Michigan Tech head coach Eric Gruber met with the media Wednesday to introduce himself to the Copper Country at the Student Development Complex on the campus of Michigan Tech University. (Photo courtesy of Michigan Tech University)

HOUGHTON — For the 10th head coach in the history of the Michigan Tech women’s basketball program, the Huskies turned to a man from outside the university, Eric Gruber, who spent the last three seasons as an assistant coach at the NCAA Division I Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, where he helped lead the Cougars.

While he is new to the Copper Country, he is no stranger to the GLIAC, having served as an assistant coach at Wisconsin-Parkside in 2022-23.

He will lean on that experience as he gets settled in and takes over a team that went 16-13 last season, 10-10 in conference play.

“I think my experience at Parkside was awesome,” he said. “We finished third that year. I think the best way to describe it is you have some of the top teams in the country in there (the GLIAC), and even the teams towards the bottom are tough matchups.

“So, it’s arguably one of the, maybe the, best conference in Division II women’s basketball. Getting back to that, I think, if you want to compete at the highest level, this is the league to be in.”

The GLIAC, from top to bottom, made an impact on Gruber.

“You don’t have a day off, a night off, ever, when you play,” he said. “So, you have to be ready every single game. There’s never going to be you walk in here, and this will be fine. It doesn’t happen in the GLIAC.

“If you’re competitive towards the top half, you have a really good shot of making the NCAA Tournament each and every year. You have to put yourself in a position, conference-wise, non conference-wise, to set your schedule up where you can compete to be in the NCAA Tournament. Then, if you’re in the top four-ish, you usually are not guaranteed in, but you’re in a really good position to put yourself for a postseason play.”

Vice President for Athletics & Recreation Suzanne Sanregret felt that Gruber was the right fit for Michigan Tech, even though he did not have roots in the area.

“In our hiring process, the focus is on identifying the best person for the position,” she said. “While connections to Michigan Tech are valued, they are not the primary criterion. Eric distinguished himself early through his resume, his character, and the strong recommendations he received from trusted colleagues.

“Throughout our conversations, he articulated a clear vision for the future of our program and made a meaningful impression during his campus visit, particularly in his engagement with our student-athletes. Eric is a rising coach with tremendous potential, and we believe he is the right person to build upon the proud tradition and sustained success of Michigan Tech women’s basketball.”

For Gruber, Michigan Tech is a very attractive place to be, especially given his experience in the SDC Gym while with the Rangers.

“There was joke when we played here,” he said. “I didn’t like it, and that’s a good thing as a visitor, right? For the home team, that is. When you’re in an atmosphere, when you’re at a place where you don’t feel great as a visitor, that’s a place you want to be at, usually. So, I joked, remember the Pep Band? One of our kids coming off (the court was) just complaining, just being annoyed. But, that’s a good thing about being the home team here. So, I think just the tradition here is big time. There’s a lot of coaches before me. I could list a bunch, obviously, that had done a really good job.”

Gruber is also excited about the state of the Huskies’ roster, despite the departures of juniors-to-be Ella Mason and Kendall Standfest to the portal.

“I think the teams in this league, outside of Grand Valley recently, have kind of moved around in the conference,” he said. “It’s not always 1, 2, 3, the same. So, I think that’s kind of a good sign is you have room to move up, and I think you have to be able to compete in a way that represents the GLIAC at a high level. You have to try to recruit in order to bring in players that are going to be able to compete at that level.

“With the current team we have, they already have done a good job. So, we have to be able to match the size of physicality, the speed of those teams, the style, and then also give them problems to present. I think you have to understand them almost as much as you understand your own team and be able to attack it in that way.”

Sanregret likes what she sees of him thus far.

“Since accepting the role, he has already been hard at work addressing roster needs,” she said, “and assembling a strong staff, reflecting the energy, urgency, and commitment he brings to leading our program.”

Gruber is already hard at work looking to fill the holes in the lineup.

“Yeah, a couple players transferred out as, I’m sure you guys are aware, with the coaching change,” he said. “I think (we need to be) plugging in some holes there as well. They had a couple post players graduate. So, those are kind of the main holes to fill right now, working on that 24/7 right now, transfer-wise. We have a visit today with people here. So, I think that’s the biggest need right now in terms of just filling the gaps from last year to this year.

“You have a short amount of time to do that. I got hired, and it was a week and a half ago at this point. The portal opened two to three weeks before that. So, a lot of the calls and stuff (where) you reach out to that people (who) already decided stuff like that. You really have to work fast, and we’re working on that right now, for sure. That’s why I want to staff here as quick as possible to get that going.”

In terms of recruiting, Gruber plans to steal a page out of men’s coach Josh Buettner’s playbook.

“Location-wise, I want to hit Wisconsin harder than probably the roster looks like right now,” he said. “I know talking to our men’s coach here, he’s done a really good job with that, I think. But you’re still staying in that area, Wisconsin, the U.P., Michigan, Minnesota. I have a lot of ties in the Illinois area. I can work into that a little bit as well. But I think, No. 1 would be hitting Wisconsin harder than the roster has right now.”