MBB: Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association

[Titan Q]

Even if Hope does end up hiring someone very close to home, I think they are absolutely doing the right thing by doing an extensive national search.  Hope is without question one of the top Division III coaching jobs - I think they owe it to themselves to see who is out there.

I believe Illinois Wesleyan is also on that short list of "best Division III coaching jobs" and the field that applied for the IWU job in 2006 was amazing.  Hope is going to have some outstanding candidates.

[ChicagoHopeNut]

Suggestion to replace GVW:   Brian Van Haaften, Buena Vista, Storm Lake, IA.
Played at Northwestern College when Dr. Bultman was President at that institution.

He really turned that program around when he got there.  Only one winning season in 15-16 years prior.  He's never had a losing season.

http://www.bvu.edu/athletics/sports/mbasketball/coaching-staff.dot

He doesn't appear to have the kinesology background that Hope has expressed some desire in having.

I'm not sure kinesiology is the mandate. It's my understanding that Hope (like Calvin) requires their head coach to either have a doctorate, or be working towards one at the time of hire. If so, that would eliminate Matt Neil and a few other people who might otherwise be interested. Van Haaften certainly has an impressive resume, including a masters from Drake University, an institution Jeff Febus and I agree is our second most favorite school. Van Haaften also grew up in Pella, which means he would get my wife's vote.

I don't think Hope will require a Doctorate of any coach. Dean Kreps, Hope's football coach, has been at the school since 1986 with a Masters. I would imagine the school would be happy someone who coached basketball well and could take on some of the Kinseology 101 classes (i.e. mandatory gym class for one semester).

[oldknight]

With GVW's retirement, I believe KVS is now the longest tenured coach in the MIAA.

I was going to ask today if GVW and KVS had squared off in more Hope/Calvin games than any other coaching duo?

I'm not that 'up' on my Calvin coaching history.

I won't take the time to search for the answer but given the fact that Calvin and Hope now typically play each other at least 3 times each season, I don't think any other pair of coaches is even close.

[jfebus]

From my quick count (to answer SAC's question), I have:

1. Glenn VaWieren vs Kevin Vande Streek - 41 games
2. Glenn VanWieren vs Ed Douma - 30 games
3. Russ DeVette vs Barney Steen - 20 games
4. Glenn VanWieren vs Don Vroon - 16 games
5. Russ DeVette vs Ralph Honderd - 15 games

To OldKnight: thanks for the shout-out...I see that Drake is scheduled to host the 2016 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials at the hold horseshoe on the Drake Campus. If I recall, the Hope football team played a game or two at Drake's old stadium in the early 1990s.

JF

[Gregory Sager]

Kinesiology is the fancy smancy term for Phys Ed. 

Technically, it is much more than Phys Ed. As Realist indicated, it encompasses occupational therapy, physical therapy, and aspects of internal medicine and orthopedics. It involves as much classroom theory as activity, if not more. But I suspect that he's also right about the term being open to interpretation for Hope's purposes. I suppose that it all boils down to: a) which courses GVW taught; and b) which courses his replacement will be expected to teach. Based upon the job advertisement, though, it appears that Hope is looking for more of a coaching/teaching balancing act than is typical for such a high-profile basketball program. USee mentioned last year's Wheaton search, for instance. Retiring Wheaton head coach Bill Harris was not a member of the Wheaton faculty. GVW's replacement will be a member of the Hope faculty. That's a huge distinction.

While there are any number of factors that are probably hidden beneath the surface and unavailable to public speculation, it would at least appear on the face of it that Hope has tailored its job search more narrowly than other D3 schools with high-profile men's basketball programs who've recently gone through hiring processes, and that this is because of teaching demands.

[realist]

If there was an internal candidate that was the clearly obvious candidate why go through the charade of a national search?

I think a lot of made of 'national searches' so that if/when an internal candidate is hired the school can point to the search to say they did their due dilligence.

I agree.  If one assumes the internal candidate can/will do at least as well as GVW did.  However, it may also be the case Hope doesn't want to "settle" for just that, and really wants/needs someone with a record to get them to the next level.  It is always easier to admint one made a mistake with an "outsider" than to terminate a "member of the family".  

[Titan Q]

Got to thinking about trying to define what makes a "top coaching job in Division III."  I think some mix of all of the following...

* Winning tradition
* Quality of facilities
* Quality of the school (academically)
* Fan base (attendance)
* Institutional commitment to and support for winning

Missing any?

I think these factors are all present to some degree in the "top coaching jobs", whether talking DI, DII, DIII, or NAIA.  I think the jobs considered the best are ones where coaches feel like they have a legitimate chance to compete for a national championship (because they feel like they can successfully attract the type of recruits they need to build a team of that caliber).

Hope clearly can put a check mark next to all 5 categories above.

[Erm Schmigget]

If there was an internal candidate that was the clearly obvious candidate why go through the charade of a national search?

