Jan van Breda Kolff (born December 16, 1951) is an American former

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

and

professional basketball In professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, participants receive payment for their performance. Professionalism in sport has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larg ...

player and college basketball

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

. The son of coach

Butch van Breda Kolff Willem Hendrik "Butch" van Breda Kolff (October 28, 1922August 22, 2007) was an American basketball player and coach. Biography Early life and career Butch was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, son of Dutch soccer player Jan van Breda Kolff. He g ...

and grandson of Dutch soccer player Jan van Breda Kolff, he played from 1975 to 1983 for the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

Kentucky Colonels The Kentucky Colonels were a member of the American Basketball Association for all of the league's nine years. The name is derived from the historic Kentucky colonels. The Colonels won the most games and had the highest winning percentage of ...

, and

Virginia Squires The Virginia Squires were a basketball team based in Norfolk, Virginia, and playing in several other Virginia cities. They were members of the American Basketball Association from 1970 to 1976. The team originated in 1967 as the Oakland Oaks, a ...

in the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

, and the New York/New Jersey Nets in the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

. From 1970 to 1974 he played for

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

, and in 1974 he led the Commodores to a

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

championship as SEC Player of the Year. He also spent two years in Italy, from 1983 to 1985, helping Italian team

Virtus Bologna Virtus Pallacanestro Bologna, known for sponsorship reasons as Virtus Segafredo Bologna, is an Italian professional basketball club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1929, which makes it the oldest club in Italy and one ...

win a championship.

Coaching career

Van Breda Kolff's tenure at St. Bonaventure ended abruptly in controversy late in the 2002–03 season. St. Bonaventure declared

junior college A junior college (sometimes referred to colloquially as a juco, JuCo or JC) is a post-secondary educational institution offering vocational training designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations and workers in su ...

transfer Jamil Terrell eligible to play without sitting out a year (as he would have been under NCAA rules if he had earned an

associate degree An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The fi ...

), even though Terrell had only earned a

welding Welding is a fabrication (metal), fabrication process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by using high heat to melt the parts together and allowing them to cool, causing Fusion welding, fusion. Welding is distinct from lower ...

certificate. Athletic director Gothard Lane had told school president Robert Wickenheiser that Terrell was ineligible to play that year. However, Wickenheiser, under prodding from his son Kort, who was also one of Van Breda Kolff's assistants, unilaterally declared Terrell eligible. School officials didn't seek guidance from the NCAA about Terrell's eligibility until the 2002–03 season was nearly over. The Bonnies were forced to forfeit every game in which Terrell played, and were also barred from the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

tournament. In protest, the Bonnies players opted to sit out the last two games.2004 infraction report
/ref> Van Breda Kolff denied knowing about the scandal, and was cleared of wrongdoing. On April 25, 2007, he was named as one of three finalists to become the new head coach of

UC Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

's men's basketball program. Van Breda Kolff was named coach of the Nashville Broncos of the

in 2008. He stayed with the team through its name change to the Music City Stars, but lost his job when the team disbanded in 2010.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Career stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Breda Kolff, Jan 1951 births Living people American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball players American people of Dutch descent Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from California College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Cornell Big Red men's basketball coaches Denver Nuggets players Kentucky Colonels players New Jersey Nets players New Orleans Hornets assistant coaches New York Nets players People from Palos Verdes, California Pepperdine Waves men's basketball coaches Portland Trail Blazers draft picks Small forwards Sportspeople from Los Angeles County, California St. Bonaventure Bonnies men's basketball coaches Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball coaches Vanderbilt Commodores men's basketball players Virginia Squires draft picks Virginia Squires players Virtus Bologna players