FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Colorado State officials Tuesday named Santa Clara coach Chris Denker as the Rams' new women's basketball coach.

He was the only candidate interviewed by athletic director Jeffrey Hathaway.

``After going through our process and identifying Chris, I became very confident as did the search advisory committee that we had the best person,'' Hathaway said. ``We didn't need to go any further.''

The three-week search attracted more than 50 applicants, including about a dozen with teams that made this year's NCAA tournament.

The search began when Tom Collen left Colorado State in early May to fill the coaching vacancy at Vanderbilt. He resigned the next day when Vanderbilt discovered a discrepancy in his resume.

Denker, 35, comes to Colorado State after spending nine years at Santa Clara, the last two as the head coach. During those two seasons, his teams were 41-18 and went to the NCAA tournament last season.

``I spent nine wonderful years at Santa Clara, but the opportunity to coach women's basketball here and to coach this group of young ladies, left a huge impression on me,'' Denker said. ``When I met this group, it jumped at me big time.''

Hathaway said Denker met each of the search committee's highest priorities in a new coach, including experience in NCAA and post-season play; head coaching experience; knowledge of CSU's recruiting base, particularly Colorado.

Denker also is familiar with at least two current Rams.

``I recruited Katie Borton and Ashley Augspurger hard to come to Santa Clara,'' Denker said. ``They didn't sign with me so I guess I had to chase them down.''

Denker said his philosophy revolves around an up-tempo, high-scoring offense and sticky man-to-man defense.