Julie Manning may be best known as the head coach of the ISU women’s golf team. However, this spring it’s another sport taking up much of her time.

The former ISU golfer is the tournament manager for the upcoming NCAA Women’s Midwest Regional basketball tournament.

Senior associate athletic director J. Elaine Hieber helped recommend Manning for the position and is confident of the job she’ll do.

“I was on the women’s basketball committee for six years, and was confident that [Julie] could provide the leadership skills that were needed in this type of endeavor,” Hieber said.

Manning said she’s happy she was chosen for the position.

“I was very flattered,” she said. “It’s been very enjoyable for me.”

This year the NCAA women’s basketball tournament will celebrate its 20th anniversary, crowning an eventual champion in San Antonio. Along the way, the teams will encounter four regional sites on their way to the heart of Texas.

One of those regionals is in Ames, home of this season’s Midwest Regional semifinals and finals. With an estimated population of 50,731, the area wouldn’t seem to be an ideal site for such a large sporting event, but Manning isn’t worried.

“It’s very unusual for a city this size to support this,” she said. “The NCAA really evaluated everything that we have, [including] fan base and support.”

NCAA tournament director Susan Donohoe said Ames’s Hilton Coliseum was chosen as a location, because Iowa State was a strong institution that has held and operated several past major events.

As tournament manager, Manning has had to work with the NCAA executives in Indianapolis, along with a staff of volunteer workers that includes university personnel and members of the community.

“It allows the community to work together on this project,” Manning said of the tournament. “There’s a lot of people that are just women’s basketball fans and are going to enjoy the four teams that make it here. It a philanthropic effort for the love of women’s basketball.”

Donohoe said that the managers of the regional sites participate in a seminar in late August and are given a manual and schedule to maintain steady progress.

Manning already knows a little about running a large sporting event. Last May, she helped to coordinate and run the Big 12 golf championships at the Harvester Golf Course in Rhodes.

“I thought being the Big 12 golf tournament manager would be more difficult because of the weather,” she said. “I wouldn’t rate one [experience] above the other by any means. I think the stresses are different.”

Hieber said Manning has been prepared to take on this sort of role for the past couple of years.

“She served as our senior women’s administrator last year,” Hieber said. “She has also had a managing role in our two bowl trips.”

She said people should expect a dynamic regional, thanks to Manning’s efforts.

One of the consequences of Manning’s position is she will miss her team’s second spring tournament. The lady golfers will compete at the Waterlefe Invitation on March 18-19 while their coach will be prepping for the basketball tournament.

“It’s a big thing for me to be away from them, and I’m really looking for the Laura Wellses and Sarah Gilberts to step up and lead this team,” Manning said.

For Manning, the opportunity is another option to store away more experience just in case her coaching days run out. She said the players have supported her, and she would do the same for them in a similar situation.

“I think that if they couldn’t go on a trip because of something academic, they would have to know that I would treat them with the same respect that they are giving me,” she said.

For now, Manning knows that on March 23 and 25, thousands of fans and millions of eyes will focus on Hilton Coliseum and the Midwest Regional.

“I just hope that I can represent women’s basketball and Iowa State University in a first-class manner,” Manning said.