It’s hard to believe, but for more than four decades there has been a constant presence at the helm of Oakland University Men’s Basketball: Greg Kampe. And while it would be an exhaustive and futile effort to contextualize the thousands of players, faculty, and students who have seen their lives affected by what was once just a very ambitious young man from Defiance, Ohio, it’s impossible to overlook the fortitude and passion that has driven that same man to accomplish such a feat.
More importantly, on nights like Monday at the O’Rena, you come to appreciate that you can’t have one without the other. To stay in coaching for as long as Kampe has, you have to be blessed with players who, over the course of a very distinguished career, have loved calling you their coach.
The Golden Grizzlies, champions of the Horizon League last season and darlings of the 2024 NCAA Tournament after their upset over 2-seed Kentucky, opened up their 2024-2025 season hosting Kampe’s hometown squad, Defiance.
Relative to the slate that awaits them in the coming weeks, the visiting side offered what could be qualified as a ‘warm-up game’ for Oakland’s new-look roster. Kampe, known for speaking candidly in any context, didn’t beat around the bush addressing as much after the win.
“We weren’t gonna run much today, because we’re into the lion’s mouth the next three: Boise, Illinois, and Kansas,” Kampe offered when asked about his assessment of the team’s first half performance in the opener. “The only set we ran in the first half was the end of the half play. We took a lot of bad shots. We’re much bigger, and they didn’t pressure us, and we’re wide open – it doesn’t mean anything. You’ve gotta learn how to play inside out. As many 3s as we shoot, you get them from the inside out.”
It doesn’t take much effort to substantiate Kampe’s claim. Oakland shot 3-for-15 from three-point range in the first half, but improved to 6-of-17 in the second – most of which came off the hand of Malcolm Christie. In his first NCAA career start, the senior from New Brunswick hit three straight from behind the arc midway through the second half.
“When Christie finally made a 3, you saw his reaction. Those are human reactions,” Kampe added. “The first six or seven possessions of the second half, we ran sets. Buru (starting forward) touched the ball, and look what happened. We scored at the basket, and we started making threes because they were inside out. It was a great learning experience for them.”
Speaking of Buru, much was asked of the Grizzlies small forward in the opener – in large part due to the absence of Allen Mukeba, who suffered an injury in practice leading up to the game. Buru finished the game with 13 pts and 13 rebounds after playing for 28 of the first 30 minutes of in-game time.
“It’s been a pretty big adjustment,” the senior from Syndey, Australia commented after the win. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job, considering that we have like eleven guys that this is brand new to.”
With big game in their sights in the weeks ahead, Coach Kampe didn’t shy from addressing how tough the loss of Mukeba was for his squad, knowing full well the task ahead.
“It’s frustrating. Ten minutes to go in practice and he came down on someone’s foot. Thank god it’s not a high ankle sprain, but there’s a good chance he doesn’t play the next couple of weeks. I asked him, ‘If we were playing in the NCAA Tournament today, could you have played?’ And he said ‘no’. Well, if that’s the case, he ain’t playing for a while.”
Despite going into halftime with only 33 points and up by 10, the Grizzlies finished the evening scoring 75 – with four players (Buru, Cole, Christie, Craggs) hitting double-digits.
After the game, the Oakland Basketball program played a video presentation inside the O’Rena celebrating Kampe on his 700th win as a head coach. The video featured appearances from former OU players, including Scott Bittinger, Eric Taylor, Dan Buza, Dan Champagne, Erik Kangas, Travis Bader and Nick Daniels. Befitting for their head coach, the featured players didn’t hesitate to have a laugh in the face of such a historic accomplishment, before reflecting on the pride of gratitude of playing under Kampe and the memories of their time at Oakland.
At the postgame, Coach Kampe was asked what he’s learned along the journey to win #700 that he didn’t know after win #1.
“I came here at 28 years old thinking that I was the greatest coach in the history of coaches and that I would win 50 national championships and be the next John Wooden…it didn’t take long to find out that I didn’t know very much.” Kampe shared, before addressing that his greatest esteem has come from being surrounded by staff and players that he felt honored to support as a leader.
“I’ve been really, really fortunate. The fanbase at Oakland, I don’t think they even understand how lucky they’ve been. The amount of players, the level of players that have come through a school that was Division II that turned into Division I. And then you saw that video after the game, that video is what makes it for me. It has nothing to do with 700 wins. It’s those kids and what they said.”
True to the greats, Kampe shared that over a career spanning four decades, he’s learned that the drive to keep coaching has very little to do with his own accomplishments, and that the joy in this business has come from seeing those around him find success.
“You look around and you see this. I mean, do you realize who’s come through this building? And I got to sit on the bench and they call me coach. It has nothing to do with winning. You’re happy that they won. That’s what I’ve learned the most. When I was 28, it was ‘I was winning’. That word ‘I’ – it has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with those young men.”
