Lance Westberg was named the head coach for the Houghton College men's basketball program in July 2019. Westberg is the 10th coach in program history. 

Prior to coming to Houghton, Westberg served five years as an assistant at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, where he helped guide the Falcons to a record of 83-53. During his time at UW-River Falls, the team advanced to three WIAC championship games. The 2016-17 team finished 25-4, won the conference title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Division III National Tournament. That team was also honored as the WIAC Coaching Staff of the Year.

Westberg was actively involved with the Falcon recruiting efforts, perimeter player development, scouting, and organizing and monitoring student-athlete academic progress. He helped develop nine all-conference players and one Third Team NABC All-American. He also directs the Falcon summer basketball camps. 

As a recruiter, he earned commitments from 20 top-100 and six top-50 recruits from Minnesota and Wisconsin. In addition to his basketball responsibilities, Westberg also served as the head coach of the UW-River Falls women's golf team for five seasons. During his time at the helm, he increased the team roster size from six to 13, boosted the team GPA from 2.9 to 3.67, and was named WIAC Coach of the Year in 2018.

Prior to joining UW-River Falls, Westberg spent a season as an assistant coach at River Falls High School and also spent three seasons as the head coach and director of the Minnesota-based Triple Threat Club team, elevating the U15-U17 team to a ranking in the Northstar Hoops Report.

Westberg played for four years at the University of Northwestern-St. Paul where he was a part of three regular season UMAC championships, three conference tournament championships, three NCAA National Tournament appearances from 2010-13, and an NCCAA National Championship in 2010.  Individually, he earned honorable mention to the All-UMAC team during the 2012-13 season along with being named the conference championship MVP, and the UMAC Individual Sportsmanship Award.

Twitter

@CoachWestberg

@Houghton_MBB

Adam Gordon is the Co-Founder & CEO of Rising Coaches, a membership based community for coaches that connects, develops and facilitates career advancement for its members. Gordon previously spent 16 years working in college basketball serving in various roles at the High Major D1, DII, and JUCO levels. In 2019 Adam stepped away from coaching to put all his focus on building Rising Coaches.

Gordon was an assistant and associate head coach at Southeast Missouri from 2015-2019. Before joining Southeast Missouri, he worked for three years as director of operations on Rick Ray’s staff at Mississippi State. Gordon was in charge of travel, camps, scheduling, on-campus recruiting and academic compliance during his stint with the Bulldogs. A native of Los Angeles, California, Gordon also spent time at Northern Colorado and was a graduate assistant at Clemson for three years.

A 2006 graduate of Tampa who studied Youth Development and Leadership at Clemson, Gordon was an assistant coach at Central Florida Community College in Ocala, Florida, from 2006-08 before going to Clemson. There, Gordon was responsible for recruiting, player development, opponent scouting, video editing and exchange, and academic counseling. Prior to Central Florida CC, Gordon was head manager and student assistant at the University of Tampa from 2002-06.

Email – adam@risingcoaches.com

Twitter – @coachadamgordon @RisingCoaches

Website – risingcoaches.com

J.P. Nerbun is the founder of Thrive On Challenge, a mentor, writer, coach, and sports consultant. A multisport athlete growing up, basketball was always his first love. He followed his passion to the University of South Carolina, where the Gamecocks won an NIT Championship in Madison Square Garden in 2006. After playing in college, J.P. moved to Ireland, where he earned his teaching degree in physical education and sports science at the University of Limerick, one of the top universities in Europe for sports education.

Nerbun has coached for over 12 years in Ireland, Lithuania, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. During his time in Ireland, he has coached over 30 teams in five years.

J.P. has been thrown into head coaching positions at nearly every level imaginable (including professional, collegiate, and high school), gaining an incredible level of experience—including experience with failure! Having worked with men and women at various levels, with diverse backgrounds, and across all sports, J.P. understands how to apply the principles, systems, and strategies to build a transformational culture.

Since founding Thrive On Challenge, Nerbun has served coaches, athletes, and parents across the world, at every level and in every sport.

Website – thriveonchallenge.com

Email – jpnerbun@thriveonchallenge.com

Twitter – @JpNerbun