Year at Saint Mary's: 4th (in 2018-19) |
Yearly Record
Record at Saint Mary's: 50-29
Career Record: 50-29
Brent Pollari is the head women's basketball coach at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, a position he has held since the start of the 2015-16 school year.
Pollari's 2017-18 Cardinals reached the MIAC Playoff Semifinals, falling to top-seeded St. Thomas. It was the second time in his three-year tenure that Pollari has guided Saint Mary's into the MIAC Playoffs.
During the 2016-2017 season, he coached a pair of First-Team All-MIAC selections—Emma Schaefer and Brandi Blattner—while Blattner also earned D3hoops.com All-Region honors.
In his first season at the helm in 2015-2016, the Cardinals finished second in the regular-season standards and played in the MIAC Playoff title game, earning Pollari the MIAC Coach of the Year Award. Blattner, Bridget Pethke and Michaela Meredith were all First-Team All-MIAC selections that season, while Schaefer was an honorable-mention pick and Pethke added MIAC All-Defensive Team honors. Along with her All-MIAC selection, Blattner was also named D3hoops.com All-Region and All-Region Rookie of the Year.
Pollari’s coaching experience includes coaching at the NCAA Division I, II, and III levels, high school coaching; along with playing at the NAIA level. During his tenure he has coached 29 All-Conference players, two All-Americans, 108 All-Academic student-athletes, and 6 players who played professionally.
Prior to his hire at Saint Mary’s University, Pollari was the assistant women’s basketball coach at Minnesota State University. The Mavericks improved to a record of 21-10 and made the NCAA DII national tournament.
Before going to Mankato, Pollari was the recruiting coordinator at the University of North Dakota. UND’s 2013-2014 team won the Big Sky Conference regular season, tournament championship, and gained the school’s first berth to the NCAA tournament. They also were also able to elevate their recruiting with one of the best 2015 classes in the region.
Prior to UND, Pollari was the associate head women’s basketball coach at Northern State University. He was the recruiting coordinator at NSU and helped recruit some of the best classes in program history (including classes that boosted the program to 3 NSIC championship games with two first place finishes the previous three seasons).
Pollari also has coached at Texas A&M-Kingsville, Corvallis High School (MT), and at Montana State University.
