Joseph Anders returns for his fourth season with New Mexico Women’s Basketball in 2014-15. Anders works with Lobo post players and guards and is an integral part of many aspects of the program including recruiting, opponent scouting, academics and player development.
Anders helped guide the program in 2013-14 as several Lobos achieved milestones. Antiesha Brown was named All-MW Honorable Mention, Sara Halasz became the 13th Lobo ever to record 1,000 points and 500 rebounds and Kianna Keller finished tied for third all-time in blocks by a freshman.
He was part of a six-win improvement in his first season as part of Coach Yvonne Sanchez’s staff that saw Caroline Durbin and Antiesha Brown take home all-conference honors.
Coach Anders came to Albuquerque with three decades of high-level coaching experience in men’s and women’s college basketball. Prior to joining the Lobos, he spent over a decade with the Arizona State Women’s Basketball program as both an associate head coach and an interim head coach. His time in Tempe saw Anders help take the Sun Devil program to new heights.
In 2011-12, while at the helm of the program, Arizona State won 20 games and qualified for an 11th-straight postseason tournament. The Anders-coached Sun Devils also set a Pac-12 record for the scoring defense allowing just 52.5 points per game. Arizona State would also set single-season and single-game program records in several defensive categories.
Anders was the Associate Head Coach at Arizona State from 2001-2011, which saw the Sun Devils gain national recognition with an impressive 224-102 (.687) record in those seasons. During his decade as the program’s top assistant coach, ASU made seven NCAA Tournaments (five in a row from 2005-2009) and three WNIT Tournaments. Those seven trips to the NCAA Tournaments include a pair of Elite Eight appearances and a Sweet 16 appearance.
He also oversaw an expansive number of individual athletic and academic accolades during his time in Tempe. Over twenty different Sun Devils would take home a combined 49 Academic All-Pac 12 honors while also earning six different ESPN/CoSIDA Academic All-District awards. On the court, three Sun Devils would go on to play in the WNBA with four players earning All-America honorable mentions. Nearly twenty Sun Devils combined to earn All-Pac 12 honors on 26 different occasions, including eight Pac 12 All-Freshman team award winners.
Anders’ tie to New Mexico and Coach Sanchez dates back to the late 1990’s, when both coaches worked with the women’s program at New Mexico State. Sanchez was with the Aggies from 1993-99 while Anders joined NMSU’s staff in 1996 and stayed until 2000.
Prior to his time with the Sun Devils, Anders was an assistant coach at East Carolina University, New Mexico State, Mississippi State, and Northern Arizona.
Coach Anders was the Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Cal State Sacramento from 1986-1992 after a one-year stint as the Hornets’ assistant coach. While the Hornets’ head coach, he was the 1989-90 Northern California Collegiate Coach of the Year as his team would post a 22-6 record. Anders would also receive a NCAA Division II Regional Coach of the Year nomination while the team received a top eight national ranking during the 1988-89 season. Outside of the court in Sacramento, Anders was named to Sacramento’s “Best and Brightest Professional People” list.
His first full-time coaching job came at Wilmar High School in Arkansas where Anders was head coach and athletic director from 1982-84. He posted an impressive 85-35 (.708) mark in his tenure with a state championship appearance in his final season at Wilmar.
Joseph Anders was a collegiate standout at the University of Arkansas – Monticello. He was an Honorable Mention All-Conference player in the 1979-80 season under Head Coach Doug Barnes.
Anders is a member of the Cal State University Sacramento Hall of Fame and the Northern California Athletics Hall of Fame. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arkansas-Monticello. Anders is married to the former Pamela Mason, and they have one child, Nicole Anders.