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Greg Kampe

Last College: Bowling Green, 1978 Position: Head Coach Experience: 27 Seasons

Overall Record: 470-333 (.585)

THE KAMPE FILE

27 SEASONS Overall 470-333 (.585) Conference 254-155 (.621) 13 SEASONS - DIVISION I Overall 218-186 (.540) The Summit League 126-68 (.649) MOST SEASONS WITH CURRENT SCHOOL - D-I 1 Jim Boeheim, Syracuse 35 Seasons 2 Dave Bike, Sacred Heart 32 Seasons 3 Mike Krzyzewksi, Duke 31 Seasons 4 Don Maestri, Troy 29 Seasons 5 Greg Kampe, Oakland 27 Seasons MOST WINS BY ACTIVE D-I COACHES T23 Greg Kampe Oakland 470 T23 Jim Larranaga Miami (Fla.) 470 T25 John Calipari Kentucky 467 T25 Tubby Smith Minnesota 467 27 Bob Thomason Pacific 456 ALL-TIME SUMMIT LEAGUE VICTORIES 1 Homer Drew, Valparaiso 166 (1988-02, '03-07) 2 Scott Sutton, Oral Roberts 134 (1999-pres.) 3 Greg Kampe, Oakland 126 (1999-pres.)

Oakland University men's basketball has now come full circle under the direction of head coach Greg Kampe. After 27 seasons at the helm, Kampe has led the Golden Grizzlies to back-to-back NCAA tournaments, consecutive Summit League regular season and tournament championships, along with three straight 20-win seasons.

After leading the basketball program to the top of Division II in the 90s, OU has become an elite program amongst Division I mid-majors in the 21st century, finishing inside the top 10 in each of the last two seasons.

"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."

THE COACH
"Consistency is the hallmark of success," says Coach Kampe. Something that he strongly believes and a motto that his programs have been following for years. He enters his 28th season and 13th inside The Summit League in 2011-12, and his teams have finished with a record of .500 or better in league play in 20 of those, including 8 of 12 in The Summit League.

A five-time Summit League Coach of the Year (2000, `03, `06, `10, `11) and National Coach of the Year (2000) by CollegeInsider.com, Kampe's tenure ranks fifth amongst active D-I coaches, trailing only Syracuse's Jim Boeheim's 35 seasons for the Orange. Kampe has guided OU to 470 wins during his career, placing him in a tie for 24th place among active D-I coaches.

He has also guided the Grizzlies to a nation's best 34-2 league record over the last two years and a 40-2 mark over the last two years against Summit League opponents.

MICHIGAN SUPREMACY
Kampe has led the Golden Grizzlies to five consecutive top-three finishes in The Summit League, including back-to-back regular-season titles the last two seasons. The Golden Grizzlies are 68-18 in league action over the last five seasons for a .791 winning percentage, better than any other D-I school in the state of Michigan. Michigan State ranks second with a record of 58-30 (.659), followed by No. 3 Western Michigan (47-33/.588), No. 4 Central Michigan (38-42/.476), No. 5 Michigan (38-47/.447), No. 6 Eastern Michigan (33-47/.413) and No. 7 Detroit (29-59/.330).

DIVISION I SUCCESS
Three straight 20-win seasons, three NCAA Tournament berths (2005, `10, '11) and six Summit League championships in 12 seasons is not too bad for a coach that was hesitant when Oakland made the decision to move to Division I. Not too surprising from a coach who was coming off his best season and looked to be a national title contender in D-II that next season.

Instead, the Pioneers changed to the Golden Grizzlies and OU spent the 1997-98 and 1998-99 seasons in transition. Then the unexpected happened, Coach Kampe led the newly Golden Grizzlies to the Mid-Continent Conference regular-season title in their first year of competition at 11-5. OU was not eligible for the Mid-Con Tournament that season.

