IVCC hires veteran coach Marc Lowe to lead restart of women’s basketball program

After canceling the women’s basketball season this winter because of a low number of players, IVCC has hired a veteran coach to restart the program.

IVCC announced Monday it has hired Marc Lowe as its women’s basketball coach. Lowe has been a head coach at the junior college and high school levels and has served as an assistant coach for men’s and women’s NCAA Division I teams.

“Coach Lowe’s resume is truly impressive with coaching experience and success at the NCAA, NJCAA, IHSA and AAU levels,” IVCC athletic director Cory Tomasson said in a news release. “His recruiting experience will be a tremendous asset to getting this Eagles team back to the level of success that we have enjoyed in the past. While we know that this first year is a growth year, we are very optimistic of what the future holds for this program under his lead.”

Lowe played basketball at Fort Scott Community College in Kansas and NCAA Division II Alaska-Anchorage before starting his coaching career.

He was a men’s basketball assistant at Western Illinois University and a women’s basketball assistant at Bradley University and the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Lowe was the head girls basketball coach at Illinois Valley Central for two seasons, going 16-40, and was the head women’s basketball coach at Spoon River College when the junior college restarted its program in 2018. Spoon River was 2-18 in its first season in 2020-21 and went 14-16 in 2021-22.

“I’m a junior college product, and so are my wife and my daughter,” Lowe said in a news release. “I just like the junior college level because of the way basketball is going.

“I love teaching the game, the fundamentals and seeing the players grow and their game grow. It’s just the joy of being a teacher of the game and giving them the knowledge I have and watching them go.”

Lowe said he feels the IVCC situation is different than the program restart at Spoon River.

“Here at IVCC, I don’t feel we have to start over,” Lowe said. “This is a reboot. We’ll plug it back in.”

IVCC decided to cancel the women’s basketball season in 2023-24, citing a lack of time to hire a new coach after Josh Nauman resigned in May and a low number of players. The Eagles went 5-25 in their last season in 2022-23.

With the season canceled, Tomasson and assistant coach Brittney Moriarity worked on recruiting until Lowe was hired.

“We’re going to have energy going into next year,” Lowe said. “We’ve been recruiting really hard. Our alums are glad the program’s back. They enjoyed their time here, and they want other players coming through to enjoy theirs.

“Overall, I want fans to be excited about what we have going on and our players to be excited for the opportunities on and off the court.”