Ron Rohn arrived at Muhlenberg in 2001 as the new kid among the Lehigh Valley’s Division III women’s basketball coaches.
A quarter-century later, he’s the first of a trio that includes Moravian’s Mary Beth Spirk and DeSales’ Fred Richter slated to depart.
Rohn announced in August that he planned to retire after the 2025-26 season. Saturday he will guide Muhlenberg against Spirk and Moravian in his final matchup against a Lehigh Valley rival. Rohn said he hadn’t given much thought to Saturday marking the end of a unique era in local women’s basketball. His focus has been on preparing the Mules (6-5 overall) to return from their holiday break.
Muhlenberg coach Ron Rohn talks with players during a game against Widener in 2001. (Ed Landrock/The Morning Call)
Rohn acknowledged the matchups against Moravian and DeSales always provided extra juice given the success of all three programs. Consider that:
Rohn has won 433 games with the Mules, making him the winningest coach in any sport in Muhlenberg history. He has guided the Mules to eight Centennial Conference titles and nine NCAA Division III tournament berths.
Spirk has won 651 games in 38 seasons at Moravian. She has also led nine teams to the NCAA tournament.
Richter has won 687 games in 36 seasons with DeSales. The Bulldogs have captured 14conference titles and reached the NCAA tournament 15 times.
“Looking back, the rivalry with both Moravian and DeSales has been great,” Rohn said by phone Monday. “We had many years where two of us or all three of us were nationally ranked kind of teams. They wound up being really big games from a national perspective, not just a local perspective.
“It’s great programs with great coaches,” he added. “It always made for exciting nonleague games. Sometimes your nonleague games don’t have the same intensity and pizzazz, but obviously those games always did.”
Douglas Kilpatrick/The Morning Call
Moravian coach Mary Beth Spirk encourages her team during a game against Muhlenberg in December 2008. (Douglas Kilpatrick/Special to The Morning Call)
Spirk is looking forward to sharing the sidelines with Rohn one more time. She sat out last season while undergoing treatment for cancer.
Moravian announced in early November that Spirk would return to coaching this season. She has missed a few practices for scheduled treatments but has coached the Greyhounds (3-7) in every game.
“Every day I get up and I sit at the end of the bed, get dressed and say, ‘Hey, let’s go,’ ” Spirk said Sunday. “I give myself a pep talk, say a little prayer and get through each day.”
Inconsistency, especially with shooting, has hindered Moravian and Muhlenberg so far. Moravian is shooting 38.4% from the field and 27.3% from 3-point range. Muhlenberg is shooting 32.3% from the field and 25.4% from 3-point range.
Spirk and Rohn share optimism that 2026 could bring improved performance from their teams. The Greyhounds and Mules both feature rotations with limited experience.
“One of the things that’s been interesting — and I don’t know who the favorite will be going in Saturday against Moravian — but the Moravian series since I’ve been here has often been hallmarked by whoever’s the underdog being the team that wins,” Rohn said. “So, we can be the underdog going in if that helps us at all.”
Regardless of which role each team occupies Saturday, Rohn and Spirk will coach hard. It’s what’s they’ve done whenever they’ve faced each other since 2001 and contributed to 2 ½ decades of compelling matchups.
“Obviously he’s intense, coaching against him,” Spirk said with a laugh. “I’m going to miss that, looking down and sometimes smiling and going, ‘Come on, Ron.’ Or even yelling at him. We’re both intense; it’s just like with Fred [Richter]. Fred and I laughed about it. That’s what we’ve done over the years.
“You say things to each other, and then you’re hugging each other after the game. Hopefully it’s a mutual respect between Ron and myself. It’s certainly been fun.”
Coval comes close to home: Parkland graduate Nick Coval will make his nearest appearance to the Lehigh Valley this season when Davidson visits St. Joseph’s for its first Atlantic 10 road game Saturday (6 p.m.).
Coval, a redshirt freshman, is averaging 23 minutes per game for the Wildcats (8-5 overall). He is averaging 9 points per game (fourth on the team) while shooting 45.5% from 3-point range and 90.3% from the foul line.
Coval sat out Davidson’s 89-83 double-overtime loss to Duquesne on Tuesday with an injury.
Tip-ins: The Moravian men won the 45th Steel Club Classic by beating FDU-Florham and Ursinus. Marquis Ratcliff (Pottsville Nativity BVM) was named the tournament MVP after scoring 23 points, grabbing nine rebounds and dishing out three assists in the title game. … The Lafayette women headed into Patriot League play leading the Patriot League in field-goal percentage defense (37.2%).
Stephen Miller is a freelance writer.