NAMPA, Idaho – As the Northwest Nazarene women's basketball team prepares for a trip to the NCAA tournament this week they won't have to look far for advice on how to navigate the experience.

That's what happens when the two most successful women's basketball coaches in school history work down the hall from the team's offices.

Roger Schmidt, who led NNU to the school's only team national title in 1997, works as a kinesiology professor and Kelli Lindley, who took the Nighthawks to five NCAA tournaments and two NAIA appearances, is now the athletic director.

"It's nice to know that there is a strong history," NNU coach Steve Steele said. "I think it almost gives you a little confidence. It's not like we are trying to build something brand new. There is a foundation there and that is nice to know."

While the men's basketball program put NNU on the map in the early 1990s hosting the NAIA Division II national tournament and reaching the title game in 1995, it is the women's program that has shown the most consistent success of any sport at the school.

When NNU (22-4) tips off against Alaska Anchorage at 6 p.m. MST on Friday in Azusa, Calif., it will be the 13th time the Nighthawks have made a national tournament since the program began in 1974 and the first time since 2013.

"It's special because it has such an incredible history," Lindley said. "It's really cool to get texts from the players I've coached, because they are really excited to see women's basketball succeeding. They have ownership. All the alumni are so proud of the women's basketball program."

For their part, both Schmidt and Lindley try and stay away from the team to give Steele space to be his own coach.

But when asked, they are quick to offer advice or let the coaches vent about the pressure of the job or just to encourage the players.

"We don't see (Schmidt) a lot," Steele said. "It's nice that when he does say something it is like, 'You are doing a great job.' Everyone knows he won a national title, so whatever he says carries a lot of weight.

"I think they intentionally try to give us space."

Schmidt often can be heard encouraging the players in the hallways near the gym, or if he sees them practicing alone he offers tips whenever he can.

"I still have a passion for the game," he said. "I'm one of those detail coaches, 'Where are your feet set? Where are your hands? How are you passing the ball? How is the ball rotating?' So, if they are out there, I might go offer some advice.

"Trust me, I don't want to get back into it, but if you are just down there practicing by yourself I'll come down and throw the ball to you or talk to you some."

While having old coaches around can be a good thing it can also create pressure on the current coach to live up to past success. It is something Steele was aware of when he came to interview two seasons ago.

"I was concerned about that," he said. "Not just those two, but for the entire panel there are still eight or 10 people that have coached that are on staff (at NNU).

"But there has been no pressure. It has actually been really nice to talk to them about the pressure and the struggles and then the good things. It's also nice to get compliments because they understand how hard it is to win in our conference."

Steele has turned the program around quickly, inheriting a group of players who had three coaches in two years with many of the players thinking of transferring or quitting.

He has brought stability and success, going from a losing record a year ago to the national tournament and putting the women's basketball program back at the level the school has been accustomed to.

"I love women's basketball and I care so much about that program," Lindley said. "It is something I invested in for years and years and years. When we were looking for a new coach, I desperately wanted to find the next great coach who could take the program to the next level. And Steve has done that."