Paul Rundquist headed to Iowa City Regina as new hoops coach

CEDAR RAPIDS — It’s not often you get a chance to hire a coach who has won a state championship.

When Iowa City Regina got that chance, it pounced.

The school announced Monday that Paul Rundquist will lead its boys’ basketball program. Rundquist replaces Barry Lehman and will be Regina’s third head coach in four seasons and its sixth in 10 years.

The Regals went 9-13 this past season.

“It’s a great opportunity, and I feel like it’s a place where we can have a lot of success,” Rundquist said Monday night. “The situation there reminds me a lot of when I took over at Mount Pleasant. You’ve got a lot of great athletes, and we just need to get a basketball in their hands. I think it’s a program that needs to be built from the bottom up, starting with the elementary (kids). Building those youth programs, like we did at Mount Pleasant. That takes time, so I’m hoping people realize that. It’s not necessarily an overnight fix. But the support and the well wishes I have gotten are a little bit overwhelming at this point.”

Rundquist won a Class 3A state championship in 2012 as head coach at Mount Pleasant. The Maquoketa Valley grad has 375 career victories in 24 seasons as a head coach at Mediapolis, Mount Pleasant and Iowa City West.

He has been co-head coach with Steve Bergman at West for the past five seasons. He’ll remain a teacher at the school.

“Berg has always been a mentor of mine, and we have a fantastic relationship,” Rundquist said.

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