Greg Kampe has made a 40-year career out of coaching college kids at the game of basketball. Not only has he been coaching for 40 years — which is impressive enough on its own — but he’s been at the same school (Oakland) for the entire time.
Kampe spent the first 17 years of his career leading an Oakland team in Division II. In 1997, the school transitioned to Division I, completed in 1999.
Beginning in that 1999 season, Oakland has had some incredible wins — 413, to be exact, at the time of this writing — and Kampe has been there to see them all.
But which of those 413 sticks out most to the man who’s been there seemingly from the beginning?
According to Kampe’s remarks to the men’s basketball season ticket holders before the start of the 2023-24 season (Kampe’s 40th at the school), it was a 97-90 victory over the University of Michigan in 2000, just one year after Oakland had officially become a Division I program.
The O’rena had only been around for two years at that time, but the Golden Grizzlies were able to get the Wolverines to make the 51-mile trip north to play a game.
For context, Michigan was going through what many recall as the worst years in program history. Fewer than 10 years earlier, Michigan was as popular as any team in college basketball history with the Fab Five.
Freshmen Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Ray Jackson and Jimmy King all signed with the program in 1991. By the midway point of the season, the five freshmen were all starters, and they stole the attention of the college basketball world not only for their high level of play but also for their trendy, long shorts and high socks look.
Fast forward nine years to 2000, and Michigan has seemingly fallen off a cliff as a program. The program self-imposed a myriad of sanctions upon itself, which sent Michigan into a downward spiral for roughly two decades.
By 2000, when Kampe and Oakland hosted Michigan, the talent level for the Wolverines was nowhere near what it was in 1991 with the Fab Five. However, U-M was still a high-major Division I program and was thought of as a heavy favorites entering the contest.
But Oakland junior Jason Rozycki had an upset on his mind, and thanks to a 32-point performance, he led the Golden Grizzlies to the victory. Rozycki shot 7-14 from the floor, including 6-13 from beyond the arc.
He also added 12 points at the free-throw line on 13 attempts.
Junior Brad Buddenborg also added 22 points on 8-9 from the floor, including a perfect 4-4 from deep. Freshman Kelly Williams was the team’s third-leading scorer with 18 points in the contest.
Overall, Oakland shot 15-29 (51.7%) from beyond the arc, while Michigan shot just 5-17 (29.4%) from distance.
In 39 years of coaching, Kampe still vividly recalls a win over Michigan in 2000 as his most memorable victory of his 677 total victories as Oakland’s head coach.
As Kampe enters year 40 with the program, his career is nearing its end. But the current longest-tenured head coach in Division I men’s basketball will look to notch a win even more memorable than the win over Michigan in 2000 before his time is done.
