The Augustana men’s basketball team recently welcomed a new head coach. Following the last game of the 2023-2024 season, Jordan Delp was named head coach on Wednesday, Feb. 20.
Delp succeeds former Head Coach Tom Jessee, who stepped down midway through the season. Jessee led the Augustana Vikings for two and a half seasons. Before that, Jessee was an assistant coach at Augustana for almost 30 years.
The men’s basketball team has faced some turmoil in recent years: former Head Coach Grey Giovanine, who established a record of 433-150 in 21 seasons, retired as head coach in 2020.
Steve Schafer, Giovanine’s successor, stayed for only a single season. This year’s change in coaching is just one more unexpected turn for the team.
Delp joined Augustana as a full-time assistant in the fall of 2021. He became acting head coach mid-season this year after Jessee stepped down.
“The rest of the season was a bit of a whirlwind,” Delp said. “We talk a lot about winning today, and that’s all we tried to do. We tried really hard to focus small and lock in on what we had control over.”
Delp is a 2009 graduate of Augustana and played basketball from the 2004 to 2009 seasons.
During his final two seasons as a player on the team, Delp was the captain of the men’s basketball team.
“There have been some great, great players that have been asked to be captains in this program and for me to be asked to do that was a hell of an honor,” Delp said.
After graduating from Augustana in 2009, Delp worked in banking before transitioning to player development, where he worked full-time with younger athletes.
As a coach, Delp said he draws on both his experience as a former collegiate athlete and his post-grad work with other collegiate athletes to better connect with his players.
“We built chemistry on the court by building chemistry off the court,” Delp said. “We were always together and always fighting for one another. We focused on what we needed to do to take care of each other and we focused on playing as one.”
Although there has been a transition, Delp said that the tenets remain the same.
“The biggest thing is to continue to create an environment that helps our young men be the best that they can be, whether that’s on the court or off the court,” Delp said.
Junior Mikey Hamilton is on the men’s basketball team and said the transition has ultimately provided an opportunity for growth both personally and as a team player.
“[Delp] added his own drills, his own twists to the defenses, but built on what we had already established,” Hamilton said.
The transition between coaches was abrupt but eased by the similarity between Delp and Jessee’s coaching styles. Hamilton feels optimistic about the team’s performance for the coming season.
“I think we have a really good chance of getting above that .500 threshold in terms of wins,” Hamilton said.
Last season, the team went 9-17 overall and 6-10 in conference. For the 2022-2023 season, the Vikings were 7-18 overall and 5-11 in conference.
During Delp’s time in player development, he worked with over 100 athletes who went on to play in college. 18 of his athletes went on to play professionally, and six played in the NBA.
According to Hamilton, the team is excited to be led by someone like Delp.
“His mind works in ways that I’ve never seen and he knows what he’s talking about,” Hamilton said. “That’s why we bought in so fast. He is a great role model.”
