Membership Forum - June 2024

Join us for the June Membership Forum Luncheon!

About Scott:
It was a homecoming of sorts for OSU alumnus Scott Rueck, who was named the fifth head coach in the history of the Oregon State women’s basketball program on June 30, 2010.
 
Rueck has been the architect of an accelerated turnaround of the women’s basketball program at Oregon State, bringing the team onto the national stage.
 
Rueck has led the Beavers to seven NCAA Tournaments, including the 2021 event. OSU was poised to earn a top-4 seed prior to the cancellation of the 2019-20 Tournament due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Oregon State won three-straight Pac-12 titles from 2015-17, and has made four Sweet-16’s, two Elite Eight’s and a Final Four.
 
The Beavers recorded a pair of top-15 wins in 2022-23 while also coaching the school’s first Freshman of the Year since 1993. Raegan Beers emerged as a force under Rueck’s guidance, including 20-point double-doubles in wins over no. 10 UCLA and no. 15 Arizona. She earned four Pac-12 Freshman of the Week awards – most in school history – and Timea Gardiner earned a fifth to give the Beavs their most ever since the introduction of the honor. 
 
Beers and Gardiner were members of Oregon State’s best recruiting class - which included sharpshooters Lily Hansford and Adlee Blacklock as well as international signee Martha Pietsch - ranked third nationally according to espnW. Gardiner was the Beavs’ best-ever recruit according to ESPN with a no. 6 national ranking.
 
Rueck led Oregon State to a record of 17-14 in 2021-22, including a run to the quarterfinals of the WNIT. The campaign featured a pair of wins over ranked opponents, as well as an unprecedented stretch in which OSU played five-straight games against ranked opposition.

Oregon State finished 2020-21 with a 12-8 record, and has won winning nine of its final 12 games, with all three losses in that span coming against teams that made the Final Four. The Beavers had two All-Pac-12 selections in Aleah Goodman and Taylor Jones, and Goodman was selected in the third round of the WNBA Draft, Oregon State’s sixth  selection in the last six drafts.
 
The Beavers went 23-9 in 2019-20, notching the eighth-highest win total in program history, despite the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament. Mikayla Pivec and Destiny Slocum earned All-Pac-12 honors for the second-straight year. Rueck was named a Semi-Finalist for Naismith Coach of the Year, as he has helped navigate the team through injuries to Taya Corosdale and Kennedy Brown.
 
Oregon State went 26-8 in the 2018-19 campaign. The Beavers took home a pair of All-Pac-12 honors, as Destiny Slocum and Mikayla Pivec both received the award. The duo also netted All-America Honorable Mention, while Pivec was tabbed as a Second Team Academic All-American.
 
The Beavers recorded another 20-win campaign in 2017-18, making the Elite Eight for the second time in program history and finishing the year with 26 victories. Marie Gulich earned All-Pac-12 honors for the second-straight year, and the Beavers had the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year for the fourth-straight season, as Gulich earned the honor.
 
Oregon State posted an outstanding campaign in 2016-17, as the team went 31-5 en route to a Sweet 16 showing. Under Rueck’s tutelage, senior Sydney Wiese became the 14th player in Pac-12 history to earn All-Pac-12 honors all four years of her career, and the Beavers claimed Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors for the third-straight season, as Gabriella Hanson received the award. Rueck took home some hardware of his own as well, as he was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year.
 
The Beavers enjoyed the best season in program history in 2015-16, winning a school-record 32 games on their way to the team’s first ever Final Four. The NCAA Tournament journey was highlighted by a victory over national power Baylor in the Elite Eight and a pair of wins at Gill Coliseum, as Oregon State hosted the first two rounds of the tourney for the second-straight season.
 
The Beavers also made their mark in conference play, winning their second-straight Pac-12 regular-season title, and notching the program’s first Pac-12 Tournament championship. For his leadership, Rueck was named one of four finalists for Naismith National Coach of the Year, joining Geno Aurienna (UConn), Muffet McGraw (Notre Dame) and Dawn Staley (South Carolina), and was the runner-up for AP Coach of the Year.
 
Under Rueck’s guidance, Jamie Weisner was named the 2016 Pac-12 Player of the Year, and was tabbed as a WBCA All-American. Ruth Hamblin notched her second-consecutive Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honor, while Weisner, Hamblin and Wiese were all named to the Pac-12 First Team.
 
Rueck’s outstanding sixth season came on the back of an impressive 2014-15 campaign, as the Beavers notched 27 wins, en route to a Pac-12 Regular Season Title. For his efforts, Rueck was named Pac-12 Coach of the Year by both the media and the coaches, and earned WBCA Region 8 Coach of the Year honors for the second consecutive season. The Beavers’ success on the floor was reflected in the national polls, as OSU was ranked as high as No. 7 in both the AP and USA Today/WBCA Polls during the season, the best rankings in school history, before the team ended the year ranked No. 13.
 
