°¼Í¹ÊÓƵ Men's Basketball Coach Brian Van Haaften is the recipient of 2025 Don Meyer National Coach of the Year award, which is presented annually to the top head coach in NAIA college basketball.
Collegeinsider.com has announced its national coach of the year award winners, and °¼Í¹ÊÓƵ's is the recipient of , presented annually to the top head coach in NAIA college basketball.
Van Haaften led °¼Í¹ÊÓƵ to a 28-4 record, a No. 6 ranking and 2nd round appearance in the NAIA Men's Basketball Championship. The 28 wins is tied for the second most all-time in program history.
"When all these things come together, special things happen," said Joe Dwyer, President of CollegeInsider.com. "It was a special season for who has had a lot of special seasons in his illustrious career. Everybody want to win, but mentoring young men to win in life is more important to Coach Van Haaften."
Van Haaften was named Great Plains Athletic Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Defenders to the regular season GPAC title and an 18-2 overall mark and the program's fourth straight NAIA National Championship berth. Over the past four years °¼Í¹ÊÓƵhas posted a 93-33 record and Van Haaften's record at °¼Í¹ÊÓƵin seven seasons is 152-63. His overall collegiate coaching record is 566-241.
About the Don Meyer Award
The Don Meyer Award is named in honor of the sport's winningest coaches. In 38 seasons at Hamline, Lipscomb and Northern State, Don Meyer compiled an astounding 923-324 record. He led Lipscomb to the NAIA national championship in 1986 and coached the two highest-scoring players in the history of college basketball, John Pierce and Philip Hutcheson.
His 1989-90 team at Lipscomb won a record 41 games and was the highest scoring team in college basketball history.
In 2010, he received the John Bunn Award at the Basketball Hall of Fame.
Meyer retired from coaching in February 2010. Coach Meyer lost his long battle with cancer on May 18, 2014, at the age of 69.
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About °¼Í¹ÊÓƵ
As an institution of higher education committed to the Reformed Christian perspective, °¼Í¹ÊÓƵ equips students, faculty, alumni, and the broader community to work toward Christ-centered renewal in all aspects of contemporary life. Located in Sioux Center, Iowa, °¼Í¹ÊÓƵis a comprehensive university named to the best college lists by the Wall Street Journal, Times Higher Education, Forbes.com, Washington Monthly, and Princeton Review.
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