Salt Lake Community College’s Betsy Specketer, one of two coaches in the state’s history with 500 wins in one college basketball program, announced her retirement Monday.
Specketer is leaving SLCC after a 25-6 season and a sixth consecutive trip to the NJCAA tournament. The Illinois native posted a 545-196 record in 23 seasons as the Bruins’ head coach, following two years as an assistant. Her move was “definitely not something that was decided in haste,” Specketer said in a school news release. “My experience at SLCC has been nothing but positive, but there comes a time when maybe you would like to do some different things.”
Elaine Elliott, who coached the University of Utah women's team through 2010, posted 582 victories. The only men's college basketball coaches with 500 wins at Utah schools are Jon Judkins (Snow/Dixie State), Norm Parrish (SLCC/Westminster) and Dave Rose (Dixie State/BYU). Utah State's Stew Morrill is the only coach in Utah history with 600 career wins; about one-third of those victories came at Montana and Colorado State.
In a Salt Lake Tribune interview after her 500th victory in November 2017, Specketer said, “I never really wanted to be someplace else.”
After coaching for 10 years at an Illinois high school, Specketer joined former SLCC coach Monica Starrett’s staff in 1994. She became the head coach in ’96, coinciding with the Bruins’ move from the old South High School gym to the Lifetime Activities Center on the Taylorsville campus.
SLCC reached the NJCAA semifinals in 2017. More than 70 of Specketer’s players moved on to four-year programs.
