Jim Kessler told the world Monday morning what has been on his heart this winter.
He’s ready to stop coaching.
At a press conference held in a building that is a tangible part of Kessler’s legacy at Grace College – with a court that bears his name – “Coach K” said that season No. 42 will be his last as head coach of the men’s basketball program.
Consider these things:
• If you are younger than 42 years old, you’ve never lived in a world where Jim Kessler was not the coach of the Grace Lancers.
• Players on Kessler’s first teams are starting to retire.
• His teams have averaged almost 19 wins per season.
• 18 of his 42 seasons were 20-win seasons, and three of them topped 30 wins.
He is a 1970 Grace College graduate. He played for the Lancers. He took over the head coaching duties of his alma mater and he has been an unmovable rock of stability and steadiness. There were never rumors of him leaving to move up in the coaching ranks, although I am sure there were plenty of inquiries from larger schools.
When the NAIA began to offer a Division II level of college basketball in 1991-92, he navigated the team to the national championship. But for him it was never about the winning – it was about the winners.
Kessler would trade any or all of those almost 800 wins to assure the quality of the human beings he was sending out into the world when they finished college. He took some chances on people who didn’t always fit the mold of the classic Grace College student, and those fellas rarely walked away without being better people than when they arrived on campus.
He is a walking, talking example of what leadership should look and sound like.
When he played, he was a huge man. As a coach, the power of his words comes not from the volume with which they are spoken, but from the strength of the man behind them. He is a gentle giant in every sense of the phrase.
Kessler demanded a lot from his people, and they were willing because they knew the work started with “Kess.” He is respected by so many people and in so many ways.
He was inducted into the college’s Athletic Hall of Fame in its initial class in 2008, and also is in the halls of fame of the NAIA and NCCAA. In 2005 he received the Pete Thorn Award, and in 2006 he received the National Association of Basketball Coaches Guardians of the Game National Award for Service for his contributions to the community.
And think about it – most of his players had dreams of playing big-time college basketball. They came to Grace, in some ways, disappointed that their dreams were not fulfilled. He had to manage those egos and channel that bitterness and resentment and make 18-year kids realize they were playing big-time basketball after all, and he had plan for using them.
My brother Bruce was a point guard under Homer Drew at Bethel College when I was in elementary and junior high, so my early opinions of Jim Kessler were pretty low.
I shudder to think what could have happened had I not got to work here in Warsaw, not worked at Grace College with him for a short time, not worshipped next to him on Sunday mornings and uncovered who the real Jim Kessler is – someone who loves people and wants the best for them … even little brothers of pesky point guards from his most heated rival.
His four daughters are a joy to be around and their families’ roots are growing here. To his loving wife and faithful supporter Susanne, and those four girls, I say “thank you for sharing your husband and dad with us.”
So, who is the man to follow the legend?
Scott Moore is a former Lancer himself, who’s been an assistant coach in the program for the last seven seasons. He came through the Columbia City boys basketball program as a confident, organized leader on teams that were very successful. His teams at Grace were equally so.
It’s not usually a good career path to follow a legend, but Moore knows the water he’s wading into, and if there is anyone who can pull it off, Scott Moore can. He’s young and energetic and he knows how to go into the living room of a 17-year old basketball star and convince them that Grace College is where they need to be.
We all knew this day was coming and now it has arrived.
Jim Kessler is trading his seat on the bench for one a few rows up.
