PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Alisa Kintner is the most successful women's basketball coach in Widener University history.
During her 18 seasons in charge of the Division III Pride, Kintner won over 260 games and led the program to five NCAA Tournament appearances. She also shephered the program during its only three 20-win seasons.
Before taking charge in Chester, Kintner spent two years as an assistant coach at her alma mater, Delaware Valley University. During her career as a player, she played a key role in multiple postseason appearances and set numerous school records, including most single-game, season and career assists.
Her achievements during her college career earned her membership in both the Middle Atlantic Conference and Delaware Valley Athletics Halls of Fame.
Kintner stopped by the KYW Newsradio original podcast "1-on-1 with Matt Leon" to talk about her love of basketball, from the court to the clipboard. You can listen to the full conversation above. The following is a lightly edited excerpt.
Matt Leon: How good is it to just be back into the grind of a season? I know you guys didn't play last year because of the pandemic.
Alisa Kintner: We played.
Oh, did you?
We got a 10-game conference in last year. We didn't play everybody. But we made it to the championship against Messiah [University]. Messiah beat us in the championship. But we did get get a little bit of play, unlike others.
But what does it feel like to be pretty close to normal now, or maybe as close as we're gonna get for a while?
Absolutely. Well, last year was obviously very difficult for us. We were getting tested four times a week. So we had to kind of put that into play for us with scheduling every day and making sure the girls were on top of it. So it's much better this year. I mean, we're playing without masks down there in practice, without masks in games. I feel like we are back to normal at this point.
We had little bumps early, I would say, to get back to normal and get them back focused to how many hours it takes during a season. I think that's the biggest hurdle that we've been we fighting this year is, they got so much time to themselves last year to get you know, three or four hours a day for home during the week. It has been challenging, but you know, we're fighting through it. And we're getting back to normal which is great for us.
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Give me your origin story in basketball. Growing up, were you all basketball all the time, or were you a played whatever was in season, whatever was going on in the neighborhood kid?
I was played whatever was going on in the neighborhood kid from Philadelphia, so we played outside a lot. I had across from me, the twins that played at Rutgers, and they were dribbling up and down our our basketball court or our street every single day. And I was 2 1/2 years old and I would stand — you know, we're in row homes and I would sit at the door and watch them. Every day, my mom said, I would watch them.
Then one day I said, "I want to do that." And at three years old, I went out and I dribbled right next to her, up and down, up and down. Ever since then, I fell in love with the game. And I did it every single day.
But basketball was not my main sport. I played soccer, I played softball, and I did pretty well in each sport. To be honest, if you asked my parents, they would tell you, my dad would say softball was my best sport, my mom would say soccer was my best sport. And I would tell you that I fell in love with basketball, and that's why I chose the basketball route in college.
What was it about basketball that you fell in love with? I mean, you talk about, you know, that early memory. But once you get older and start playing, what was it about the game that you just fell in love with?
Everything about it. Honestly, I love to practice just as much as I love the game. And I would say in the other sports, that wasn't really the case. That's why I kind of fell in love with everything about the sport, you know, the film, the practice, the hard work that came with it. I never had to drive like that any other sports, so it kind of just came natural to me when it was time to pick a sport.
I was recruited for all three of those sports coming out of college, and I had higher offers in soccer than I did for basketball. But the choice was the love of the game for me. And I don't know if there was anything I could pinpoint and say, this is what I loved about it. I love everything all encompassing about the sport.
For more "1-on-1 with Matt Leon," subscribe on the Audacy app or wherever you get your podcasts.
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