Ron Lievense has earned a national title and more than 450 career victories as an NCAA men’s basketball head coach, but his career has never really been about winning games.
For him, coaching has always been part of a higher calling and purpose.
“When I was in college, I was toying between being a youth minister and being a basketball coach,” Lievense said. “I felt like God was leading me to be a coach where I could still be a minister as well. I could make an impact on young men’s lives, which is why I do what I do. That’s my passion.”
Lievense was shaped by his parents and inspired by his father, who was a men’s basketball coach and athletic director as well.
“I grew up in a home where coaching was a passion,” he said. “It wasn’t the most important thing – my father and mother were people of faith. I grew up in a family where God was honored. I grew up in a home where education was very important. But I grew up watching my dad coach, going recruiting with him as a little boy, sitting on the bench during his games. I grew up watching him scout teams, going to his practices, traveling with the team on the bus for road games.
“It was just a tremendous experience. And what I learned from all of that was the passion he had for loving the young men that he coached, and the connection that he made with the young men. That was a driving force for me wanting to coach.”
After a standout playing career that included a state championship with Thomas Jefferson High School in Bloomington, Minn., and a National Christian College Athletic Association national title and All-America honors at Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minn., Lievense began his coaching career as a volunteer assistant for his dad at Normandale College.
He soon earned his first graduate assistant position – ironically at Winona State University, the same powerhouse his Barton team would later conquer in dramatic fashion to win the 2007 NCAA Division II national championship.
Lievense landed his first head coaching job at NCAA Division III program Averett College, and later led the NCAA Division II program at St. Andrews Presbyterian College, now St. Andrews University.
In-between those head coaching jobs, he spent four years gaining valuable insight as an assistant under long-time Campbell University head coach Billy Lee.
“Coach Lee trained me how to really break the game of basketball down and teach it,” he said. “That was a great four-year period for me, learning Division I recruiting, learning to teach the game of basketball defensively and offensively. There was nothing too little or insignificant. Everything was covered with great precision. It made me a better coach.”
His time at Campbell also provided an important connection for his future at Barton – Gary Hall.
Hall served as head coach of the men’s soccer program at Campbell during part of Lievense’s time there before leaving to become head coach and athletic director at Barton, his alma mater.
When Hall needed to hire a new men’s basketball head coach in 1996, he looked to Lievense as a possibility.
“During our time together at Campbell, I got to know Ron well enough to know that he not only was a very capable coach, but that he was a man of great integrity, faith and leadership,” Hall said. “When he came to campus to interview, and (his wife) Darla and his daughters accompanied him, there was a strong feeling that this could be a very good match.
“Ron’s coaching resume was deceiving at that point. His only head coaching positions had been at Averett and St. Andrews, and in both of those situations, there were a number of challenges that worked against him. He did not have numbers on paper that were overly impressive, but I felt that in our situation, he could come here and produce some good teams. He certainly went well beyond our expectations.”
Lievense’s impact was immediate and significant. In his first season leading the Bulldogs went 22-5, won the conference regular-season championship, and earned the school’s first NCAA Tournament bid.
It marked the first of 10 regular-season or league tournament crowns, the first of nine 20-win seasons, the first of seven NCAA Tournament appearances, and the first of four conference Coach of the Year awards for Lievense.
He took Barton teams to the Elite Eight over consecutive seasons in 2006 and 2007, and reached the pinnacle in 2007 when the Bulldogs rallied to defeat Winona State at the buzzer in the 2007 national title game, giving Barton its first NCAA Division II championship.
He enters the 2017-18 season – his 22nd in Wilson – just two wins shy of 400 at Barton.
“One thing about Ron’s record which is unmistakable is the way he has been able to take players and develop them over the length of their careers,” Hall said. “I think that’s the mark of an excellent coach, that the players improve while they’re on your watch. I think his leadership qualities, his ability to inspire the players to dig down deep and find the resources to perform at levels beyond what they have achieved previously is a very strong part of his success.”
Even as he enters the Barton Athletic Hall of Fame, Lievense maintains his humility and refuses to accept his own contributions to the success of the program.
He says while he started in this business to make an impact in other people’s lives, he is the one being impacted instead.
“We’ve been very blessed here,” Lievense said. “We’ve been one of the most successful programs in the region for many, many years. None of that can happen without God’s blessings and great players. Many players I’ve coached have made me better. They come in and you think as a coach you’re making a difference in their lives, but they are actually making a difference in your life. Between great players, great assistant coaches and great administrators, that’s why we’ve been successful. And of course I wouldn’t be here without the support of the greatest coach’s wife ever, Darla, and my girls, who are all true Bulldogs.
“I’m thankful for all the players who came here and left a legacy. The championships are their legacy. The successes are their legacy. That’s what I’m humbled by the most. A lot of players who could have gone to other schools came to Barton and left an incredible legacy for others to follow. They have built the brand name of Barton basketball. I didn’t build it. They built it. I was just along for the ride.”
