Lance Westberg was named the head coach for the Houghton College men's basketball program in July 2019. Westberg is the 10th coach in program history. 

Prior to coming to Houghton, Westberg served five years as an assistant at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, where he helped guide the Falcons to a record of 83-53. During his time at UW-River Falls, the team advanced to three WIAC championship games. The 2016-17 team finished 25-4, won the conference title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III National Tournament. That team was also honored as the WIAC Coaching Staff of the Year.

Westberg was actively involved with the Falcon recruiting efforts, perimeter player development, scouting, and organizing and monitoring student-athlete academic progress. He helped develop nine all-conference players and one Third Team NABC All-American. He also directs the Falcon summer basketball camps. 

As a recruiter, he earned commitments from 20 top-100 and six top-50 recruits from Minnesota and Wisconsin. In addition to his basketball responsibilities, Westberg also served as the head coach of the UW-River Falls women's golf team for five seasons. During his time at the helm, he increased the team roster size from six to 13, boosted the team GPA from 2.9 to 3.67, and was named WIAC Coach of the Year in 2018.

Prior to joining UW-River Falls, Westberg spent a season as an assistant coach at River Falls High School and also spent three seasons as the head coach and director of the Minnesota-based Triple Threat Club team, elevating the U15-U17 team to a ranking in the Northstar Hoops Report.

Westberg played for four years at the University of Northwestern-St. Paul where he was a part of three regular season UMAC championships, three conference tournament championships, three NCAA National Tournament appearances from 2010-13, and an NCCAA National Championship in 2010.  Individually, he earned honorable mention to the All-UMAC team during the 2012-13 season along with being named the conference championship MVP, and the UMAC Individual Sportsmanship Award.

Twitter

@CoachWestberg

@Houghton_MBB

Adam Gordon is the Co-Founder & CEO of Rising Coaches, a membership based community for coaches that connects, develops and facilitates career advancement for its members. Gordon previously spent 16 years working in college basketball serving in various roles at the High Major D1, DII, and JUCO levels. In 2019 Adam stepped away from coaching to put all his focus on building Rising Coaches.

Gordon was an assistant and associate head coach at Southeast Missouri from 2015-2019. Before joining Southeast Missouri, he worked for three years as director of operations on Rick Ray’s staff at Mississippi State. Gordon was in charge of travel, camps, scheduling, on-campus recruiting and academic compliance during his stint with the Bulldogs. A native of Los Angeles, California, Gordon also spent time at Northern Colorado and was a graduate assistant at Clemson for three years.

A 2006 graduate of Tampa who studied Youth Development and Leadership at Clemson, Gordon was an assistant coach at Central Florida Community College in Ocala, Florida, from 2006-08 before going to Clemson. There, Gordon was responsible for recruiting, player development, opponent scouting, video editing and exchange, and academic counseling. Prior to Central Florida CC, Gordon was head manager and student assistant at the University of Tampa from 2002-06.

Email – adam@risingcoaches.com

Twitter – @coachadamgordon @RisingCoaches

Website – risingcoaches.com

J.P. Nerbun is the founder of Thrive On Challenge, a mentor, writer, coach, and sports consultant. A multisport athlete growing up, basketball was always his first love. He followed his passion to the University of South Carolina, where the Gamecocks won an NIT Championship in Madison Square Garden in 2006. After playing in college, J.P. moved to Ireland, where he earned his teaching degree in physical education and sports science at the University of Limerick, one of the top universities in Europe for sports education.

Nerbun has coached for over 12 years in Ireland, Lithuania, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. During his time in Ireland, he has coached over 30 teams in five years.

J.P. has been thrown into head coaching positions at nearly every level imaginable (including professional, collegiate, and high school), gaining an incredible level of experience—including experience with failure! Having worked with men and women at various levels, with diverse backgrounds, and across all sports, J.P. understands how to apply the principles, systems, and strategies to build a transformational culture.

Since founding Thrive On Challenge, Nerbun has served coaches, athletes, and parents across the world, at every level and in every sport.

Website – thriveonchallenge.com

Email – jpnerbun@thriveonchallenge.com

Twitter – @JpNerbun

Nathan Johnson is the Senior Director of Program: Unified Sports- Special Olympics New York. Unified Sports is an inclusive sports program that unites Special Olympics athletes (individuals with intellectual disabilities) and partners (individuals without intellectual disabilities) as teammates for training and competition. 

Website

https://www.specialolympics-ny.org/community/schools-program/

Twitter

@NYSONathan

@UnifiedSportsNY

@SpecOlympicsNY

Jason Fry has served with Pure Sweat Basketball since 2013 and is currently the Director of Pure Sweat Basketball Skills Coaches. He is the creator of The Healthy Leader Program serving those that can help transform you into the leader you believe you can become.

