Robert Semling

Head Men's Basketball Coach - Associate Lecturer

Office: 113 HEC
Phone: 346-4375
Email: rsemling@uwsp.edu

Courses Taught

COAC 282 - Coaching of Basketball
WLNS 135 - Beginning Golf
WLNS 183 - Weight Training

Coaching changes can bring uncertainty, but not in the case of the UW-Stevens Point men's basketball program where Bob Semling has kept the Pointers among the elite teams in the NCAA Division III in his first two seasons.

Semling, who begins his third season as the Pointers' head coach in 2007-08, is coming off a 26-3 Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship season that saw the Pointers spend much of the season as the nation's top-ranked team. Semling was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches West Region Coach of the Year in addition to earning WIAC Coach of the Year honors.

Semling has posted a 43-13 career record in his first two seasons as head coach. Along with the wins, the Pointers have achieved some amazing statistical feats, leading Division III in both free throw percentage and fewest turnovers per game in each of Semling's two seasons. UW-Stevens Point set an NCAA Division III record in 2006-07 by shooting 82.3 percent after leading the country at 79.2 percent in 2005-06. UW-Stevens Point was the only schools among 1,187 NCAA and NAIA programs to shoot better than 80.1 percent at the free throw line. The Pointers also averaged just 8.5 turnovers per game last season and committed just 10.6 turnovers per game the previous year.

Having served as an assistant coach with the Pointers' back-to-back NCAA Division III championship teams in 2003-04 and 2004-05, Semling took over the reins in 2005-06 and guided a relatively fresh group of players back near the top of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference standings with a third place league finish and 17-10 overall record.

Semling is actually in his second stint with the Pointers' coaching staff, sandwiching both tenures around eight years at the Division I level.

Semling was an assistant coach at UW-Stevens Point under Bob Parker from 1988-95 as the Pointers posted a 127-63 record, including a 27-2 mark in 1991-92. During Semling’s first tenure at UW-Stevens Point, the Pointers won two conference championships and made two NAIA national tournament appearances.

He then spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at UW-Green Bay and one year as the Director of Basketball Operations at New Mexico before returning to UW-Stevens Point for the 2003-04 season. While at UW-Green Bay, Semling helped the Phoenix to a Mid-Continent Conference title and NCAA tournament appearance in his first season.

A Merrill native, Semling was a three-year starter at quarterback at UW-Eau Claire from 1977-79. As a student at UW-Eau Claire, he assisted with Ken Anderson and the men’s basketball team, making NAIA Final Four appearances in each of his final two seasons.

Semling then spent one season as an assistant at Park Falls High School and assisted former Pointers' coach Jack Bennett for two seasons at Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln High School, reaching the state tournament with both schools. Semling was the head coach at Wausau West High School for three seasons from 1985-88, winning back-to-back regional championships in his final two seasons prior to coming to UW-Stevens Point.

He and his wife, Kathy, have three children, Jenna, Kreg and Lauryn.