Fort Lewis College Athletics

Mark Kellogg served as head women’s basketball coach at Fort Lewis College for seven seasons from 2005-06 through 2011-12 before announcing his resignation as head coach on April 10, 2012, to accept the same job at Northwest Missouri State University.

He enjoyed arguably the greatest run of any women’s basketball coach in Fort Lewis College and Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference history during his seven-year stay in Durango. Kellogg’s teams went 173-46 (.790) overall and 116-23 (.835) in RMAC games. His 173 victories are far and away the most of any women's basketball coach in school history, as is his .790 overall winning percentage.

During their seven seasons with Kellogg at the helm, his Skyhawks posted an overall record of 147-41 (.782) and 97-20 in RMAC games (.829). The Skyhawks won four RMAC West Division titles (2005-06, 2007-08 through 2009-10), three RMAC regular season championships (2007-08 through 2009-10), two RMAC Shootout crowns (2010-11 and 2011-12), and five straight NCAA Division II playoff berths (2007-08 through 2011-12). Fort Lewis has been ranked in 59 straight USA TODAY EPSN Top 25 coaches polls, dating back to Dec. 16, 2008.

Kellogg’s final season at Fort Lewis was a successful one at 26-5 overall and 19-3 in the RMAC. The Skyhawks won the league’s RMAC Shootout crown for the second year in a row, were ranked in the Top 25 from wire to wire, and made it to the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs. He graduated a five-woman senior class that went 57-1 in their home gym during their four-year careers.

The 2010-11 season was supposed to be a rebuilding one following the loss of the five seniors who guided the Skyhawks to the brink of their first-ever national championship in women’s basketball. Instead, FLC went 28-3 and posted its best winning percentage ever (.903). The Skyhawks also won their first-ever RMAC Shootout championship and were ranked in the USA TODAY ESPN Top 25 from start to finish. FLC also hosted the NCAA Division II Central Regionals for the second year in a row. FLC also came within one game of winning its fourth straight RMAC regular season crown.

This came on the heels of his 2009-10 team, a legendary group that posted a 35-4 overall record, advanced to the NCAA Division II national championship game in St. Joseph, Mo., and won RMAC regular season and West Division titles. This capped a remarkable four-year stretch that began with a second-year collegiate head coach recruiting five high school seniors who would forever change women’s basketball at FLC and in the RMAC.

More impressive is the success that Kellogg and the 2007 recruiting class — Audrey George, Laura Haugen, Katie Mackey, Lauren McCulloch, and Allison Rosel — achieved during the past three seasons. They went back-to-back-to-back by winning three consecutive RMAC regular season and West Division titles from 2007-08 through 2009-10. Their 54-3 league record during that time (.947) featured a trio of 18-1 conference slates — the best in RMAC and FLC history. They were also 89-12 (.881) overall during those three years, earning NCAA Division II playoff berths each season.

Fort Lewis College women’s basketball had enjoyed somewhat of a storied past prior to Kellogg’s arrival. Several teams in the 1980s, coached by Troy Bledsoe and Cathy Simbeck, won RMAC titles and had modest success in the NAIA District VII playoffs. After the mostly-forgettable decade of the 1990s, the team rebounded under Patty Patton-Shearer in the early 2000s and became perennial contenders for the RMAC West title.

Once Kellogg arrived in May 2005, a massive transformation ensued. His first season, 2005-06, was one that was supposed to be a rebuilding year. Instead, it saw the Skyhawks win the RMAC West title with 16-13 overall and 12-7 league records. Fort Lewis lost a 65-63 heartbreaker to CSU-Pueblo in the RMAC Shootout semifinals, letting a possible automatic bid to the NCAA Division II playoffs slip through their grasp.

His second season, 2006-07, saw him reload with the aforementioned freshman class, going 14-13 overall and 11-8 in the RMAC.

When his magical recruiting class returned as sophomores, the Skyhawks emerged as the RMAC’s clear powerhouse, posting a 26-4 overall record, winning the RMAC regular season and West Division titles with their first of three straight 18-1 conference records, and advancing to the NCAA Division II playoffs for just the second time in school history. FLC cracked the NCAA Division II Top 10 six times during the season, becoming a staple near the top of the weekly national rankings. Fifteen FLC team records were rewritten along the way.

2008-09 saw the Skyhawks inch closer to their ultimate goal. FLC went 28-4, 18-1 in league play, and added RMAC regular season and West Division trophies to their treasure chest. Wins over St. Cloud State (74-69) and Winona State (75-69 in overtime) marked the first two NCAA playoff victories in school history and put the Skyhawks into the NCAA-II Central Regional Championship, where they lost to eventual national champion Minnesota State, 72-61. The final score didn’t reflect how close the game was, as FLC scrapped to within six points in the final two minutes.

