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Professor Kevin Vande Streek


Biography

Meet Kevin Vande Streek

Kevin Vande Streek is in his 14th year as head men's basketball coach at Calvin College and in his 20th year as a collegiate coach overall. 

In his first year at the helm of the Knights, he guided Calvin to a 17-8 overall record and a second place finish in the MIAA with a 10-2 conference mark.  The Knights then went 16-10 in 1997-98 and finished tied for second in the MIAA with an 8-4 conferece record and followed with a 19-7 mark in 1998-99 as the Knights captured their first MIAA title since the 1993-94 season with a 10-4 conference record. The following year, Vande Streek led Calvin to its second national championship, joining its 1992 national crown. 

Calvin posted a 30-2 overall record in 1999-2000, becoming just the second team in Calvin and MIAA history to reach the 30-win plateau. After opening the year with an 8-2 record, Calvin won its final 22 games of the season including a perfect 14-0 mark in league play as the Knights captured their second consecutive MIAA title. 

In leading Calvin to a 14-0 league record, Vande Streek became just the second coach in MIAA history to guide an MIAA team to a 14-0 league record.  Calvin then went on to capture its first MIAA Tournament Championship since 1994 as the Knights defeated Alma, Albion and Defiance.  In the NCAA III Tournament, Calvin defeated Franklin, Wooster, McMurry, Franklin & Marshall and Wisconsin-Eau Claire.  Vande Streek is the 11th coach in Calvin basketball history.  In addition, Vande Streek was named the 1999-2000 Division III Coach of the Year by Basketball Times; DIII News and by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). 

Calvin then captured the MIAA title for a fourth straight year in 2001-2002 as the Knights went 20-7 overall and 9-3 in the MIAA.  In leading Calvin to a 27-7 record in 2005, Vande Streek produced the 14th 20-win campaign in Calvin men’s basketball history including the fourth under his watch. Vande Streek picked up his 200th victory at Calvin on January 25, 2006 in an 80-58 victory at Kalamazoo and then collected his 300th overall collegiate victory on February 18, 2006 in a 74-65 win over Kalamazoo. On January 24, 2009 in a 79-73 win at Albion, Vande Streek became the all-time leader in coaching victories at Calvin, recording his 255th win at the helm of the Knights. He later led Calvin to the 2009 MIAAA regular season title - the sixth under his watch.

Kevin Vande Streek

His 2006-07 team also captured the MIAA Tournament title and advanced to the NCAA III Tournament for the fourth straight year.

A 1981 graduate of Dordt College, Iowa, Vande Streek came to Calvin after six years as head coach at the University of Sioux Falls in South Dakota -- an NAIA institution -- where he compiled a 93-80 coaching record.  At the University of Sioux Falls, Vande Streek inherited teams that had finished 9-18 and 9-20 in the two years prior to his arrival.  Just three seasons later he led Sioux Falls to a 19-11 record.  The following season, Vande Streek led the Cougars to a 21-8 record -- setting a school-record for victories.  That year, Sioux Falls was ranked as high as third in the NAIA Division II national poll and went on to finish 10th at the NAIA National Tournament.

A native of Waupun, Wisconsin, Vande Streek graduated from Central Wisconsin Christian High School where he was an all-conference point guard on the basketball team.  He then attended Ripon College in Wisconsin for a year, where he played one year of varsity basketball, before transferring to Dordt in Sioux Center, Iowa, where he was a three-year varsity player.  As a senior in 1980-81, Vande Streek led Dordt in assists and free throw percentage as the Defenders completed the best mark in school-history with an 18-8 record.

Vande Streek began his basketball coaching career as an assistant at Central Wisconsin Christian High School in Waupun where he served from 1981-1984.  He then served as an assistant basketball coach at Western Christian High School in Hull, Iowa, between 1984-1987, helping lead the school to the Iowa 3A State Championship in 1985.  Vande Streek then spent two years as an assistant basketball coach in Orange City, Iowa, before accepting the boys varsity basketball position at Unity Christian High School in Fulton, Illinois, where he compiled a 15-10 record during the 1989-90 season.  Vande Streek who also has coached college baseball and track and field, was then named the head coach at the University of Sioux Falls where he spent six years.

Vande Streek earned a master's degree in physical education from the University of South Dakota in 1986.  At Calvin, Vande Streek teaches in Calvin's Physical Education core program.  Vande Streek and his wife Vicki have four boys -- K.C., Brian, Matthew, and Daniel.

Education

  • MA University of South Dakota, 1986 - Physical Education
  • BA Dordt College, 1981 - Physical Education