Jason previously coached as an assistant at Drury University, Missouri Baptist University, and Whitfield School.

Jason was born and raised in Austin, Texas where he played high school basketball at Austin High School. After three years of working full-time for the parks and recreation department, he took the opportunity to play basketball at Missouri Baptist University where Jason was a part of the 2005 national tournament team.

Jason joined Pure Sweat as the first employee to work alongside Drew Hanlen, helping build the company to where it is today.

Jason published a book called The Coach’s Season which would be a tremendous addition to any coach’s library. 

Make sure you take some notes as you enjoy this episode of the Hoop Heads Podcast with Coach Jason Fry from Pure Sweat Basketball.

Website – www.coachjfry.com

Email - jfry@puresweatbasketball.com

Twitter - @CoachJFry

Micah Mills is in his sixth season with the Wilmington College men's basketball program in 2020-21. He spent three seasons as the program's top assistant coach before being promoted to associate head coach prior to the 2018-19 campaign.

The Fightin' Quakers have improved each year of the first four years Mills has been on staff including a double-digit wins campaing in 2017-18 and 2018-19 along with trips to the Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) Tournament. Additionally, eight individuals have earned All-OAC honors under Mills' guidance including two-time All-OAC honorees Christian Jones and DaeShawn Jackson. In 2018-19, he helped guide Wilmington to within a game of the program's first ever OAC regular season championship. The Quakers were ranked in the region for the majority of the season and finished 17-8 overall.

He came to Wilmington after spending three seasons as a graduate assistant at fellow OAC member Otterbein University.

Mills served as the freshman boys coach and varsity assistant at Parkersburg High School during the 2011-12 season, and also works as a lead instructor for Point Guard College (PGC) Basketball Training in Stafford, Texas and at other sites around the country.

He attended Ohio Valley University in West Virginia, where he earned a bachelor's degree in education while becoming a four-year letterman for the Fighting Scots basketball team. A three-time captain, he finished his career as the program's all-time leader in assists and free-throw percentage.

Mills also has teaching experience in history and sociology at Parkesburg High School, as well as history at Van Devender Middle School. In addition, he has volunteered with Special Olympics, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and Dover Football and Basketball Camps.

Twitter

@Coachm_m

Alan Stein, Jr. spent 15 years working with the highest performing basketball players in the world including some of the best ever in the NBA.  He shifted focus about three years ago to enter the world of corporate speaking when he realized that the leadership, culture, and teamwork he was teaching through basketball could be applied in the business world as well. Alan delivers high-energy keynotes and interactive workshops to improve performance, cohesion, and accountability. He inspires and empowers everyone he works with to take immediate action and improve mindset, habits, and productivity.

To order Alan’s book “Raise Your Game” please visit https://raiseyourgamebook.com/

You can learn more about Alan by visiting his website at www.alansteinjr.com or

Twitter – @AlanSteinJr

LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com/in/alan-stein-jr/

Jamy Bechler is a professional speaker, leadership coach, author, and podcast host based out of Akron, Ohio. He is also a John Maxwell certified leadership coach. Before going into full-time leadership work, Jamy served for 20 years as a college basketball coach and high school athletic director. When he left his last college to become an athletic director, he was the winningest coach in program history. His 2014 team earned the national "Champions of Character" award. As an athletic director, he transformed the athletic department, instituting budgeting processes, student-athlete leadership training, and innovative marketing strategies that were featured in Athletic Management magazine. He supervised the 5th largest high school gymnasium in the country and oversaw the boys basketball team winning their 8th state championship (most in Indiana history). Through his experiences as an athletic director, college coach, and leadership consultant, he has created TheLeadershipPlaybook.com, which is a membership site helping athletic departments develop better teammates, more positive leaders, and stronger cultures. Jamy also is the host of the "Success is a Choice" podcast, which interviews people from various walks of life, and is the author of three books, including "The Bus Trip". He currently works with high-level organizations, teams, athletes, and coaches to help them maximize their potential in the area of leadership, culture, and teamwork. You can learn more about him by visiting JamyBechler.com or on Twitter @CoachBechler

• Linkedin.com/in/jamybechler
• Twitter.com/CoachBechler
• Facebook.com/JamyBechlerLeadership
• Instagram.com/CoachBechler
• JamyBechler.com (official website)
• SuccessIsAChoicePodcast.com (podcast link)
• TheLeadershipPlaybook.com (online leadership program)
• TheBusTripBook.com (The Bus Trip book website)