St. Thomas women’s basketball coach Ruth Sinn announced Tuesday she will retire after the 2025-26 season.
Sinn, the winningest coach in program history, has been involved with the Tommies as both player and coach for a combined 25 years.
“St. Thomas has been home to me and my family for nearly my entire adult life,” Sinn was quoted saying in a press release Tuesday morning. “Every season, every team and every locker room has left a mark on me. Watching our student-athletes grow, not just as basketball players, but as people, has been the greatest joy of my career.”
In her 21 years as head coach, Sinn led UST to 417 wins, becoming the first women’s basketball coach at UST to win 400 games. Sinn earned 62 of those wins at the Division I level.
From 2010-2021, Sinn commanded the Tommies to a 250-31 record at the Division III level, the most dominant 10-year stretch of all Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference basketball teams, male or female.
During that stretch, Sinn brought St. Thomas to three Division III Final Fours and 13 MIAC championships.
“I am really grateful for every lesson, every challenge, and every moment I had with her. The leadership, lessons, and countless hours she poured into this program did not go unnoticed and the impact goes far beyond any wins or losses,” sophomore forward Alyssa Sand, wrote in a message to The Crest.
Sinn was a 2011-12 National Coach of the Year finalist, won MIAC Coach of the Year four times (2008, 2012, 2015 and 2017) and was named West Region Coach of the Year twice (2012, 2017).
From 1981-84, Sinn played for St. Thomas, leading her team to MIAC conference titles in 1983 and 1984. As a player, her legacy lives on in the Tommie Athletic Hall of Fame, where she was one of the first seven women inducted in 1992.
Coach Sinn will be honored at the Tommies’ final home game of the season against Kansas City on Feb. 25 in Lee and Penny Anderson Arena.
“I want to thank her for believing in us, and I hope she can just enjoy retirement because she has more than earned it,” Sand wrote.
Owen Bell can be reached at bell9606@stthomas.edu.
