On Nov. 6, 2023, Greg Kampe began his 40th season as the head coach of the Oakland men’s basketball team. He is the longest-tenured head coach in Division I men’s basketball, meaning no head coach in the country has been at his school longer than Kampe has been at Oakland.
As Kampe’s 40th season begins, The Oakland Post was able to examine the archives of Oakland University to see just what the hiring process looked like for Kampe back in 1984 and the years that followed.
Kampe, who was 29 years old at the time, had spent the last six seasons as an assistant coach under Bob Nichols at Toledo.
Lee Frederick, who was the head coach at Oakland before Kampe from 1979-84, had just been dismissed by the university, and the search for a new head basketball coach commenced.
The then athletic director Paul Hartman ultimately settled on Kampe in March of 1983.
“[Kampe] has outstanding recommendations that were very sincere,” Hartman said. “He knows the type of players it will take to win the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Conference, and his contacts in the Michigan area will make recruiting one of his strengths.”
Back then, Oakland played in the Division II GLIAC. Since then, it has transitioned to Division I, and it now competes in the Horizon League.
Division II or not, Kampe was elated to have landed a head coaching job at just 29 years old — something that would be unheard of in today’s day and age of college basketball.
“I think this is a great job with tremendous potential,” Kampe said. “I feel there is unlimited potential at Oakland University. This is an exciting time for me, and I left a secure situation for this opportunity because of the potential this program has to be successful.”
Even back in 1984, when Kampe was first hired, Oakland was eyeing a transition from Division II to Division I, which didn’t start until 13 years later, in 1997.
“The talent level is, of course, different,” Kampe said. “We’re gonna try to get some Division I players into our program. There’s really not that much difference between good Division II ball and Division I.”
Kampe’s hope for “tremendous potential” materialized in 2005, when, in just its sixth season at the Division I level, the program qualified for its first NCAA Tournament.
Oakland took on Alabama A&M in the opening-round play-in game of the 2005 NCAA Tournament. The winner would take on No. 1 seed North Carolina in the official first round of the Big Dance.
Kampe’s Golden Grizzlies defeated the Alabama A&M Bulldogs 79-69 to land a date with the top-seeded UNC Tar Heels.
In the moment, after putting in countless hours of work, building a program from scratch and coaching for more than 20 years, Kampe couldn’t help but focus on his players.
“This is the greatest experience our kids have ever had, and don’t change it,” Kampe said. “We wanted to be in it, and it was everything we wanted. You do it for the kids, and you made 15 kids’ lives tonight.”
Oakland was defeated by the mighty, eventual national champion Tar Heels in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Tournament. UNC scored 59 points in the first half, one Kampe called “as good as it gets.”
“That was an unbelievable first half. I said the other day I’m really happy to be here, but I wasn’t too happy to be involved in that first half. They scored 59 points on 32 possessions. That half of basketball was a clinic. That is as good as it gets… They are an outstanding basketball team.”
The Golden Grizzlies stood no chance against North Carolina, but it was more than a basketball game for the university and its students.
“In the past few days, our relatively quiet commuter campus has been transformed,” then Editor-in-Chief Libby Baker wrote. “We’re singing (or learning) the fight song and proudly wearing our black and gold.
“Hundreds of students, faculty and alumni made the trip south to cheer on our Golden Grizzlies, and it was an experience most of us will never forget… Hopefully, our excitement and pride won’t come to an end when this season does. We’ve come too far now to let that happen.
“So thank you to Coach Kampe and the men’s basketball team for giving us all something to remember and be proud of.”
A decision by Hartman to hire 29-year-old Greg Kampe in 1984 will live in Oakland lore forever, and it has made a ginormous impact — one exponentially greater than Hartman could have ever imagined.
