OXFORD, Ohio — This Women’s History Month, Spectrum News 1 is celebrating women in Ohio that have paved the way for the next generation. With March Madness upon us, it’s only fitting to highlight Mary Jo Huismann, an Ohio girls' basketball coach who has more wins than any other female coach in the state. 

Huismann is a fixture in Ohio high school girls' basketball, coaching the sport for 50 years. She said she knew at a young age that coaching was what she wanted to do.

“I feel like especially in high school, junior/senior, I knew that’s what I wanted to go into," Huismann said.

Huismann started coaching at the University of Cincinnati, which she said didn't pay for while pursuing her graduate degree. After a year stint coaching at Capital, she came back to southwest Ohio in 1972 and began coaching UC while also coaching at her alma matter, Mother of Mercy high school.

“You only played nine games, eight to 10 games at that time," she said. "That’s why I could do UC because UC only played 12 games, and so they went around my schedule.”

Mercy was where Huismann thrived, but she honestly never thought she’d stay there for 46 years.

“I thought I’d coach college because I was coaching college, and even when I went to Mercy, I had gone to Mercy, and so they knew me and they called me," Huismann said. "I took the job in maybe June and then in August I got some offers for Kent State and Ohio State. But then Mercy kept conceding and giving me more things, and I ended up loving being there.”

Huismann said once she got rolling, she never wanted to leave.

“Oh yeah!" she said. "Because it was a place, you know how people say they loved going to work? Yeah, I did!”

But in 2018, the school announced it would combine with McAuley High School due to declining enrollment.

“It was very, very hard," Huismann said. "I think it was hard on everybody.”

But Huismann didn’t get the job at the new school. While she thought it was the end of her career, she couldn’t quite give it up.

“I wasn’t going to coach," she said. "But then I just didn’t really want to stop, and then when they give me the job. Then I got more obsessed. It’s probably not good, but it’s part of my personality. Talawanda was open.”

That’s how she made her way to Oxford, building up a program for the second time in her career.

“I said, 'well I’ll try to build it up' and that’s challenging to me," she said. "I like the challenge, and at first, I thought I’m crazy. But it worked. We got better.”

There is where she got her 700th win, the first female coach in the state to do so. But she said that’s not what it’s about.

“It wasn’t why you stay," she said. "It isn’t why you go.”

Now, after finishing up her 50th season, Huismann gets asked every day, "how much longer?"

The truth is, as long as possible.

“As long as I physically can do it and mentally want to do it, it’s fun," she said. "I enjoy it. People think I’m crazy, but yes, I do enjoy it.”