Vanderbilt names Colorado State's Collen as new women's coach

NASHVILLE - Vanderbilt has hired Colorado State coach Tom Collen as its new women&#39;s basketball coach, and he will be introduced Wednesday afternoon at a news conference. <br> <br> School officials announced his hiring in a statement Wednesday morning. <br> <br> Collen met with Vanderbilt athletics director Todd Turner last weekend but had returned home to Colorado on Monday. He replaces Jim Foster, who resigned to take the Ohio State job April 7. <br> <br> Collen had been talking about extending his contract at Colorado State, where he is the winningest coach in school history with a record of 129-33 over five years. He took the school to the postseason in each of his five seasons. <br> <br> The Rams return four starters, but Collen called Vanderbilt a great job for personal and professional reasons. <br> <br> ``I&#39;m excited about having the opportunity to become head coach at Vanderbilt University. The most important factor for myself and (wife) Nicki is that it enables us to be closer to our families,&#39;&#39; the Ohio native said. <br> <br> The Rams had NCAA tournament berths in 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002 and went 24-7 this past season with an opening round tourney loss to Tulane. <br> <br> But moving to Vanderbilt puts him back in the Southeastern Conference where he worked as an assistant coach and associate head coach at Arkansas. He was the recruiting coordinator for the Lady Razorbacks and helped sign several of their key players. <br> <br> Vanderbilt has All-American Chantelle Anderson and guard Ashley McElhiney back for next season and is expected to be one of the nation&#39;s top 10 teams for the second straight year. This past season the Commodores advanced to the NCAA regional final, losing to Tennessee.