Although the departure of former Penn State women's basketball head coach Rene Portland has left people in Happy Valley perplexed, the news came especially hard to one group of loyal fans.
"To see her go was really a shame," sophomore Jessica Bogniak said. "She has built a great program here, and to see her go was something that I hadn't hoped to see in my collegiate career. I didn't expect this at all."
Bogniak is part of a group called the Other Lady Lions. Each game, Bogniak could be found dressed as Portland, complete with a blonde wig, brown tweed blazer and thick high heels. In addition, someone from the group usually dresses as Penn State assistant Annie Troyan.
The group's young men, recognizable by their replica body-painted jerseys with the number of their favorite Lady Lion adorned on their chests, can be found standing in the front row for each game.
A 606-235 record with the team, including a 2000 Final Four berth, means Portland will go down as one of Penn State's most successful coaches.
"She has been a great inspiration," Bogniak said. "You'll see a lot of coaches yelling and screaming at her players, but not Rene. She had this attitude about her, and she treated her players as friends instead of inferiors."
For the Other Lady Lions, Rene Portland's resignation caps an end to a five-year run of honoring their beloved coach. Started by 2004 Penn State graduate Katie Bogniak, the older sister of Jessica, the group boasted perfect attendance at each home game, constantly hooping and hollering, trying to generate support for a program whose success often goes unnoticed.
"It was very important to us to establish ourselves and show support for the team," Bogniak said. "The girls really do appreciate us, and it's always nice to get the crowd up and screaming. Even when the rest of the crowd was quiet, we made sure we were loud."
After each Lady Lion basket, the corresponding Other Lady Lion runs down his line of teammates, hands in the air, sweeping up the high fives, even deep into losing games with the outcome decided.
Bogniak said it's not easy going out every game, and earning the honor to represent the "Mini-Rene" is no small task, as rules require that she begin as Troyan's double.
Although Bogniak admitted that Rene's resignation hit her pretty hard, other students weren't too upset at the breaking news.
"To be honest, I haven't really followed the Lady Lions very much," Ed Anderson (senior-crime, law and justice) said. "All I really know is what I've heard other people talking about, but it's a shame whenever a coach a team that they've been with for so long."
Bogniak said, however, the Other Lady Lions will continue to come out and support the Lady Lions at every home game, and will always take pride in being the loudest people in the arena -- no matter who is coaching.
