GREG KAMPE BIO Oakland University men's basketball and Greg Kampe are two nouns that are interchangeable. Kampe has led the Golden Grizzlies from a mediocre Division II basketball team to a national power, and now from a Division I rookie in 1998-99 to a well respected program that has been to the NCAA Tournament and won two Summit League titles. Kampe has been the one constant in Detroit sports over the last 24 years. During his tenure at OU, Michigan State has had two new head basketball coaches, seven football coaches, Michigan has had five basketball coaches, four football coaches, UDM has had five basketball coaches, Western and Eastern Michigan have each had four new basketball coaches and Central Michigan has had five. In the professional ranks, the Pistons have had 10, Lions nine, Red Wings eight and Tigers seven. Entering the 2008-09 season only nine other Division I coaches have been with their school longer than Kampe. After just nine years in Division I, Kampe has already posted four seasons with 17 or more victories, been named the national Coach of the Year, won a regular season Summit League title, a Summit League Tournament title and the school’s first-ever bid to the NCAA Tournament in 2005. With an overall record of 396-301, Kampe is 33rd amongst active Division I coaches in terms of wins. Only five times in his career has his team finished its conference season with a sub-.500 record, with his squads finishing .500 or better in conference play in a string of 15 straight conference seasons (1986-2003). During his 24 seasons at the helm, he has produced 21 professional basketball players, including one to the NBA in the form of Rawle Marshall (Dallas Mavericks, Indiana Pacers, Phoenix Suns). Maybe an even better accomplishment is former star player Brian Gregory who is head coach at Dayton University, where he has led the Flyers to 75 wins in four seasons, including NCAA Tournament and NIT Tournament appearances. The 2006-07 season was Oakland’s most successful in the Division I era according to wins, as Kampe led the Golden Grizzlies to a school record 19 victories in a 19-14 campaign. He took a team that was picked to finish fifth and led it to a 10-4, second-place Summit League finish as well as taking the squad to the Summit League championship game for the second time in three years to earn his second conference Coach of the Year selection. Perhaps the 2004-05 season was the most memorable in Kampe’s long career. After starting the season 0-7 against a schedule that was rated as the nation’s toughest to that point, Kampe saw his team rebound to finish tied for fifth in the Summit League standings. From there the season turned magical as the Golden Grizzlies stunned the Summit League by sweeping through the tournament, capping off the run on a last-second three-point shot that propelled OU into the NCAA Tournament. There, in front of a national television audience, the Golden Grizzlies upended Alabama A&M in the opening round before falling to eventual national champion North Carolina in the first round. Under Kampe the Golden Grizzlies enjoyed 12 straight winning seasons from 1986-1998 after only posting one winning campaign in the previous 12. Six of those winning seasons ended with at least 20 wins. Oakland finished in the top four in the GLIAC and had a .500 or better league record in each of the final 11 years, something no other league school had done. OU’s GLIAC record prior to Kampe’s arrival was 37-92. The 1993-94 campaign saw Oakland earn a first-ever berth in the NCAA Division II Basketball Tournament, and post a school-record 21 wins, one of 28 different school records tied or broken by the team. In 1994-95 Oakland made its second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament in another record-breaking season. OU posted another 20 victories and its highest national ranking ever, that of seventh. In 1996-97, the Golden Grizzlies set the school record with 24 wins, surpassing the previous record of 21 victories held by the 1995-96 and 1993-94 squads. Kampe’s .774 winning percentage in 1996-97 is the highest in Oakland history. OU also made its fourth straight NCAA Division II Tournament appearance. In his first 14 years Kampe brought his OU teams to the top, establishing the team as one of the best in the GLIAC, winning two conference titles in the final years in the GLIAC and making it all the way to the DII Sweet 16 in 1997 before being eliminated by eventual national champion Northern Kentucky. The 1997-98 season marked the first of the two-year transition for Oakland from NCAA Division II to Division I athletics, and OU came up with a solid 15-12 mark as a Division II independent, including notching Kampe’s 250th