600 and Counting

When Brian Morehouse ’91 first stepped onto the Hope College campus as a student in the fall of 1987, he dreamed of eventually making his mark as a college basketball coach.

Only five years after his graduation, he began crafting a remarkable legacy when he took the helm as the head coach of Hope College women’s basketball in 1996.

Now after his 24th season at his alma mater, Morehouse is not only the 2020 U.S. Marines/WBCA Coach of the Year for NCAA Division III (an award he also won in 2006), but also marked an unprecedented milestone in his 690th game this season. On Saturday, Jan. 25, after the Flying Dutch’s 76-27 win at Olivet College, Morehouse reached the 600-win plateau faster than any other NCAA basketball coach, women’s or men’s. The previous record was held by Mark Campbell (of NCAA Division II Union University in Tennessee) who achieved 600 wins in 691 games.

Morehouse joins a prestigious list that includes such legendary coaches as Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp (600 wins in 704 games), previous NCAA Division III women’s record holder Nancy Fahey of Washington-St. Louis (706 games), UConn’s Geno Auriemma (716 games), UCLA’s John Wooden (755 games), and North Carolina’s Dean Smith (773 games).

“That’s like a Mount Rushmore,” Morehouse said. “The only person who probably thought I could be a coach, and I don’t think he would have ever thought I was going to win like this, was Coach [Glenn] Van Wieren [’64]. I was an OK basketball player [in high school]. I wasn’t great. I recognized that and he recognized that. He was like, ‘Mo, you’re an OK basketball player, but you get the game of basketball. I think you should consider being a student assistant, learning the game with us, and then you can decide what you want to do after that.’

“For a young boy’s ego, to hang up his shoes and not play is a hard thing, but he saw something in me that was beyond the player and I’m grateful forever that he did.”

As a coach, Morehouse has adhered to a simple philosophy.

“I try to live my life one day at a time and just relish every day as an opportunity. That’s why I just have never really gotten caught up in the win total. To me, it’s always been about the next game, the next practice.”

“[Assistant coach] Courtney Kust [’13] put a little video montage together in the locker room with a bunch of coaches throughout the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association who I’m close with, as well as a lot of our former coaches and players in our basketball program, and I just lost it,” Morehouse said. “People always say ‘Win, win, win,’ but that’s not really why I do it.

“It sounds very cliché, but the win total and the milestone didn’t really have any effect on me … It’s a shared accomplishment with so many people.”

“I actually was a part of [Morehouse’s] 400th win when I was a sophomore, which makes me feel really old. It’s never fun to lose, but Mo is one of the best guys I’ve ever met. He’s still a really big part of my life and a mentor for me both on and off the basketball court. I’m so proud of him and it’s no coincidence that he has 600 wins.”

Brittany Berry ’15 Zandstra
Olivet coach and former Flying Dutch guard,
after the milestone Hope-Olivet game

Olivet coach Brittany Berry ’15 Zandstra, a former Hope guard who played for Morehouse from 2011 to 2015, was on the opposite sideline during Morehouse’s 600th win. She knows the impact of big milestones, first as a player and now as an opposing coach.

“I actually was a part of [Morehouse’s] 400th win when I was a sophomore, which makes me feel really old,” Zandstra said after the game. “It’s never fun to lose, but Mo is one of the best guys I’ve ever met. He’s still a really big part of my life and a mentor for me both on and off the basketball court. I’m so proud of him, and it’s no coincidence that he has 600 wins. He’s built a dynasty, and it’s all a credit to who he is as a person.”

This year’s team carried on its dynastic rule in the MIAA and NCAA as the only squad to remain undefeated, at 29-0, in the NCAA Division III. The No.1-ranked Flying Dutch won the MIAA regular season and tournament titles, plus two NCAA tournament games before their run toward a national championship came to a full-on, hard stop due to COVID-19. In fact, team members were practicing and administrators were preparing to host the sectional rounds of the national tournament at DeVos Fieldhouse when the NCAA informed them — and the other 15 teams left in the bracket — that their title quest was over.

“We had a long conversation about what we had accomplished this year, how it was OK to be frustrated, disappointed and sad — those were all normal feelings,” Morehouse said in a Holland Sentinel story about the unresolved end of the team’s season. “But there’s also a bigger picture as far as the nation’s health and wellness moving forward, and we had to be a part of that solution, as did all sports.”

“I try to live my life one day at a time and just relish every day as an opportunity. That’s why I just have never really gotten caught up in the win total. To me, it’s always been about the next game, the next practice.”

Brian Morehouse ’91
Head Coach, Hope College Flying Dutch

Morehouse’s father Dean, who coached high school boys’ basketball and was a part of his son’s staff for 20 years at Hope, is understandably proud of all of Brian’s accomplishments. He has had a literal front-row view of his son’s success from the very beginning.

“We’re all proud of him, whether you’re his dad, mom, the players, the college, or whoever knows Mo, you’re happy for him,” the elder Morehouse said. “He puts so much effort and so much heart into what he does.”

Freshman guard Meg Morehouse put a smile on her dad’s face by scoring the final five points of the third quarter of the milestone Jan. 25 contest as she drained a 3-pointer and a long jumper. She also had four rebounds and an emotional embrace with her dad at the end of the game.

“He just said, ‘Thank you for letting me do my job so well and I’m so glad we get to share this moment together,’” Meg said. “I’ve watched him put in so much time at home and today was really special. I’m just really proud of him. He cares about the players more than anything.”

Morehouse Milestones

24 Seasons as Head Coach of the Flying Dutch
19 NCAA Tournament Appearances
1 NCAA National Championship
611 Total Games
Won
90 Total Games
Lost
.872 Total Winning Percentage

The Road to 600

100 at Hope 89, Rochester 26, 11-20-01 138th game
200 at Hope 89, Kalamazoo 66, 2-22-05 250th game
300 at Hope 73, Olivet 42, 1-17-09 358th game
400 Hope 62, at Defiance 56, 11-20-12 468th game
500 at Hope 95, Saint Mary’s 58, 2-6-16 576th game
600 Hope 76, at Olivet 27, 1-25-20 690th game

To read more about the Hope women’s basketball team’s historic season, go to