COACH, HUSBAND, BEYOND

The Saints women’s basketball team is having a great season so far, sitting at 5-2 in South Region play and 14-6 overall, through Wednesday’s game.

As they enter the second half of the season, though, every game will grow more crucial in the pursuit of clinching a spot to the NWAC playoffs as Mt. Hood, Chemeketa, Umpqua, and even Clackamas are all fighting for those second, third, and fourth spots in the South. The South is being led by a dominate Lane team.

Just two years ago, making the playoffs wasn’t even a consideration for the women’s team. The 2016-17 lady Saints finished the season with a 2-14 conference record, and 7-21 overall. The last time the Saints had gone to the playoffs was in the 2009-10 season, where they went 10-4 in the South, and 19-10 overall.

But since the arrival of Head Coach Jeremy Vandenboer, things have been looking different – much different.

In his first year as head coach of the women’s basketball team in the 2017-18 season, Vandenboer led the Saints to their first playoff appearance in eight years. Mt. Hood had a record of 9-7 in the South and 12-14 overall, good for fourth place in their division.

It’s clear so far that Vandenboer has made a positive impact for the women’s basketball program at MHCC, so the Advocate grabbed him to talk about his current success and achievements.

Upon arriving at Mt. Hood in the fall of 2016 to join Mt. Hood’s men’s and women’s basketball staff as an assistant, Vandenboer was bringing 15 years of coaching experience to the table. It began during his junior year of college when he started coaching at the local high school and he hasn’t stopped since. He would graduate from Walla Walla University in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in Physical Education. He then went to Montana to teach at a small private school for nine years, and was the athletic director there, as well.

He also ended up meeting his wife, Genevieve, who is from Eugene, out there.

What made him want to coach the game, in the first place? We asked Vandenboer.

“Working with kids, you know. Helping make a difference in their lives,” he said. “Using the sport as a tool to teach life skills.”

Along the way, Vandenboer coached high school boys’ basketball, girls’ basketball, and volleyball until 2013. After nine years and his earning a master’s degree in education administration, the couple moved to Seattle where he got a job as an athletic director and vice principal for two years. In those two years he coached the boys high school basketball team to its first ever state playoff appearance.

The next move, to Oregon, was made after Vandenboer’s wife began working for Nike and the opportunity to coach college basketball presented itself. In 2015-2016, he served as an assistant coach to the men’s basketball team at Corban University in Salem. He met Saints men’s head Coach John Hawley while out on the recruiting trail, and the two discussed Mt. Hood.

After some thought, and with Genevieve getting a promotion to work with Nike in Portland’s MLK Boulevard store location, he called up coach Hawley. And after one year assisting Hawley for both men’s and women’s basketball, he was given the head coach position for the women’s team.

We asked Vandenboer how has he handled all the moves, and different teams he has coached over 18 years.

“I don’t think it’s much about where you coach but why you coach and that’s something I’ve learned along my career,” he said.

“When you first get into it, you want to prove that you’re good, and coaches are competitive. But I think at the end of the day you start realizing that you don’t remember the wins and the losses too much but you remember the relationships that you have, the experiences that you have with these kids and how you impacted their lives.”

With any profession, there comes challenges and obstacles, we asked Vandenboer about his.

“I think the biggest challenge is time. It’s a lifestyle and a commitment – (to) not just something you do, but something your entire family is involved in, as well,” he said. “The more you can be involved in their lives, the more of a difference you can make.”