career victory. The 1998-99 season was the final for Oakland as a transitional Division I school and the Golden Grizzlies finished at 12-15 overall. The 12 victories were against a schedule that was tabbed during the year as the toughest in the nation by Jeff Sagarin of the Sagarin Ratings (USA Today). The first win of the season was at Illinois State (72-71) and has been said to be the biggest win in the history of Oakland basketball. Although Oakland wasn’t eligible for the Summit Leaguetinent Conference race, the Golden Grizzlies competed in a full Summit League schedule and finished 8-8 overall, which would have been good for fifth place. Following the 1999-00 season, Kampe was recognized for his accomplishments when he was named the NCAA Division I National Coach of the Year by College Hoops Insider magazine. This honor came after Oakland, in its first year eligible, won the Summit Leaguetinent Conference regular season title with an 11-5 record. The squad’s 13-17 overall record was highlighted by the 60-41 victory over Big Ten opponent Northwestern. The Golden Grizzlies then added another Big 10 school to its list of victims at the start of the 2000-01 season when they knocked off Michigan at home in front of a sellout crowd. The 2001-02 season proved to be valuable for the Grizzlies as the team edged its way one step closer to making it into the NCAA Tournament with a DI record 17 victories. Big wins included Detroit, Western Michigan, and Western Illinois, which helped the Grizzlies finish tied for second in the Summit League. However, the Grizzlies fell short of their goal to win the conference title in their first year of eligibility for the conference tournament with a loss in the quarterfinals against IUPUI, to whom the Grizzlies had beaten twice during regular season play. Oakland posted its second straight 17-win season in 2002-03, claiming wins over every Summit League school but Valparaiso and finishing tied for second in the conference standings. Despite a first-round loss to Southern Utah at the Summit League Tournament, Oakland swept the Summit League awards at the end of the season, with Mike Helms being named the Player of the Year and Rawle Marshall the Newcomer of the Year, as the Golden Grizzlies established themselves as one of the league’s top programs after just five short seasons. OU’s success under Kampe is not just limited to the hardwood. The OU program has been outstanding in the classroom, something the coach takes great pride in. The Golden Grizzlies had a player on the Academic All-GLIAC team every year of Kampe’s tenure, including a league record six players in 1995-96 and five players in 1994-95 and 1993-94. In 1989-90 guard Brian Gregory, now the head coach at Dayton, earned an NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship and third-team GTE CoSIDA Academic All-America honors. Gregory is one of four Golden Grizzlies to be honored nationally for his academic and athletic prowess. “We have a quality program that turns out talented student-athletes,” Kampe said. “We try to do things the right way with good people who receive a good education and then go out into the world and have success after basketball. That’s what our mission is.” Kampe came to OU from a program that has a long history of combining athletic and academic excellence. The Golden Grizzly coach spent six years as an assistant coach at the University of Toledo before coming to OU. During Kampe’s six years at Toledo, the Rockets captured three Mid-American Conference (MAC) basketball championships and compiled a 117-57 overall record. The school earned two NCAA tournament bids and one to the NIT. Academically, 91 percent of Toledo’s basketball players earned bachelor’s degrees during Kampe’s tenure, with 33 percent of those continuing to earn graduate degrees. Kampe is a 1978 graduate of Bowling Green State University with a bachelor’s degree in business and journalism. He started his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Toledo before accepting the full-time assistant coach’s position in 1979. He earned a Master of Arts degree in physical education while at Toledo. Kampe personally combined excellence as an athlete and in the classroom in college. He is the only athlete in MAC history to earn first team all-Academic honors in both football and basketball. He earned dean’s list honors with a 3.40 grade point average at BGSU, and received the President’s Award as an outstanding senior student. His late father, Kurt, was a guard on the University of Michigan’s 1947 Rose Bowl and national championship football team, which went 10-0. Brother Kurt Kampe III, was a two-year letterwinner for the Wolverines in 1974 and 1975 as a defensive back.