Talking sports with ... South Carolina assistant coach Fred Chmiel

Fred Chmiel, a 1989 graduate of Palmer High School, is an assistant coach for the South Carolina women's basketball team that won the NCAA championship last week with a 67-55 win over Mississippi State.

His responsibilities include coaching South Carolina's post players, all of whom are at least six inches taller than the 5-foot-9 Chmiel. "There's a post player in me dying to get out," he joked.

Chmiel, 45, competed in basketball, football and baseball while in high school, where one of his best friends was Paul Reid, now an assistant principal at Palmer High. In college, he played two seasons of basketball at Feather River College in California and two seasons at UAF in Fairbanks.

He's been a coach for 22 years, the last two with the Gamecocks. He met South Carolina head coach Dawn Staley in 2005 when she was a player and he was a coach for the Charlotte Sting of the WNBA.

Chmiel and his wife, Julie, have two daughters — 7-year-old Skylar ("She just started picking up a basketball because of the tournament," he said) and 5-month-old Ivy. He'll be back in Alaska next month for the high school graduation of his niece, Saraya Willis of Eagle River.

Q. What was it like Sunday night when the game ended and you were the national champions?

A. It's kind of a utopia. I can't even explain what it felt like. It's beyond amazing. I couldn't put it into words. It was very emotional and it just kind of washed over you, really just disbelief. To this day I still don't believe it. Every once in a while I'm sitting at my desk and it'll strike me in a moment — wow, we won the national championship.

Q. How confident did you feel going into the game, especially after UConn lost in the semifinals?

A. It was third time we faced Mississippi State, and they say it's hard to beat anybody three times but we felt like we had the recipe for that. We felt like we were on quite a roll, like we were playing our best basketball at that time. We were eager to prove we could be the national champions. We weren't hesitant because UConn was in the (Final Four).

Q. Did you climb the ladder and help cut down the net?

A. I'm not much for the limelight, so I wanted to scoot up there and snip it off and run back down before I embarrassed myself.

Q. Where's your piece of string from the net?

A. It's in my office sitting on the table. I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet — I've got some ideas about framing it. But that ring's coming too. I usually don't wear my championship rings, but I'm gonna wear that one.

Q. How many rings do you have?

A. I've won two conference championships at Temple, two at San Diego State, three in the Big 10 at Penn State and last year (at South Carolina) we got rings for (winning) the SEC and (making) the Sweet 16.

I'm gonna knock on wood right now, but I've never not made the NCAA tournament since I started coaching women's college basketball. I've been 11 times.

Q. Could you see this team had national championship potential when you came on board?

A. Absolutely. They were coming off a Final Four, so I knew they had a great lineup. They didn't lose many people and a lot of returners were coming back. Dawn has helped me out so much in the past, I knew if she ever called I would be there.

Q. What kind of help did she give you?

A. First and foremost she'd given me a job when I didn't have one. She gave me my start in women's collegiate basketball. She's a great leader that takes care of her people, not only financially, but if you ever need anything from her, she's willing to give what she has. Your family is her family. You hear that a lot, but this is the only team (I've been with) that's acted on it. We do almost everything together. I'm with them more than I'm with my own family.

Q. How content are you to stay at South Carolina?

A. Very content. If something came across my path that was something I couldn't pass up (I'd consider it) but my family's very happy here. I love my job and the people I work with. I don't see anything that juicy out there.

Q. What kind of homecoming did the team get?

A. There's a parade on Sunday (April 9). They'll shut down the streets and put us on some floats. The day we got home there were thunderstorms (so the airport welcome was canceled) but the airport did a nice thing for us — they had two fire engines out there and they put their hoses out and (gave us a water salute). They say they only do that for the president, so that was nice.

Q. What do the players think about you being from Alaska?

A. That I've probably lived in an igloo and mushed dogs. They think I'm joking at first — "No, where did you really live?" I grew up in Alaska, my dad (Joe) was a commercial fisherman and my mom (Rosa) was the librarian at Palmer High School.

FRED CHMIEL’S COACHING CAREER

2015-present — Assistant women's coach, South Carolina

2014-15 — Assistant women's coach, Minnesota

2010-14 — Assistant women's coach, Penn State

2008-10 — Assistant women's coach, San Diego State

2006-08 — Assistant women's coach, Temple University

2006 — Head coach, San Jose Spiders (National Women's Basketball League)

2005 — Assistant coach, Charlotte Sting (WNBA)

1999-2005 — Head men's coach, Lassen College

1995-99 — Head men's coach, Feather River College

1994-95 — Assistant men's coach, Feather River College

EXCLUSIVE CLUB

Chmiel is one of a handful of Alaskans who have been part of an NCAA Division I national basketball championship team.

The others:

Carlos Boozer, Juneau — player on Duke's 2001 title team

Jessica Moore, Palmer — player on three UConn title teams (2002, 2003, 2004)

C.J. Hooker, Palmer — player on North Carolina's 2005 title team

Mario Chalmers, Anchorage — player on Kansas' 2008 title team

Ronnie Chalmers, Anchorage — director of basketball operations for Kansas' 2008 title team