Oregon State also set a new program-best with a 16-2 conference record, surpassing the mark set in 2013-14. The Beavers went 14-2 at home, extending their home winning streak, which began in 2013-14, to 23 straight games. The historic season led to an increase in attendance, as the Beavers averaged a Pac-12 leading 4,167 fans per game, and welcomed 7,652 fans to Gill Coliseum for the Civil War on Jan. 9, the third-largest crowd in school history.
 
Under Rueck’s guidance, Ruth Hamblin earned AP Third Team All-America, Pac-12 Player of the Year (media) and Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year honors, and was joined on the All-Pac-12 team by teammates Jamie Weisner and Sydney Wiese. The Beavers also led the conference with four Pac-12 Player of the Week awards on the season.
 
The Beavers finished 2013-14 24-11 overall, and ended the year tied for second in the final Pac-12 standings. Oregon State also advanced to its first NCAA Tournament since 1996 and won its first game in the event since 1995. The Beavers ended the year ranked 25th in the USA TODAY Coaches’ Poll, their first time in the national rankings since 1996.
 
For the second time in four seasons the Pac-12’s media tabbed Rueck as Coach of the Year and he was picked as the league’s best by ESPN. Rueck was also named Russell Athletic/WBCA Region 8 Coach of the Year and was a finalist for the inaugural Pat Summitt Trophy for the 2014 Russell Athletic/WBCA NCAA Division I National Coach of the Year.
 
Oregon State propelled itself into the national conversation following a late-season 11-game win streak, which matched the second longest in school history and was the best in 31 years. Each win during the run was by at least 10 points, three came by 20 and the average margin of victory was 16.1 points.
 
Oregon State’s 2012-13 campaign was highlighted by another stalwart defensive group and a young crew of five freshmen that produced more than any other collection of first-year players in the conference.
 
The Beavers finished the season 16th in the nation in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to a school-record low 34.6 percent. OSU also was 11th in the country in blocks per game (5.5) and was the only team in the nation that boasted seven different players with at least 10 rejections. Oregon State’s promising freshman class scored more than 46 percent of the team’s points, the highest ratio in the Pac-12.
 
With another young squad in 2011-12 picked to finish last in the Pac-12, Rueck and the Beavers defied the odds, finishing fifth in the conference with a 9-9 mark, 20-13 overall, and made the third round of the WNIT. In ending the year seven spots above where they were picked at the beginning of the season, Oregon State made the largest jump between expected finish and actual result in conference history. Those achievements earned Rueck a pick as the Pac-12 Coach of the Year, as voted on by the conference media.
 
In his inaugural year as head coach of the Beavers, Rueck led an inexperienced squad, with only one player possessing NCAA Division I experience, to a 9-21 record.
 
Oregon State lost some close games to open Pac-10 play before earning its first conference win over Washington at Alaska Airlines Arena. Shortly after, the Beavers claimed their second Pac-10 victory at home in Gill Coliseum in what is believed to be the biggest come-from-behind victory in program history, overcoming a 20-point deficit to defeat Oregon, 61-59, in the Civil War.
 
That same year, Rueck was also inducted into the George Fox Sports Hall of Fame.
 
Rueck came to Oregon State after spending 14 highly successful seasons as the head women’s basketball coach at George Fox, compiling a career 288-88 (.766) record. Under his watch, the Bruins recorded winning seasons each year and claimed the Division III National Championship in 2009 with an unblemished 32-0 record. Rueck led his squads to five Sweet 16 appearances, three Elite Eight contests, six NCAA Division III Tournament appearances and seven Northwest Conference Championships.
 
During his time at George Fox, Rueck coached four NAIA All-Americans, four NCAA All-Americans and 33 All-Northwest Conference honorees. Individually, he was named the NCAA Division III National Coach of the Year in 2009, was a three-time NCAA Division III West Region Coach of the Year (2008, 2009, 2010) and a seven-time Northwest Conference Coach of the Year (2000, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010).
 
Rueck got his start coaching while an undergrad at Oregon State. He served as assistant coach at Santiam Christian High School for the boy’s basketball team from 1989-93. He then became a women’s basketball assistant at George Fox under former head coach Sherri Murrell, helping the Bruins to a 37-23 overall record and two NAIA postseason appearances. Additionally, he coached the women’s tennis team in 1995-96.
 
Basketball runs in the Rueck family. His sister, Heidi, was an NAIA All-American point guard at George Fox, setting the school records in career, single season and single-game assists and was eventually voted into the school’s Sport Hall of Fame in 2005. His father, Marv, was a part of the coaching staffs at Hillsboro and Glencoe High Schools and was the inaugural head coach at Glencoe when it opened in 1980.
 
Rueck earned a bachelor’s degree in exercise and sport science from Oregon State in 1991, while adding a master’s in physical education in 1992. He is married to the former Kerry Aillaud, and the couple has three children, Cole, Kate and Macey. Kerry played basketball for George Fox from 1993-95, while serving as assistant coach for the program from 1998-06.