Minnesota State University Moorhead. At MSUM he helped rebuild a program that had seven straight losing seasons into one that advanced to the NCAA Division II National Tournament. In his career Motherwell has also had successful coaching stints at Concordia-St. Paul, the College of St. Scholastica and at the high school level where he coached football, basketball and tennis.
A native of Michigan, Motherwell was a letter winner for the Eastern Michigan football team before earning his bachelor's degree at the University of Michigan in 1995. John and his wife Sherri have two children Anneliese and Joseph.
Assistant Coach Molly Peterson
After competing for the Wildcats for three years and serving as team captain her last two years, Peterson returns to the St. Kate's basketball roster as an assistant coach in 2011-2012. Peterson averaged 9.8 ppg, 5.7 rbg her junior year and 11.4 ppg, 5.3 rbg her senior year. She was also an Academic All-Conference award winner during her three seasons as a Wildcat. Peterson graduated with a degree in Exercise and Sport Science in 2010. She is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Occupational Therapy and is also a member of Phi Theta Epsilon. Prior to St Kate’s she played for North Dakota State College of Science where she was a starter her freshman year. Peterson is a native of Valley City, ND.
