In spring 1999, she was all smiles. She was positive, confident and energetic – the perfect model of a new coach at a new school with dreams of turning around a struggling program. She brought hope that the Northwestern women’s basketball team would be able to turn things around.

Oh, how times have changed.

Although June Olkowski was hired only three years ago, it must seem to the Northwestern head coach like it’s been eons since she decided to leave Butler for NU.

Olkowski’s tenure with the Wildcats has been full of lopsided losses and pitiful performances. And now, almost three years after she was brought in to lead the Cats, one thing has become obvious: Olkowski isn’t getting the job done.

NU needs some new blood, someone to ignite a spark. A new coach could provide some of the answers for a team that has plenty of questions.

NU certainly isn’t the most talented team in the Big Ten, but the Cats are capable basketball players.

Still, Olkowski’s Cats have somehow managed to go more than two years without winning a regular-season Big Ten game.

Results like these have left the coach wondering what went wrong after she arrived in Evanston.

Why has a coach who was named the Midwestern Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year three times at Butler been unable to turn the Cats into winners?

Why has NU’s conference winless streak reached a school-record 40 games?

But more importantly, Olkowski worries about what might happen if the Cats can’t turn things around quickly.

“Obviously, this is my livelihood,” she says. “You do think about things. You wouldn’t be human if you didn’t.

“Coaches are human. We have human emotions.”

Of course the team’s struggles bother Olkowski. A mark of 15-65 would keep most coaches up nights.

Her players are worried about their coach’s job security too, which can only put more pressure on a team in dire need of some success.

“How can we not worry about that?” junior Natalie Will says. “I don’t want her to get fired because of us. We love her and we try.”

Despite the players’ allegiance and Olkowski’s apparent desire to stick it out at NU and help out her players, the Cats’ inability to improve under Olkowski can’t be ignored.

Instead of making the leap back to conference contender, NU has become the doormat of the Big Ten, a guaranteed ‘W’ for even the worst conference opponents.

And try as she might, that’s something Olkowski hasn’t been able to change.

After dropping a number of close games to conference opponents early in the season – enough to arouse talk of “moral victories” – the Cats have taken a nose-dive in recent contests.

To be fair, NU has played much of the season without returning leading scorer Emily Butler. But the junior hardly would have mattered in last week’s eyesores.

Wisconsin blew NU out of the Kohl Center on Thursday, 80-47. And the Cats took one on the chin at home against Ohio State on Sunday, falling 87-69 and giving up an astounding 42 points off turnovers.

“I didn’t anticipate this happening this year,” Olkowski says. “We’ve had our chances in games and we just haven’t been able to win.”

Actually, the Cats have struggled to win ever since Olkowski arrived at NU.

In her first season the Cats managed to win three Big Ten matchups and one conference tournament game, but could muster only seven total victories.

And after that, things just got worse.

Olkowski’s squad won an abysmal four games last year and the team has captured only four more victories this season with two games remaining before the Big Ten tournament.

Most coaches with that kind of track record would be on their way out the door.

Olkowski should be no exception.

Justin Goldsborough is a Medill senior. He can be reached at [email protected].