MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (WOOD) — After 13 years and back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament, the Sue Guevara-era of Central Michigan University women’s basketball couldn’t have been flying higher.
Then it ended in the blink of an eye.
The 65-year-old coach announced her retirement on Friday morning. Her contract with the Chippewas was set to expire in 2019-20.
“I am in good health, I am not dying,” Guevara said at her exit press conference. “No one asked me to leave, it’s been a real long process for me.”
Guevara went on to explain that she was tired following the 2018-19 campaign, which came to an end with her team falling to Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana during the NCAA Tournament.
“I was with the team this morning and they were running, and I knew what I was about to do in an hour, but I couldn’t take my coaching hat off yet,” she said.
“I barked at them a little bit. I told them ‘you give 100 percent, 100 percent of the time.’ I told our players if you are going to do that, I have to do that. I didn’t feel like I could give our players 100 percent.”
Going into spring workouts, Guevara didn’t feel like she was giving everything she had. Fatigue was showing. She went to Ireland and felt her “mojo” would come back. It was a bucket list item of Guevara’s to visit the country.
Instead, she realized this is something she wanted to do more but couldn’t if she was still coaching the Chippewas.