DMACC women's basketball coach steve krafcisin grew up dreaming of playing for the Chicago Cubs but became the only player in NCAA history to play and score in the Final Four for two different Teams
Steve Krafcisin
By Kolby Vetter
Staff Writer
If things would have turned out the way Steve Krafcisin thought when he was younger, he would be known as a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, not the head women’s basketball coach for the DMACC Bears.
But things don’t always turn out the way we think they will.
The 6-foot-9 Krafcisin grew up playing baseball as much as he could with his friends in Chicago. At the time the game of basketball hadn’t even crossed his mind.
“Baseball was all we played, if we would play basketball it would be just for fun, but if I had a dream or a wish growing up it would have been to be a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs,” Krafcisin said.
Krafcisin, who has been the coach of the Bears since 2004, said it wasn’t until seventh grade that he started to shift his attention from baseball to basketball.
As seventh grade rolled around Krafcisin was already 6-foot-2 but still wasn’t too familiar with the game. It wasn’t until his coach came up to him and told him he needed to start thinking about trying out the game.
At the time, Chicago Public Grammar School, the institution Krafcisin attended had no organized sports, so their coach decided to get Krafcisin and the players involved in tournaments throughout the area.
“Back in the day catholic schools were very popular, and as I was starting to get taller, I was getting more attention from area catholic high schools,” Krafcisin said.
Krafcisin said he knew he wanted to go to college and back in the day public schools weren’t thought of as a place to receive a good education. Krafcisin wanted to attend a catholic school.
“I knew I wanted something more. I had three or four schools that asked me to come play but I decided to attend St. Laurence High in Burbank (Illinois),” Krafcisin said.
So as the years were moving along, Krafcisin kept growing. By his sophomore year of high school, he was already 6-foot-9 and starting on the varsity team.
Krafcisin said because of his size that around his junior year of high school he started to receive interest from many colleges around the nation. He was named a High School All American and schools like Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Notre Dame, and North Carolina were among Krafcisin’s favorites.
In April of Krafcisin’s senior year, he decided he was going to play for Dean Smith’s North Carolina Tar Heels. Dean Smith is considered a “coaching legend” by the basketball hall of fame and had a career winning percentage of .776.
“ACC basketball is where it was at back in the day. I thought Carolina blue looked good, and there were girls at the school (Krafcisin attended an all-boys school.) The weather was warm, and it was just something I couldn’t turn down,” Krafcisin said.
Although UNC reached the national title game in Krafcisin’s freshman year, things didn’t go as planned for the 6-foot-9 center. The freshman thought he was the only big guy they were bringing in that year but found out they also recruited two others.
Krafcisin didn’t get the playing time he thought was going to get and was second string most of the year. At the end of the season Smith told the players that the job was up for grabs. It was at that point that the thought of transferring crossed Krafcisin’s mind.
“I became homesick, and really figured out that North Carolina wasn’t a place that I could call home. I wanted to be back closer to where my family was,” Krafcisin said.
Before Krafcisin signed with UNC, the other team that stood out to him was Iowa; he said they came in a close second for his services. So as his recruiting process reopened, Krafcisin was considering other schools like Xavier, Indiana, and Illinois, and then Krafcisin reached out to the University of Iowa and head coach Lute Olson.
Because the Hawkeyes were his second choice all along he decided it was in his best interest to attend Iowa and team up with now Hall of Fame head coach Olson and All American point guard Ronnie Lester.
Because Krafcisin was a transfer, NCAA rules forced him to sit out one year, and pay his own way the first semester and finally be on scholarship the second.
It was Krafcisin’s junior season and things were looking good for the Hawkeyes, they were returning Ronnie Lester and bringing in a freshman guard by the name of Bobby Hansen.
“We started off great, we were undefeated 10 games into the season, but then Lester got hurt and we struggled for sometime,” Krafcisin said.
The Hawkeyes finished the regular season with a record of 19-8 and were on the bubble to get into the tournament, but Ronnie Lester was returning from his injury and Iowa was starting to get hot.
Iowa cruised all the way to the final four beating powerhouses Georgetown and Syracuse along the way, making Krafcisin the only player in NCAA history to play and score for two different teams in the Final Four.
While Krafcisin didn’t realize it at the time, Iowa going to the Final Four was a big deal for most of the state.
“Things were bleak in the state, talks about war with Iran, and the economy was not good, but Lute was a popular figure and us making it was a big deal for many people,” Krafcisin said.
DMACC athletic director Orv Salmon has known Krafcisin since Salmon’s coaching days at Drake. He said he remembers what it was like to be a fan watching Iowa make its run to the Final Four.
“Although I went to Missouri, I followed the Hawkeyes because I grew up in the state. He played on a great team with good guys and played for a great coach – Lute Olson. I enjoyed watching them play and how they competed,” Salmon said.
Krafcisin said that all the teammates from the 1980 Final Four team still stay in touch today and go back to Iowa City every summer to see each other.
“One of the reasons we were so successful was because we got along so well, we had that bond, we just had great chemistry,” Krafcisin said.
