From hoops to rope loops

Once Pat Dobratz made it to the high dive she plunged back into the shallow end, an unusual move in the world of Division I basketball.

“I knew I wanted to get out of coaching,” the former Idaho women’s coach said. “I got out while I was young and successful. I wanted to do something else.”

So after compiling a six-year record of 142-39 that included the Vandals’ only appearance in the NCAA tournament and concluded with the 1986 WNIT championship the next year, Dobratz, who was only 32, not only left Idaho, she left the profession.

She moved to Seattle and joined former Washington coach Kathie Neir teaching youth swimming.

“I was ready to do something else, involved with kids and teaching. It was a perfect transition and,” she said, laughing, “I made a lot of money.”

The Vandals won 22 and 27 games the first two seasons after Dobratz replaced Stanford Hall of Fame coach Tara Van Derveer at Idaho. They went 18-10 in 1982-83 when they moved up to Division I and into the Mountain West Conference, then 21-9.

In 1984-85, Idaho was 28-2, the second loss to Cheryl Miller-led USC in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Dobratz finished a 26-5 season with a 101-91 win over Northwest Louisiana in the championship game of the WNIT in Amarillo, Texas.

Idaho has had one 20-win season since.

“I really enjoyed the coaching of basketball, the strategies, the team, the practice,” Dobratz said. “What I’ve not missed at all is the other outside factors. People don’t realize when you put a team on a court, so many things blend in. … You’re a parent, you have influence on them, that’s enjoyable; the other stuff, I didn’t enjoy.”

Dobratz graduated from South Dakota State and was going to graduate school in Kansas when she first heard of Idaho, applying for the job that went to Van Derveer. She ended up accepting a job as graduate assistant at Washington, coached by Neir.

“It rained for the first 17 days. I was ready to go home,” she said.

After a 17-11 season, Neir resigned and Dobratz became interim coach, going 14-14 with the Huskies in 1979-80 before Sue Kruszewski was hired.

Van Derveer left Idaho after a 25-6 record for Ohio State and Dobratz became a Vandal.

“When I came in there it was a winning program,” she said. “I was lucky. I had great assistant coaches. It was a combination of them recruiting and players willing to work, play for the team. You need talent and good work ethic and believing in the team concept.”

The downside is being consumed by the job.

“It was the perfect time in my life,” she said. “It was 24-7, but it’s what I wanted to do while I was young, while it was fun. During those six years I was so focused on the life. Half the time I couldn’t tell you what was going on in the world, what the most famous movie was or hit song. It’s just so time consuming. The sacrifice families make. … These coaches earn everything they get.

“It takes a lot out of you. I wanted a life. I wanted to do other things.”

Neir, who had a pool on her property and wanted to teach swimming and water survival to pre-teens, convinced Dobratz to join her, and that was her career for 13 years. When Neir’s son wanted to take over the business, Dobratz got her teaching certificate.

After some long-term subbing in Bellevue she got a full-time job in the high school and was the badminton coach, rejecting offers to coach basketball. “Been there, done that,” she said.

The past four years she has taught in the elementary school and limited her coaching to the jump rope club.

In September, Dobratz and the ‘84-85 team was part of Idaho’s first Hall of Fame class.

Returning to Moscow was a pleasant experience.

“I was so young when I got the job; the players weren’t that much younger,” she said. “You forget all about the wins and losses when you get together and hang out. It was really kind of fun, seeing how they moved on. Some said, ‘We didn’t appreciate you then, we appreciate you now.’ They were nice young people.”