University of Portland Athletics

With ten years of previous head coaching experience, Jim Sollars was hired in 1986 as the head women’s basketball coach at the University of Portland. In his first 11 years at Portland, Sollars also served the university as a history professor. He ended his 31-year teaching career upon announcing his retirement following the 1996-97 academic year.
 
The Pilots have posted four .500 or better seasons during the past six years and have been the post-season twice during that same time period.
 
In 2009-10, the Pilots went 18-13 for the program’s most wins in a season in 12 years. That was also only the fifth time ever to win 18 games at the NCAA DI level for the Pilots.
 
2008-09 was a season of milestones for the Pilots, who were rewarded with their first post-season action in 10 years. After posting its first winning record since the 1998-99 season, Portland was invited to participate in the WNIT. The Pilots, who went 17-14 overall and 10-4 in the WCC, finished second in the conference for its best league finish since 1996-97, while the 10 conference wins were the most for UP since that same season. Portland also defeated every WCC team in 2008-09, which hadn’t happened since its undefeated run through the league in 1997.
 
Sollars was named the 2008-09 WCC Coach of the Year for a fifth time. Sollars, who was last named coach of the year in 1997, has the second most WCC wins (164) than any other coach in the 24-year history of the conference.
 
Under Sollars’ leadership at Portland, 39 players have earned All-West Coast Conference honors, four players have been named the WCC Player of the Year, and he has coached two Pilots (Laura Sale and Deana Lansing) to honorable mention All-America status. His players also show excellence in the classroom as he has guided 40 WCC All-Academic Team selections, 14 CoSIDA Academic All-Region Team picks and one WCC Scholar Athlete of the Year, while two athletes have earned first team CoSida Academic All-America honors.  
 
The Pilots have made seven postseason appearances in the last 20 years. During the 1990’s, Sollars had four consecutive NCAA Tournament berths (1993-97), including the first in school history in 1993-94. From 1993-99, Sollars and the Pilots compiled a 125-51 record, including a 27-3 mark during the 1996-97 season, the program’s best since joining the NCAA Division-I ranks. His 1994-95 and 1995-96 squads each posted 23-7 records.
 
In 1996-97, the team racked up the second-highest win total in program history, won a second-consecutive WCC Championship (the third overall during Sollars’ tenure), became the first team in league history to go undefeated (14-0) in WCC play and was the school’s first NCAA Division-I basketball team to earn a national ranking (highest rating No. 21 USA Today/ No. 25 in the final poll). Sollars was named WBCA District-8 Coach of the Year and was WCC Coach of the Year.
 
Sollars was hired prior to the 1986-87 season, Portland’s first at the NCAA Division-I level. He led his 1987-88 team to a 17-11 record, a second-place WCC finish and garnered WCC Coach of the Year honors. Sollars claimed the school’s first WCC Basketball Championship (men or women) in 1991-92 and he was again named the WCC Coach of the Year, making him the first coach in the WCC to win the award twice. His 1993-94 team recorded upsets over league leaders Santa Clara and Gonzaga, capturing the WCC Tournament Championship, and earning the school’s first NCAA Tournament bid. The Pilots then kept ninth-ranked Southern California on the ropes for most of the game before losing 77-62 in a first round, Mideast Regional game at the Los Angeles Sports Arena. His 1994-95 team received an NCAA at-large berth (lost 74-59 to Purdue in the West Regional at San Diego State). At-large bids followed in 1996 (lost 78-61 at Texas Tech, Midwest Regional) and 1997 (lost 75-70 in OT to Michigan State at the East Regional, hosted by North Carolina).
 
Sollars previously coached at Wenatchee Valley Community College (1976-83) and Portland State University (1983-86). His Wenatchee program won six Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) regional championships and compiled a 154-25 record (.860). Besides building a basketball dynasty, Sollars was also the dean of WVCC’s social sciences department for two years and its athletics director for one year.
 
At Centralia College, Sollars was a letterwinner in basketball and baseball.
 
Born January 5, 1943 in Longview, Wash., and raised in Tenino, Wash., Sollars was a high school standout in football, basketball and baseball at Tenino High School. His wife, Pam, is a retired elementary school teacher who completed her Masters requirements at the University of Portland. They have four grown children: Jill, Anne, Tony and Abby.