Coaching Staff

Head Coach Tracee Fairbanks became the Tigers head women's basketball coach in 1999. A 1996 Doane graduate, she currently serves as an assistant professor of mathematics at Doane. She was a guard and captain for the Tigers when they made their first appearance in the Final Four at the NAIA national tournament. She earned a Master of Education degree from Doane College in 1998.

During Fairbank's tenure, Doane has had eight All-American, 32 Scholar-Athletes (1999-2011), including four in 2003 and 2008 which are the most in Tiger women's basketball history, and a trip to the NAIA National Tournament in 2005 and 2006. The Tigers, as a whole, have also excelled in academic, placing 2nd in the nation with a cumulative GPA of 3.64 in the 2001-02 season and 6th in 2002-03. In 2004-05, Fairbanks was named GPAC Coach-of-the-Year after leading the Tigers to a runner-up finish in the conference standings and qualifying for the NAIA National Tournament.

Coach Fairbanks strives to install all of the things coaches want in a prominent basketball player: dedication, meeting challenges, teamwork, sportsmanship, and overall competitive spirit. She wants her student-athletes to be prepared on and off the court: not only in being prepared mentally and physically for game situations, but also that they have the overall capacities to prosper in the daily rigors of life off of the court. It is Coach Fairbanks' aspiration that all her players take something positive from the program and leave a better overall person than when they arrived at Doane.

Coach Fairbanks believes strongly in, and aims to live by the words she once heard from a motivational speaker, "Someday everything that you have (own) will someday be someone else's, but what you are, is yours."  Her philosophy in basketball coincides with those words: the teaching and delivery of basketball fundamentals by coaches, and the desire to learn and work toward acquiring sound fundamentals by athletes are part of the person.  The efforts one puts in, transpires into the end result:  hard work, a passion to win while understanding that losing isn't fatal and the ability to respect one another are the intangibles that are bound to a person and no one can take that away without that person's permission.

Coach Fairbanks is also well known for using quotes. Two of her more popular quotes that hang in her office are: "I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it" - Thomas Jefferson & "Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it." - Lou Holtz

In her spare time, Tracee enjoys spending time with her husband, Jeremy, and their daughters, Brynna and Gracey, and son, Brysen. Tracee also enjoys reading books and the occasional shopping.

Assistant Coach Rick Schmuecker joined the Tiger coaching staff in 2003, but is no stranger to the NAIA and the Great Plains Athletic Conference.

Prior to Doane, he attended Midland Lutheran College and graduated with a degree in business administration/accounting with a minor in coaching. He served as an undergrad assistant for the women's program for two years. At MLC, he helped with on-court coaching and film exchange.

At Doane, Schmuecker has served as the guard's and post's coach. He works with post position currently after spending four years with the guards. Shooting fundamentals and defense are two of the main areas that Schmuecker focuses on for the Tiger players. He is in charge of the Tiger's film exchange and assists in preparing scouting reports on opponents and recruiting, on and off campus.

A member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), he helps organize Doane's efforts each February to raise awareness for cancer research through The V Foundation and Kay Yow Cancer Research Fund. He also aids in the Doane Volleyball team's efforts for Dig Pink, raising awareness for breast cancer in October.

The Sports Information Director for Doane College athletics, Schmuecker is a member of the NAIA-SIDA (Sports Information Director's Association) and has received numerous awards for Doane publications and Web site content. He is also a member of CoSIDA (College Sports Information Director's of America), receiving Second Place honors in the Special Event Media Guide category for the NAIA National Volleyball Tournament game program. He has helped Doane athletes earn five Academic All-American honors in recent years, the first in the school's history, as well as several All-District Academic honors.

Assistant Coach Dominique Kelley joined the Tiger coaching ranks in Fall 2011.  A stand-out at the University of Nebraska, Kelley was a four-year starter for the Cornhuskers before injuries forced her to miss parts of her senior season.

Despite playing only 13 games in the 2010-11 for the Huskers, Kelley finished her career with 1,107 points, 17th in the school's history.  Kelley started her first 109 collegiate games and finished sixth in career free throws made and seventh in free throw percentage.  In 2009-10, she helped lead the Cornhuskers to an undefeated regular-season and Big XII title along with a No. 1 seed in the Women's NCAA Division I Tournament.  Averaging 18.3 points per game in the national tournament, Kelley and the Huskers reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in school history.

Doane will be her first collegiate coaching stop.  Kelley will work with the guards and coach the Tiger junior varsity team along with assistanting in a variety of the basketball daily operations.