I think a lot of made of 'national searches' so that if/when an internal candidate is hired the school can point to the search to say they did their due dilligence.

I agree.  If one assumes the internal candidate can/will do at least as well as GVW did.  However, it may also be the case Hope doesn't want to "settle" for just that, and really wants/needs someone with a record to get them to the next level.  It is always easier to admint one made a mistake with an "outsider" than terminate to a "member of the family". 

...insert Godfather II clip here...   

[realist]

ES: + karma my friend.

To me it boils down to the question.  Which candidate (internal or external) not only gets us to all the games that GVW got us to, but has the extra needed to get the W?   

TQ:  I do not know much about IWU, but Calvin and Hope are pretty much the same in that any employee is going to have to meet a rigid set of requirements in their personal life that may have as much weight as job performance.  I would add that as a 6th criteria to your list, but probably would make it #1.

[section7]

Not to add to the speculation, but, I was picking up a friend this morning at Tulip City Airport................and I swear I saw a gentleman that looked alot like Steve Alford getting into a blue Lexus SUV with a Hope College parking sticker on it........................

[Erm Schmigget]

Got to thinking about trying to define what makes a "top coaching job in Division III."  I think some mix of all of the following...

* Winning tradition
* Quality of facilities
* Quality of the school (academically)
* Fan base (attendance)
* Institutional commitment to and support for winning

Missing any?

I think these factors are all present to some degree in the "top coaching jobs", whether talking DI, DII, DIII, or NAIA.  I think the jobs considered the best are ones where coaches feel like they have a legitimate chance to compete for a national championship (because they feel like they can successfully attract the type of recruits they want to target).

Hope clearly can put a check mark next to all 5 categories above.

*Commitment to academics above athletics

I was surprised and saddened to see a Hope player drop out of the program mid-season many years ago, but then encouraged to find out that the reason was to focus on academics, which had started to slip.  If I remember correctly, that decision meant missing out on a Final Four season.  The coach was sad to see the player go, but the best counsel was to encourage the student/athlete to focus on academics.

[Happy Calvin Guy]

From my quick count (to answer SAC's question), I have:

1. Glenn VaWieren vs Kevin Vande Streek - 41 games
2. Glenn VanWieren vs Ed Douma - 30 games
3. Russ DeVette vs Barney Steen - 20 games
4. Glenn VanWieren vs Don Vroon - 16 games
5. Russ DeVette vs Ralph Honderd - 15 games

Of course nowadays we seem to bang out 4 or 5 of these a year.  Hasn't always been the case.

[oldknight]

Got to thinking about trying to define what makes a "top coaching job in Division III."  I think some mix of all of the following...

* Winning tradition
* Quality of facilities
* Quality of the school (academically)
* Fan base (attendance)
* Institutional commitment to and support for winning

Missing any?

* Remuneration.

But that 's just me to be so philistine as to think of money in this context.

[tniem]

Got to thinking about trying to define what makes a "top coaching job in Division III."  I think some mix of all of the following...

* Winning tradition
* Quality of facilities
* Quality of the school (academically)
* Fan base (attendance)
* Institutional commitment to and support for winning

Missing any?

I think these factors are all present to some degree in the "top coaching jobs", whether talking DI, DII, DIII, or NAIA.  I think the jobs considered the best are ones where coaches feel like they have a legitimate chance to compete for a national championship (because they feel like they can successfully attract the type of recruits they want to target).

Hope clearly can put a check mark next to all 5 categories above.

*Commitment to academics above athletics

I was surprised and saddened to see a Hope player drop out of the program mid-season many years ago, but then encouraged to find out that the reason was to focus on academics, which had started to slip.  If I remember correctly, that decision meant missing out on a Final Four season.  The coach was sad to see the player go, but the best counsel was to encourage the student/athlete to focus on academics.

Unless I miss read it, Titan was referring not to what Hope would be looking at but instead listing what would make the job qualify as a top program.  Not sure I would agree that academics above athletics makes for a more prestigious job (see Kentucky at D1) but would agree that in the scheme of things it is the right ordering and the one Hope will choose.

[almcguirejr]

While there are any number of factors that are probably hidden beneath the surface and unavailable to public speculation, it would at least appear on the face of it that Hope has tailored its job search more narrowly than other D3 schools with high-profile men's basketball programs who've recently gone through hiring processes, and that this is because of teaching demands.

It struck me as I was reading the job description that it really narrowed the field if they are strongly looking for someone with a ph.d.  Chicago Hope Nut mentioned Chad Carlson in a post the other day.  If Hope officials really have a narrow definition then that seems like it would play in Carlson's favor.  I believe he has the ph.d, he played for GVW, strong family ties to Hope, and would probably be willing to keep Davelaar and Matt Neil as assistants.  The Hope basketball culture would continue as it has for the last 30 years and His inexperience would be minimized by  keeping Neil and Dav.