In 2009-10, the Skyhawks climbed to No. 1 in the national polls, posted their third straight 18-1 league record, and completed their trifecta of consecutive RMAC regular season and West Division titles. Along the way, they earned the right to host the Central Regionals for the first time in school history. Their packed Whalen Gymnasium — not to mention a campus elevation of nearly 6,900 feet above sea level — led to regional victories over Colorado Mines (63-54), Augustana (79-52), and Concordia St. Paul (73-64). For the first time ever, the Skyhawks had earned a trip to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight.

The St. Joseph Civic Arena saw the Skyhawks dispatch of Seattle Pacific (68-59) and Franklin Pierce (79-64), setting up a championship tilt with Emporia State. With 8:31 left in the second half, the Skyhawks were tied at 38 with the Hornets, their ultimate goal still in their sights. But the final minutes weren’t kind to Kellogg’s troops, who ultimately 65-53 before a national television audience on ESPN2 that gave Colorado’s Campus in the Sky exposure to millions of households across the country.

The Skyhawks held their heads high following the game, proud of their 35-4 record which set a new standard of excellence for RMAC women’s basketball. As the five seniors moved on toward graduation and future successes, Kellogg set his sights for rebuilding for the future.

As expected, postseason coaching awards rolled in. His colleagues across the league voted him RMAC Coach of the Year and RMAC West Division Coach of the Year in 2007-08, 2008-09, and 2009-10. Following the 2009-10 and 2010-11 seasons, the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) chose him as the Region VII Coach of the Year. He has twice been named Women’s Division II Bulletin Coach of the Month: in November 2008 and December 2010. In September 2011, Kellogg was honored as a member of FLC's All-Century Team, which featured 100 of the top players, coaches, and athletic administrators in school history.

Kellogg is a firm believer in succeeding in the classroom as well as on the court. His teams earned WBCA Academic Top 25 Team Honor Roll accolades three straight seasons for maintaining one of the highest cumulative grade point averages in the country (in 2008-09, 2009-10, and 2010-11). In 2010-11, the Skyhawks not only had the highest GPA in NCAA Division II, but in all five levels — NCAA Divisions I, II and III, NAIA, and community/junior colleges — of collegiate women’s basketball. Last year’s Skyhawks posted a 3.715 GPA during the fall and winter terms.  In 2009-10, the Skyhawks posted a team GPA of 3.428, good for 23rd in the nation in NCAA-II. The 2008-09 team was also 23rd in Division II with a 3.380 GPA. Kellogg’s final Skyhawk squad should follow in the footsteps of their predecessors and earn the distinction for the fourth year in a row when the academic team honors are announced in August.

Nine of his players earned RMAC All-Academic honors in 2011-12. All totaled during Kellogg’s seven-year FLC career, Skyhawks have received the RMAC academic distinction 58 times.

“This is an unbelievable accomplishment for our program and especially for our student-athletes,” Kellogg said following the WBCA announcement in July 2011. “Our players take great pride in their work in the classroom and are now being recognized on a national level for their commitment to academics. We set out to establish our basketball program as a Top 25 team both athletically and academically. Over the past two years, we have played for a national championship and now been rewarded as the top team in the country academically in all divisions.

Getting his teams involved on campus and in the community has always been a priority. He believes it's important for his student-athletes to give back to the community that supports them. Each player has participated in reaching out to Durango’s younger and older generations through a variety of events. Each season, the team gives back to the community by volunteering their time to nonprofit organizations. The team has helped build houses for low-income families through Habitat for Humanity, spent time at the Sunshine Gardens assisted living community, and has volunteered with the Boys and Girls Club of La Plata County and Fort Lewis College’s Campbell Child and Family Center. His teams have also helped with FLC athletic fundraisers like the Don Whalen President’s Cup Golf Tournament.

Kellogg joined the women's basketball program via Montana State University, where he was women’s basketball assistant from 2001-05. During the 2004-05 season, Kellogg was promoted to assistant head coach and offensive coordinator. While at Montana State, Kellogg helped guide the Bobcats to two Big Sky Conference championships, three appearances in the conference playoffs, and a bid to the Women's National Invitation Tournament (WNIT).

Prior to joining the Bobcat staff in 2001, the Dallas native spent two seasons as the assistant men's basketball coach at West Texas A&M University. In his two years (1998-2000) at West Texas A&M, the Buffaloes finished first and second in the Lone Star Conference and qualified for the NCAA postseason tournament in 1999.

Kellogg received his master's degree in sports and exercise science from West Texas A&M in 2000. He graduated in 1998 from Austin College in Sherman, Texas, with a bachelor’s degree in communication arts and physical education. While at Austin College, Kellogg competed on the basketball and golf teams for the Division III institution. Kellogg ranks as Austin’s fourth all-time leading scorer, amassing 1,446 points. He was also a Jostens Trophy Finalist, an award given to the NCAA Division III Basketball Athlete of the Year. Kellogg was three-time American Southwest all-conference selection, a two-time American Southwest all-academic pick, a second team All-South Region choice, and an All-District VI Academic student-athlete. He was nationally ranked in free throw percentage, three point field-goals per game, and scoring.

Kellogg and his wife, Trisha, have a four-year-old son, Camden, and a two-year-old daughter, Kayli.