When Trevecca Nazarene University decided to return to the world of women’s intercollegiate basketball, it was making history. Wanting to build a successful program with solid student-athletes, Trevecca's adminsitration then began their search for a coach willing to build a program in one of the toughest conferences in the NAIA,one with strong teams every year in the national tournament. Trevecca's new program would need a coach who knew how to play in that kind of conference. The school found that coach in Julie vanBeek, assistant coach at Southern Nazarene University, a school that had won the NAIA title three times and compiled a 134-9 record during her four years (1992-1996).

Coach vanBeek was hired late in the 1996 recruiting season and put together the best team she could for her first season. The team managed to claim four victories, two within the tough TranSouth Conference. VanBeek recruited eleven new players for her second season and led the program to fifteen victories and a winning 1997-1998 season. The team also won six conference games, something only the brave would have thought possible in the program’s second year.

Year three saw a more difficult schedule and two big injuries. The road was tough, but the team managed to win thirteen games, four within the conference. The building blocks were set, and the young team learned what competing on a national level required.

Year four arrived, and the season started with six consecutive wins--the program's best start. The team also claimed its first victory over a top-twenty-five team during that stretch. The Lady Trojans were far from finished; the team set the school record for wins in a season (24), most points in a game, and consecutive home wins. Cumberland University, Lee University, Shorter College, Lipscomb University, and Lyon College all fell to the Lady Trojans for the first time last season. The Lady Trojans set a record for most conference wins in a season as they defeated ninth-ranked Freed-Hardeman (also giving them their first win over a top-10 team). The Lady Trojans won a school-record 11 games in the TranSouth Conference.

The team also claimed the Eastern Division crown of the TranSouth Conference and made it all the way to the TranSouth Championship game. The women threatened or broke every major team and individual record, including a seven-game win streak during the conference season. They claimed their first berth into the NAIA National Tournament and their first tournament victory and made a season to remember. Not many believed it possible, except for the coach--the coach who predicted she would go to the national tournament four years ago, while coaching a 4-24 team.

Besides her coaching duties, vanBeek serves as Trevecca’s assistant athletic director and teaches in the physical education department. She is a member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches' Association and has served the past four years on the NAIA All-American Selection Committee. In 1998, vanBeek also served on the NAIA Tournament Committee.