LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Louisville hired former Colorado State women's basketball coach Tom Collen on Tuesday, five days after Martin Clapp resigned as the Cardinals' coach.

Collen's .796 winning percentage ranks first among Division I-A women's coaches with 5-to-10 years of experience. He signed a seven-year contract with a base salary of $200,000.

Collen, 49, coached Colorado State from 1997-02. He went 129-33 with four NCAA tournament appearances. The Rams went 33-3 and reached the NCAA tournament's regional semifinals in 1998-99.

Collen has been out of coaching since 2002, when he left Colorado State for Vanderbilt. He quit one day after his hiring when the school questioned his educational background on his resume.

It was later found the school Collen attended, Miami (Ohio) University, had made the error. By then, Colorado State and Vanderbilt had hired new coaches and Collen was out of a job.

Collen spent the year off attending clinics, serving as a coaching consultant and working as a TV commentator.

The Cardinals went 108-73 in Clapp's six seasons. But Clapp left the team before the Conference USA tournament, as the Cardinals lost their last seven regular-season games.

"We're really going to make a huge commitment to put our women's basketball team on the national map,'' Louisville athletic director Tom Jurich said. "This is a program I felt we needed a new direction in.''

Jurich, a former Colorado State AD, hired Collen in 1997, then left for Louisville later that year.

"I always felt that someday Tom and I were going to get back together,'' Collen said. "He took a chance on me then and he walked out the door. It left me a little shaky, a little insecure about what my situation was.''