Cheri Euler is a coach for the UB women's basketball team. Click on photo for larger image

Euler takes on different role at Empire Games
By Pat Murray/[email protected]
Wednesday, June 09, 2026

Basketball coaches often like to talk about one of their players being “a coach on the floor.”

When it comes to the Western Region open women’s basketball team for the upcoming Empire State Games, that’s exactly what coach Bill Agronin has.

Cheri Euler, an assistant coach for the University at Buffalo women’s basketball team and a Town of Tonawanda resident, will be a starting guard for the Western Region. The Empire State Games are scheduled for July 28 through Aug. 1 in Binghamton.

“I came back for another year,” Euler said. “I just like to play.”

Euler played at Michigan State, where as a senior she helped lead the Spartans to a 22-8 record in 1996-97. Michigan State advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament that season. When she gradated from Michigan State, she was second on the school’s all-time list for steals.

She’s always around the ball, said Agronin, the women’s basketball coach at Niagara University. “She plays great defense and is always hustling.”

This will be Euler’s third year in the Empire State Games. She’s won the gold medal in her first two appearances.

“The winning makes it better,” she said. “We have a lot of fun out there.”

With most of the Western Region team still playing college basketball or having just graduated, Euler is the elder stateswoman of the squad. It’s a role she accepts.

“I get kidded all the time, but it’s all in good fun,” she said. “Coach Agronin kids me all the time as well.”

Agronin may tease Euler, but he’s certainly happy she’s on the team.

“She’s always in shape, she’s extremely knowledgeable and plays very hard,” Agronin said. “She just gets along with people. She’s so much fun to have around because she makes everybody else better.”

While Euler may be a coach for most of the year, she enjoys just being a player during the Games.

“It’s not like I’m coaching them. I’m just playing with them as a teammate,” she said. If they learn something, great. But we’re just having fun.”

Euler said she learns something from being a player at the Games.

“Being out on the court gives me a different perspective when I go back to coaching,” she said. “It keeps you into what goes on out on the court. I think it helps me a little bit.”

Has Euler, who will be entering her seventh year at UB, ever considered becoming a head coach?

“Not at the moment,” she said. “But never say never.”

Contact Pat Murray at (716) 282-2311, Ext. 2258.
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