- Jim Kessler
Jim Kessler is the men's
basketball coach atGrace College inIndiana . He has over 500 career wins as the head coach of Lancer Basketball. People call him "Coach K".He is a Grace alumnus, playing on a 26-6 team in 1969-70.
Following his academic and athletic career at Grace, he coached high school basketball in Missouri before becoming an assistant at Grace. A couple of years after becoming an assistant, he took over the head job.
Kessler's best season was when he won the 1992 NAIA Division 2 Men's Basketball Championship. In 2007-2008, Kessler's Lancers advanced all the way to the Elite 8 at nationals, before falling to eventual champion Oregon Tech. Oregon Tech featured three players, all standing 6'7" tall, who had played with Kyle Singler at South Medford High School, in Medford, Oregon. Singler, plays for another Coach K in Coach Mike Krzyzewski, the current Olympic men's basketball coach for the United States, but perhaps more well known as the head men's basketball coach at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.
The 2007-2008 Lancer squad had the opportunity to play at Valparaiso University. Valparaiso is coached by Homer Drew, who coached against Kessler when he coached at Bethel in the 1980s.
Current people involved with the Lancer program, in addition, to Coach Kessler, include assistant coach Matt Moore, assistant coach Don Zawlocki, assistant coach Jarrod Lovette, manager Mark Suominen, manager Jon Sproul, manager Joanna Johnson, guard Austin Kaiser, guard Dayton Merrell, post player Derrick "Duke" Johnson, guard Ben Euler, guard Ryan Eakins, post player David Swanson, guard Jeremy Franchino [currently injured] , post player Eric Gaff, guard Michael Wienhorst, guard David Henry, forward Stephen Kauffman [currently injured] , guard Jacob Peattie, computer/video coordinator Ben Smith, and head filmer Ivan "Dean" Sandy. The lone redshirt is Manchester College transfer Kyle Plumlee.
Kessler has a wife named Susanne and four daughters; Kim (and husband Chris Dawson), Sarah (and husband Christian "Chris" McCray), Jenny (and her husband, former Marquette University basketball player Jarrod Lovette). and Janelle. His grandchildren are named: Lynae, Kyle, Wyatt, Whitney, Claudia, and Kendall. Sarah will give birth to another Coach K grandson this August. In September, Janelle will be married to Doug Meyer. Doug proposed to Janelle at half-time on Coach Kessler Court at halftime of a Grace game in 2008, and her dad watched the proposal prior to talking to his team.
External links
* [http://www.grace.edu/athletics/men/basketball/coaching_staff.php Profile]
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