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 offerin ...

and professional basketball 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 and grandson of Dutch soccer player Jan van Breda Kolff, he played from 1975 to 1983 for the Denver Nuggets, Kentucky Colonels, and Virginia Squires in the American Basketball Association, 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 St ...

. 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 o ...

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 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), even though Terrell had only earned a

welding Welding is a 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 is distinct from lower temperature techniques such as bra ...

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 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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. Th ...

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