pepperdine and van breda kolff

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Jan van Breda Kolff Named
Coach At Pepperdine--(April 19, 1999)

We waited for a couple of days until Pepperdine confirmed the news that Rich Meyer over at WestCoastHoops first ran at about 1:00 a.m. on Friday night: That Jan van Breda Kolff will be Pepperdine's new head men's basketball coach. Apparently, the Pepperdine folks e-mailed Rich the story late on Friday night, and a short article was also picked up by the Daily News, but today is the first that there has been official confirmation of the story. Van Breda Kolff, 47, resigned at Vanderbilt in February after six seasons, the day after Kentucky eliminated Vanderbilt in the Southern Conference Tournament game. Vanderbilt, 14-15 this past season, was 104-81 under van Breda Kolff, winning 20 games twice and advancing to the NCAA Tournament in 1997.

Van Breda Kolff has eight years of Division I head coaching experience and played himself at Vanderbilt from 1971-74 and was the SEC Player of the Year as a senior. He set Vanderbilt records for assists in a game, season and career and went on to play professional basketball for nine seasons. He's also the son of former Lakers coach Butch van Breda Kolff. The younger van Breda Kolff started coaching as a player-coach in Italy's professional league from 1983-85, and then was an assistant at Princeton from 1987-91, during which time the Tigers won three consecutive Ivy League titles. From there he became the head coach at Cornell, where he stayed for two seasons and then returned to Vanderbilt. The Commodores were 20-12 his first season and made their first of three NIT appearances. Van Breda Kolff will be returning to California where he lived and played for several years, including having gone to high school in Palos Verdes.

The news was sort of a surprise, but not truly shocking, at least not as much of a shock as it probably was for Randy Bennett, an assistant at Pepperdine and one of the leading candidates for the job. We understand that Bennett will probably now go to St. Louis with Romar who reportedly left a spot open for him on the coaching staff.