UW-Platteville’s men’s head basketball coach is leaving the university to coach a Division II college in Nebraska starting June 1.

Wayne State College announced today that Coach Paul Combs will replace Rico Burkett, whose contract was not renewed for the 2009-10 season.

Paul Erickson, UW-P sports information director, was not surprised by the announcement.

“Any time that [a program] has the success that we’ve had in the past year, your coach becomes a hot candidate,” Erickson said.

“It’s a great opportunity to move up from coaching Division III to Division II,” Jeff Skemp, Pioneer center from 2004-2009, said. “It’s the right move businesswise.”

UW-P plans to start a national search for Combs’s replacement immediately, including the formation of a search and screen committee, said Mark Molesworth, UW-P’s athletic director.

“We’ll try to find the best person for the position and try to move forward and continue the progress Coach Combs has started,” Molesworth said.

Erickson didn’t think that Combs’s departure would have an effect on the Pioneer fan base.

“Pioneer fans are fans of Pioneer basketball,” Erickson said. “I think most people realize this was a great opportunity for a coach but will continue to support … the players on the floor.”

Combs started his coaching career as an assistant coach at Ripon College. Ripon made four NCAA appearances and had a record of 102-21 during Combs’s five years there. Next, he worked as head coach at Lakeland College in Sheboygan, leading the team to a 19-8 record in 2002-03.

Combs started coaching at UW-P in 2003, when the Pioneers earned fourth place in the WIAC conference. In his last season, Combs led the team to a victory against D-I Bradley College, a national No. 1 ranking, and the NCAA D-III tournament for the first time since 1999. They ended up losing in the second round to Wheaton College, ending their season with a 23-6 record.

The Wayne State College Wildcats finished their 2008-09 season in ninth place in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference with a 7-13 record, 11-16 overall. Burkett had a 111-138 overall record, and had two winning seasons out of his nine there, according to Wayne State.

“I’m really happy for [Combs] and his family,” Skemp said. “He explained to the team that it happened because of the team’s success and our players’ dedication to the program.”

There’s never really a good time to lose a coach, Molesworth said, but it could be worse.

“It beats the alternative where nobody wants to talk to your folks because you don’t have any success,” Molesworth said.

Related links:

Wayne State College press release

Telegraph Herald

Wisconsin State Journal

—Additional reporting by Andrew Reuter