Chuck Love enters his sixth season at Nebraska in 2021-22, and his first as Nebraska's Associate Head Coach. The talented assistant enters his 10th season overall on Coach Amy Williams' staff.
In 2017-18, Love helped the Huskers produce the nation's top turnaround with 14 more wins than 2016-17. The Big Red qualified for the NCAA Tournament after tying for third in the Big Ten. NU also advanced to the Big Ten semifinals.
Nebraska's 2017-18 team included a pair of newcomers (freshmen Kate Cain and Taylor Kissinger) who gave Nebraska a top-25 recruiting class by ESPN. The Huskers added another ESPN top-25 recruiting class in 2018-19 and an ESPN top-25 class again for the upcoming 2021-22 season.
Cain, a 6-5 center, closed her four-year career at Nebraska with 1,085 points, 780 rebounds and a school-record 352 blocked shots, which ranked No. 6 in Big Ten history. A three-time member of the Big Ten All-Defensive Team, Cain was a two-time honorable-mention All-Big Ten choice and a member of the Big Ten All-Freshman Team. Cain signed a WNBA Training Camp contract with the Las Vegas Aces following her graduation.
Nebraska's top-25 class that entered 2018-19 as freshmen, included current Husker star Sam Haiby. The 5-9 guard from Moorhead, Minn., captured second-team all-conference honors in 2020-21 as the only player in the Big Ten to rank among the top 15 players in the league in scoring (11th, 16.8 ppg), rebounding (15th, 6.8 rpg) and assists (8th, 4.4 apg).
The 2021-22 class of Husker newcomers includes freshman Kendall Coley from Minneapolis, who got a taste of college basketball as an early enrollee at Nebraska in January of 2021. Coley, who was ranked among the top 50 players in the nation out of St. Louis Park High School, will be joined by Nebraska Gatorade and MaxPreps State High School Player of the Year Alexis Markowski, who averaged 23.3 points and 13.0 rebounds as a senior center for two-time state champion Lincoln Pius X in 2020-21. Another Nebraska high school star, Allison Weidner joins Markowski in the freshman class after scoring 2,282 points, dishing out 741 assists and grabbing 629 steals in her four-year career at Humphrey St. Francis. As a senior, Weidner led the state in scoring (25.0 ppg) and assists (6.4 apg) while ranking second in the state in steals (6.4 spg). She also averaged 7.0 rebounds per game.
After an impressive run to the 2018 NCAA Tournament, the Huskers were postseason eligible again in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic ended the season. A revamped Husker roster advanced to the WNIT round of 16 in 2021.
Love, who oversees Nebraska's player development program across all positions, spent four seasons as an assistant women's basketball coach at South Dakota, helping the Coyotes to 96 victories, a trio of Summit League titles and four straight trips to the conference tournament title game. He helped USD to a 32-6 record and a 2016 Summit League regular-season championship. The 2015-16 season culminated with a 2016 Postseason WNIT championship. In 2014-15, the Coyotes also won the Summit League regular-season title and advanced to the WNIT.
In year two at USD, Love was a key part of a run to the Summit League Tournament title and a trip to the 2014 NCAA Tournament. The Coyotes' success in 2013-14 followed a solid 2012-13 campaign that ended in the WBI semifinals.
Love joined Williams in South Dakota after spending 2011-12 as an assistant for the Rogers State men's basketball team. Williams was the head women's coach at Rogers State that same season, taking the Hillcats to the NAIA Elite Eight.
On the men's side at Rogers State, Love helped the Hillcats to the NAIA Elite Eight in 2011-12. He was responsible for recruiting, scouting and development of post players at Rogers State.
Love earned his first full-time assistant coaching job at Wayland Baptist in Texas, after serving as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Northwestern Oklahoma State. He competed at Northwestern Oklahoma State in 2006-07 and 2007-08. As a senior he was named the Sooner Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year. As a junior in 2006-07, he helped the Rangers reach the NAIA Elite Eight.
Love earned a bachelor's degree as a health and sports science major from Northwestern Oklahoma State in 2008. He and his wife, Charmaine, have two sons, Chuck III and Cameron, and a daughter, Camri. His oldest daughter is Alayzia Love.
