The Coaches

HEAD COACH

BRAD BJORKGREN

The 2022-23 season will be Brad Bjorkgren’s eighth as the head men’s basketball coach at Simpson.

In his first five years with the program, he helped the Storm post at least 13 wins in each year for the first time since 1994-99. An accomplished high school coach prior to Simpson, Bjorkgren was inducted into the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2017 for his remarkable career at Urbandale High School.

The Storm are 82-83 under Bjorkgren (pronounced Bee-york-gren). Simpson has landed a spot in the conference tournament six of the last seven seasons, including two-straight semifinal appearances between 2018-20.

Since taking over, Bjorkgren’s squads have produced 18 all-conference honorees, including seven first team selections. Conor Riordan was named a 2020 Jostens Trophy finalist for program’s first since 2003 and was a two-time Academic All-America recipient for the Storm, just the second men’s basketball player to land on the team twice.

At the end of his fourth year, Simpson had hosted a conference tournament game each season under Bjorkgren. He led the Storm to a 15-11 mark in 201516, a nine-game turnaround from the previous season. He tied the school record for wins by a first-year head coach and piloted the Storm to a second-place finish in the IIAC, the program’s best in 12 years.

Bjorkgren’s up-tempo style produced a school-record 232 3-pointers in 2015-16 as Simpson led the IIAC in several categories, including steals, turnover margin and free throw percentage. Sam Amsbaugh earned Iowa Conference co-MVP honors in 2017-18. Hired as the 23rd head coach in Simpson history on April 15, 2015, Bjorkgren came to Simpson following a 27-year stint as the head coach at Urbandale (Iowa) High School. He went 398-213 at Urbandale, winning nine Central Iowa Metropolitan League (CIML) Championships and appearing in seven Class 4A State Tournaments.

Bjorkgren earned CIML Coach of the Year honors eight times, district coach of the year seven times and took home Class 4A State Coach of the Year honors in 2000. In 2013, he won the Iowa Basketball Coaches Association’s (IBCA) Don Logan Service Award for his ongoing commitment to the sport. He was the president of the IBCA from 2002-03 and has served on the executive board since 1998.

In addition to coaching more than 100 all-conference performers, Bjorkgren coached 20 all-state honorees. Among those all-state performers is Iowa’s 2001 Mr. Basketball, Tyler McKinney. The J-Hawks finished as the Class 4A runner-up in 2001, placed third in 1997 and fourth in 2007.

Bjorkgren graduated from Simpson in 1983 with degrees in business management and physical education. He was a two-year letterwinner for the basketball team, earning Second Team all-Iowa Conference honors after the 1982-83 season.

Bjorkgren began his career at Urbandale in 1983, serving as assistant boys basketball coach for five seasons before taking over as head coach in 1988. During that time he also served as a business education instructor, computer applications instructor and School to Work Coordinator.

THE BJORKGREN FILE

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Hometown: Manning, Iowa Spouse: Michele Children: Jacob and Benjamin

COACHING EXPERIENCE

2015-present: Simpson College

Head Coach

1988-2015: Urbandale High School

Head Boys Coach

PLAYING EXPERIENCE

1980-84: Simpson College

EDUCATION

SIMPSON COLLEGE, 1983 B.A., BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, PHYSICAL EDUCATION

BEFORE SIMPSON

• Inducted into the Iowa High School Athletic Association’s Basketball Hall of Fame in 2017 for accomplishments at Urbandale High School • Posted a record of 398-213 in 27 seasons at Urbandale • Led the J-Hawks to nine Central Iowa Metropolitan

League (CIML) Championships and seven Class 4A

State Tournaments • Was an eight-time CIML Coach of the Year and seven-time district coach of the year • Named Class 4A State Coach of the Year in 2000 • Coached more than 100 all-conference performers and 20 all-state selections • Coached Iowa’s 2001 Mr. Basketball, Tyler McKinney

BRANDON STROMER

Assistant Coach • 13th season

CHAD BOSTON

Assistant Coach • fifth season

KADE TATKENHORST

Assistant Coach • 1st season

KEVIN HEMPY

Assistant Coach • 1st season

CAM JOHNSON

Student Assistant • 1st season

DOMINIC LLOYD

Student Assistant • 2nd season