2007-08 Awards
2006-07
2005-06

Season Passes
Athletic Insurance Form

Head coach Jim Kessler (E-mail)

For 29 years, head coach Jim Kessler has exhibited excellence on and off the court. During the 2004–05 season, much of that hard work was rewarded. Kessler got his 500th career win and was also named the first ever NAIA Coach of Character.

Kessler surpassed the 500 win mark with a 70–67 win over Spring Arbor and by the end of the season, his career record moved to 506–416. Following the season, Kessler was awarded the first NAIA Coach of Character award, given to one coach across all sports in the NAIA who exhibits the values that the NAIA embraces—respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship.

During his tenure at Grace, Kessler has taken his teams on more than a dozen international outreach basketball camps in nations such as the Bahamas, the Philippines, Egypt and Germany. Kessler and his players took part in a mission trip in Africa at the 2004 HIV/AIDS Kenyan Basketball Federation National Clinic. His teams have also conducted outreach camps with inner-city programs and on Native American reservations.

Kessler has also made extensive contributions on his campus and in the local community by organizing annual tournaments to benefit Habitat for Humanity and the Kosciusko County Cancer Fund. He has established campus projects that have raised funds for the college library as well as funds for equipment and programs aimed at enhancing the quality of life at the college. For his contributions to the lives of youth in the Warsaw community, Kessler received the 2005 Pete Thorne Memorial Award.

Kessler has won many awards in his tenure at Grace, including four NAIA District 21 Coach of the Year Awards, two NCCAA National Coach of the Year awards and an NAIA National Coach of the Year award. He has had 15 winning seasons and 11 with 19 or more victories. His teams have won the Mid-Central Conference Championship eight times and he led the 1991–92 squad to the NAIA Division II National Championship.

Kessler was also a men's basketball player at Grace in the late 1960's and graduated in 1970.

He is married to Susanne and has four children, Kim, Sarah, Jenny and Janelle.

Assistant coach Matt Moore (E-mail)

Coach Moore enters his second season as the men’s assistant coach. In his year as a graduate assistant and last season Moore has help the Lancers to records of 24–11 and 23–12 respectively, finishing as the NCCAA Runner-up both seasons. His focus for detail, enthusiasm, and basketball mind helped the Lancers lead the conference last year in scoring at 82.5 points per game and assists with 17.5 per game. Some of Matt’s responsibilities include scouting opponents, game reports, recruiting, player development and preparing team practice plans.

Moore is a 2002 Grace graduate and ranks fourth in men’s basketball history with 660 career assists for the Lancers and fifth in season assists with 242. He has played for and worked with some of Indiana’s all time great coaches with the likes of Valparaiso’s Chris Benedict (formally Columbia City), Al Rhodes (formally Logansport, Warsaw). Matt also had the opportunity to coach in the 2005 McDonald’s All-American game for the West team.  He has taken his knowledge of the game of basketball overseas as well working with players in France, Germany and Kenya.

Volunteer Assistant coach Don Zawlocki

Coach “Z” as he is commonly known begins his third year as an assistant for the men’s team.  Coach is best known for his intensity and knack for the defensive end of the floor.  Don brings great passion and drive for the game of basketball and has head coaching experience.  A 1982 graduate of rival, Bethel College, Zawlocki was an NCCAA All-American, NAIA-Region and All-MCC performer for the Pilots as a player.  In addition, he is a member of the Bethel College Hall of Fame.

Zawlocki has his master’s degree in education and has spent much time in the coaching profession throughout the state of Indiana while taking the game overseas to Kosovo this past summer. 

Coach Zawlocki and his family reside in South whitely where his son Danny is a sixth grader.

Volunteer Assistant coach Jarrod Lovette

Coach Lovette is in his second season with the Lancer’s team. No stranger to the game, Lovette is an outstanding player himself having played semi-professional basketball and also with Athletes in Action. Jarrod does an outstanding job with the Lancer big men and he uses his past experience to help education the post players in playing at the block. Lovette graduated from Marquette University in 1999 where he compete in two NCAA Tournaments as a member of the men’s basketball team.

Following his collegiate career, Jarrod player with the LaCrosse Bobcats of the Continental Basketball Association, Athletes in Action and last season with the Elkhart Express.

Lovette is a student in the Seminary program as Grace and is married to head coach Jim Kessler’s daughter, Jennifer. The couple resides in Winona Lake.