Kearney, Neb. - Starting in May 2014, a new feature called "Loper Reconnection" will profile former UNK student-athletes. Student Andrew Hanson asks the chosen Loper a series of questions.

The 15th subject is former basketball standout Brenda VanLengen. She was a member of back-to-back 21 win teams with the 1987 squad reaching the NAIA National Tournament in Kansas City.

Wrestlers Bryce Abbey and Brian Hagan, Darcie Berry (softball), Doug Banks, Justin Coleman, Jay Dostal (football), Jenni Luke and Bethany Spilde (volleyball), Diane Davidson Rouzee (softball & volleyball), Nick Svehla, Mike Hancock & John Higgins (men's basketball), Jade Meads (women's basketball) and Karol McKenzie Nelson (track) were previously profiled.


Name: Brenda VanLengen
Hometown/High School: Roseland, Neb./Roseland H.S.
Years: 1984-87
Sport: Basketball

In the summer of 1985, Brenda VanLengen learned just how precious life could be.
 
Her best friend and Kearney State College women's basketball teammate, Ann Stockton, tragically died in motorcycle accident the summer after her sophomore year of college.
 
"Obviously, it was the most traumatic thing that's ever happened to me," VanLengen said.
 
It was something, however, that would launch her into a career that has seen her become an assistant women's basketball coach at Nebraska-Lincoln and later one of the best and the busiest women's basketball television analysts.
 
"It made an impact on my life and taught me that life is precious and you never know when your time is going to be, so you need to go for it whenever an opportunity arises," said VanLengen.
 
VanLengen has been seizing opportunities ever since she could walk.
 
As a three and four-year-old child, she was the ball girl for the volleyball team her dad coached. As she got older, VanLengen was a multi-sport standout for Roseland High School, about 45 miles southeast of Kearney.
 
Growing up, VanLengen got to know what is now the University of Nebraska at Kearney by going to basketball and band camps, along with other events. So when it came to picking a college, KSC was always at the forefront.
 
VanLengen arrived in Kearney prior to the start of the 1983-84 season.
 
"My freshman year there were no seniors and half of the team was freshmen. We won only nine games, so it was a real growing process," she said.
 
But by VanLengen's junior and senior seasons, the Lopers were compiling 20-win seasons, something the Lopers had only done once before in program history.
 
Her senior year, in 1987, VanLengen and her teammates made history by qualifying for the NAIA Tournament for the first time in school history.
 
"I take a lot of pride in that because we had graduated so many great players from the team before," VanLengen said. "It really was a matter of everybody contributing. LaNell Cox and I were the two leading scorers on the team, but it took everybody contributing to have that kind of success."
 
The Lopers were seeded 16th out of 16 teams in the tournament that year. Their opening game was against top-ranked Southwestern Oklahoma State.
 
KSC trailed late in that game, but VanLengen hit a shot late in the contest to force overtime. Despite a 74-69 loss, VanLengen and the Lopers left with their heads held high.
 
"That team went on to win the national championship, so overall my experience at Kearney was very rewarding," she said. "We helped grow the program during that time and grew it into history making."
 
After graduating, VanLengen taught and coached at Kearney High School and spent her summers coaching at Nebraska's basketball camps. After a few years, though, she wanted some change.
 
"I knew because of my experience in college, I wanted to be involved with college athletics," VanLengen said. "I reached out to Angela Beck, who was the head coach at the time at Nebraska. I asked what it would take to be a member of her staff."
 
VanLengen became a graduate assistant at Nebraska, and right after she got her master's degree, two assistant coach positions opened up. She ended up coaching there for five more seasons before leaving Nebraska and ultimately the coaching business for good.
 
VanLengen interviewed for a couple of head coaching jobs at smaller schools after leaving the Huskers, but she decided that it was the right time for her to move on.
 
"I enjoyed coaching, but there were some things that I didn't enjoy as much," VanLengen noted. "But I enjoyed the strategy and figuring out what makes one team better than another."
 
In the early 80s, Nebraska Public Television was the primary broadcast partner for Nebraska women's basketball.
 
"They were way ahead of their time as far as broadcasting college women's basketball games, and they had done our games when I was coaching there," said VanLengen. "I reached out to them and asked if they would give me a chance."
 
It was that moment where VanLengen found her true calling, and her broadcasting career took off.
 
"I loved talking about the players, the coaches, how hard they worked," she added. "I loved to describe the strategy – what gives one team an advantage. Those first couple of years at Nebraska Public television allowed me to realize what I wanted to do and that's where my career grew from."
 
From that point her career grew quickly.
 
Today, she works for the SEC Network, FoxSports, ESPN, Big Ten Network and a number of regional networks.
 
She's the lead analyst for FoxSports' Big 12 women's basketball coverage and is on the call of the Big 12 Championship on a yearly basis. She does analyst work for the Big Ten Network as well.
 
VanLengen has expanded her broadcasting repertoire to include play-by-play, too. It was a skill she learned six years ago and is something that makes her even more valuable to the networks.
 
She does play-by-play for the weekly Monday night games on SEC network and for other select ESPN games. It's not just basketball she's describing the sights and the sounds for, either.
 
When she's not calling hoops, she'll spend part of her offseason doing play-by-play for volleyball, softball and soccer.
 
However, basketball assignments make up a majority of her schedule.
 
"I'll do about 70 games during the college basketball season. The concentrated part of my schedule is during the college basketball season. It's very busy," she explained. "I had a stretch of games last year where I had ten broadcasts in ten days in eight different states. My college basketball season gets pretty intense."
 
VanLengen was also able to call the United States' women's basketball gold medal game in the World University Games from Kazan, Russia.
 
"We were in a sold-out arena of about 5,000 fans, and I'd say about 4,950 of them were pro-Russia," she said. "To be able to call a game for the United States knowing that it was my voice going back home was pretty cool."
 
Everything that VanLengen has done and accomplished in life, though, goes back to the moment after her sophomore year when she lost her best friend.
 
"I've taken some risks in my career, and I've stepped out of my comfort zone at times because I want to live life to the fullest and take advantage of every opportunity," VanLengen said. "I will always appreciate my friendship with Ann, and that's been a big part of my success."