ORANGE CITY, Iowa – Former Northwestern men’s basketball head coach Kris Korver will officially be inducted into the NAIA Hall of Fame during halftime of Thursday’s Round of 16 game in Kansas City.
Northwestern will face top-seeded Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) at 5:00 p.m. in Municipal Auditorium, with Korver being honored during the halftime break.
Korver will also be the featured speaker at the NAIA Student-Athlete Experience, held at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 18 in Municipal Auditorium. The Student-Athlete Experience event will be free to attend and open to the public.
Korver was selected to the NAIA Hall of Fame last fall, becoming Northwestern’s fourth coach to join the association’s membership.
In 25 seasons at the helm, Kris Korver accumulated a record of 574-225, closing his time on the Bultman Center sidelines with the 26th-most wins among current and former NAIA coaches, and fourth among active NAIA coaches. Since starting his collegiate coaching career in 2000, Korver won two NAIA Division II national titles (’01, ’03), made 19 trips to the NAIA tournament, finished atop the GPAC standings nine times, and won the GPAC tournament title six times. In their 19 NAIA tournament appearances, Korver’s teams went 28-17 and made the field in eight of his final nine seasons.
Under Korver’s direction, 49 Raiders received All-American accolades. He coached one NAIA Player of the Year (Brandon Woudstra, ’03), seven GPAC Players of the Year, five GPAC Freshmen of the Year, and two GPAC Defensive Players of the Year.
Korver’s influence grew beyond the basketball court into the campus community. His ministry through basketball helped prepare young men to be faithful husbands and fathers and to develop “healthy and Holy habits.” Korver introduced Northwestern’s Monday Mornings for Men, a weekly gathering of men from Northwestern and beyond who work to better themselves through Biblical relationships and community. Additionally, he mentored students as an instructor in kinesiology for various coaching, leadership, and activity courses.
His service to the school exceeds his years as a head coach, as the 1992 Northwestern graduate was a four-year member of the basketball program and served in admissions prior to his coaching career. Korver was a guard for the 1991-92 Red Raider team that finished as national runners-up under coach Todd Barry.