After Krafcisin’s playing days were over, he decided to pursue a coaching career. He started at Loras College in Dubuque where he was an assistant coach from 1984 to 1987. He went on to Iowa State where he was an assistant under head coach Bobby Orr from 1987 to 1994. From 1994 to 1996, he was an assistant coach at North Dakota University.
Krafcisin became head men’s basketball coach at NIACC in 1997 and was at the helm until 2004, when he left the Trojans to become the head women’s basketball coach at DMACC. He has been in Boone ever since.
Salmon said Krafcisin’s reputation was one of the reasons he is such a good coach.
“He is a good person that relishes the challenge of being responsible for young people as they go through college while trying to coach them into a team,” Salmon said.
Krafcisin said that one of the reasons that he took the DMACC job was the proximity to his wife’s family and just being able to watch his kids grow up. He and his wife have three kids.
“Besides marrying my wife, it (the DMACC women’s basketball coaching job) was one of the best moves I have ever made,” Krafcisin said.
“ACC basketball is where it was at back in the day. I thought Carolina blue looked good, and there were girls at the school (Krafcisin attended an all-boys school.) The weather was warm, and it was just something I couldn’t turn down,” Krafcisin said.
Although UNC reached the national title game in Krafcisin’s freshman year, things didn’t go as planned for the 6-foot-9 center. The freshman thought he was the only big guy they were bringing in that year but found out they also recruited two others.
Krafcisin didn’t get the playing time he thought was going to get and was second string most of the year. At the end of the season Smith told the players that the job was up for grabs. It was at that point that the thought of transferring crossed Krafcisin’s mind.
“I became homesick, and really figured out that North Carolina wasn’t a place that I could call home. I wanted to be back closer to where my family was,” Krafcisin said.
Before Krafcisin signed with UNC, the other team that stood out to him was Iowa; he said they came in a close second for his services. So as his recruiting process reopened, Krafcisin was considering other schools like Xavier, Indiana, and Illinois, and then Krafcisin reached out to the University of Iowa and head coach Lute Olson.
Because the Hawkeyes were his second choice all along he decided it was in his best interest to attend Iowa and team up with now Hall of Fame head coach Olson and All American point guard Ronnie Lester.
Because Krafcisin was a transfer, NCAA rules forced him to sit out one year, and pay his own way the first semester and finally be on scholarship the second.
It was Krafcisin’s junior season and things were looking good for the Hawkeyes, they were returning Ronnie Lester and bringing in a freshman guard by the name of Bobby Hansen.
“We started off great, we were undefeated 10 games into the season, but then Lester got hurt and we struggled for sometime,” Krafcisin said.
The Hawkeyes finished the regular season with a record of 19-8 and were on the bubble to get into the tournament, but Ronnie Lester was returning from his injury and Iowa was starting to get hot.
Iowa cruised all the way to the final four beating powerhouses Georgetown and Syracuse along the way, making Krafcisin the only player in NCAA history to play and score for two different teams in the Final Four.
While Krafcisin didn’t realize it at the time, Iowa going to the Final Four was a big deal for most of the state.
“Things were bleak in the state, talks about war with Iran, and the economy was not good, but Lute was a popular figure and us making it was a big deal for many people,” Krafcisin said.
DMACC athletic director Orv Salmon has known Krafcisin since Salmon’s coaching days at Drake. He said he remembers what it was like to be a fan watching Iowa make its run to the Final Four.
“Although I went to Missouri, I followed the Hawkeyes because I grew up in the state. He played on a great team with good guys and played for a great coach – Lute Olson. I enjoyed watching them play and how they competed,” Salmon said.
Krafcisin said that all the teammates from the 1980 Final Four team still stay in touch today and go back to Iowa City every summer to see each other.
“One of the reasons we were so successful was because we got along so well, we had that bond, we just had great chemistry,” Krafcisin said.
After Krafcisin’s playing days were over, he decided to pursue a coaching career. He started at Loras College in Dubuque where he was an assistant coach from 1984 to 1987. He went on to Iowa State where he was an assistant under head coach Bobby Orr from 1987 to 1994. From 1994 to 1996, he was an assistant coach at North Dakota University.
Krafcisin became head men’s basketball coach at NIACC in 1997 and was at the helm until 2004, when he left the Trojans to become the head women’s basketball coach at DMACC. He has been in Boone ever since.
Salmon said Krafcisin’s reputation was one of the reasons he is such a good coach.
“He is a good person that relishes the challenge of being responsible for young people as they go through college while trying to coach them into a team,” Salmon said.
Krafcisin said that one of the reasons that he took the DMACC job was the proximity to his wife’s family and just being able to watch his kids grow up. He and his wife have three kids.
“Besides marrying my wife, it (the DMACC women’s basketball coaching job) was one of the best moves I have ever made,” Krafcisin said.
DMACC Bears head women's basketball coach Steve Krafcisin talks to the team during a game in the 2012- 2013 season. Before coming to Boone, Krafcisin coached at Loras, Iowa State, North Dakota and NIACC. Krafcisin is the only NCAA player to score and play in two Final Fours with two different teams.