In 2004-05, the Golden Grizzlies finished a sub-par season at 9-19 and 7-9 in league to finish in seventh place. As the No. 7 seed, Oakland upset No. 2 seed UMKC (67-63) and defeated Chicago State (56-53) before matching up with top-seeded Oral Roberts (25-7) in the championship game. Then Pierre Dukes made the shot heard round the world as time expired and sent Oakland to its first-ever Division I NCAA tournament with a 61-60 victory over the Golden Eagles. OU went on to defeat Alabama A&M (79-69) in the play-in game of the NCAA tournament in Dayton, Ohio, and then fell to eventual national champion North Carolina (96-68) in Charlotte, N.C.

The conference may have changed its name in 2007 to The Summit League, but that did not derail Coach Kampe and OU's success. The Grizzlies have appeared in Summit League title games in 4 of 5 seasons, capturing the most recent titles in 2010 and '11 in dominating fashion with six double-digit wins at the tournament and a 34-2 record.

His teams have posted back-to-back league record 17-1 marks to set records in wins and winning percentage (.944). The Grizzlies are a nation's-best 41-2 over their last 43 league games. Oakland won a program-best 26 games in 2009-10 and followed that up with a 25-10 mark in 2010-11. The Golden Grizzlies picked up their first-ever top 10 win at No. 7 Tennessee (89-82) on Dec. 14, 2010, catching headlines across the country.

OU suffered heartbreak in two games in 2008-09. After player of the year Ben Woodside lifted the Bison over Oakland (66-64) on a last-second 20-foot jumper with three seconds left in The Summit League championship game, the Golden Grizzlies were invited to the inaugural CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament. OU defeated Kent State (80-74) at home in the opening round, but tasted defeat at the hands of another buzzer beater, this time from 75 feet as Bradley escaped with a 76-75 win in Peoria, Ill. OU finished the year 23-13.

The Grizzlies posted a 19-14 record in 2006-07 and once again suffered heartbreak in the league tournament title game. ORU exacted some revenge as the top two seeds battled in the championship game, this time with OU's Erik Kangas missing an attempt at winning the game with seconds remaining from three, eventually falling 71-67.

PRODUCING TOP PLAYERS
Under Kampe's direction, 25 players have went on to play professionally overseas, including one in the NBA as Rawle Marshall played with the Dallas Mavericks (2005-06) and Indiana Pacers (2006-07). Keith Benson became the first-ever OU player to be drafted in to the NBA as he was selected 48th overall by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2011 NBA Draft. He finished as a two-time Summit League Player of the Year and two-time Associated Press All-American.

Brian Gregory (1987-90) continues to hold the all-time school record in assists for a career, season and single-game, and has now moved on to be a very successful coach at the collegiate ranks. Gregory worked under Tom Izzo at Michigan State, took over the University of Dayton program where he led the Flyers to an NIT title and three NCAA tournaments, has most recently been named as head coach at Georgia Tech in March 2011.

A TRADITION IS BORN
Kampe joined the Oakland University campus in 1984 after spending six seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Toledo. OU had only six winning seasons in 16 years of competition before his arrival.

After two disappointing seasons where Coach Kampe was trying to build a winner, the Pioneers busted on to the national scene in 1986-87 where Oakland went 20-8. Winning seasons continued to ensue for the final 11 of D-II and OU appeared in four consecutive NCAA Regionals, advancing to the Sweet Sixteen in 1996-97, ending with a then school record 24-7 season. OU captured Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) titles in the final two seasons (1995-96, '96-97) and Kampe led the Pioneers to six 20-win seasons during the D-II campaign.

FAMILY
A true believer in Oakland University's mission that states 'Oakland produces graduates and champions', Kampe's oldest son Keith Kampe transferred to OU after two seasons on the Cincinnati baseball team. He played two seasons on the Golden Grizzlies' baseball team (2008-09) and graduated in May with a degree in integrative studies.

Married to his longtime wife Sue, they both reside in Rochester Hills and have three sons, Keith, Branch and Press. Branch is a freshman on the LSU football team, while Press plays varsity basketball at Adams High School.

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 `75 as a defensive back.

UNDERGRADUATE WORK
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.

Year-by-Year Record

* First year of GLIAC Tournament
^ First year of eligibility for Summit League Tournament