Dave Lipp retires after 23 years at the helm of the NCU basketball program, with 438 wins.
EUGENE, Ore. – Head Men’s Basketball Coach Dave Lipp announced his retirement from coaching and from Northwest Christian University on Thursday, citing health reasons.
“It has been my great pleasure to work here at NCU since 1970,” said Lipp. “I love the university and wish it great success in the years ahead.”
Coach Lipp is coming off one of his most successful seasons, earning his first Cascade Collegiate Conference Coach of the Year award after guiding the Beacons to a sixth-place finish in the CCC. Northwest Christian had been selected in a pre-season poll to finish tenth, but surprised many with an 11-9 campaign that included three upset victories over opponents ranked in the NAIA’s top-25.
Lipp finishes out his career with a school-record 438 wins, boasting a career winning percentage of .637. He guided the Beacon and, formerly, Crusader basketball programs to ten 20-win seasons and was at the helm of five National Championships at the USCAA and NBCAA levels.
Coach Lipp became the Head Coach for Northwest Christian College in 1980 and, in just his third season, led the Crusaders to an NBCAA National Championship, the first of five straight for the school. After the 1984-1985 season and the third straight championship, Lipp left to become the Assistant Head Coach for the University of Oregon women’s basketball team as well as the first-ever Head Golf Coach for the Ducks in 1985.
Lipp returned to NCC in 1991 and, over the next 18 seasons, guided his teams to twelve post-season appearances, including a pair of NSCAA National Championships in 1998 and 1999 and three other runner-up finishes. Lipp earned national Coach of the Year honors in both 1998 and 1999. In his 23 seasons at the helm, Lipp had the privilege of coaching 16 All-Americans and, over the past two seasons, had two athletes honored as All-Conference by the CCC.
Coach Lipp has been associated with NCU since his first year as a student in 1969. He played three seasons with the Crusader basketball team, earning team-MVP honors twice and garnering All-Conference honors in 1971. After graduating in 1971, he worked as an assistant coach for Hall of Famer Duane Cox for seven seasons.
Athletic Director Corey Anderson said, “Coach Lipp has had a very distinguished and successful coaching career here at Northwest Christian. With the numerous small college National Championships and our recent success in the Cascade Collegiate Conference, Coach has created a great legacy not only for himself, but more importantly, for our Athletic Program, specifically in men’s basketball. Coach has left the program with the cupboards full and well-prepared for the immediate future.
“Winning basketball games has been a by-product of the strong relationships that Coach has built with his players over the years. These friendships that he has fostered have always been the number one priority through his illustrious coaching career. Those relationships and memories will always serve as the footprint that he has left for all of us. I speak for not only myself and our current athletic staff, basketball coaches and team, but also for the hundreds of players and coaches Coach Lipp has had a positive impact upon, and say “thank you” for all that he has done and for all the love that he has shared with NCU!”
A successor for Coach Lipp has not yet been named by the University.