Tom Billeter (born February 12, 1961) is an American

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

coach at

Emporia State University Emporia State University (Emporia State or ESU) is a public university in Emporia, Kansas, United States. Established in March 1863 as the Kansas State Normal School, Emporia State is the third-oldest public university in the state of Kansas. E ...

Emporia, Kansas Emporia is a city in and the county seat of Lyon County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 24,139. Emporia lies between Topeka, Kansas, Topeka and Wichita, Kansas, Wichita ...

. He previously has been the head coach at Augustana University (SD),

North Dakota State University North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was ...

, as well as holding assistant coaching roles at a number of

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

colleges. He led Augustana to the 2016 NCAA Division II national championship and was named the national coach of the year in that season. Billeter is from

Byron, Illinois Byron is a city in Ogle County, Illinois, United States, probably best known as the location of the Byron Nuclear Generating Station, one of the last nuclear power plants commissioned in the United States. Byron is located in Byron Township, ...

and obtained his undergraduate degree from the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

. He began his coaching career as a high school coach, then made his entry into college coaching as an assistant to

Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (September 22, 1934 – August 27, 2020) was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head co ...

Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...

. He then moved to

Rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

under Scott Thompson. He was hired as head coach of then-Division II

North Dakota State North Dakota State University (NDSU, formally North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences) is a public land-grant research university in Fargo, North Dakota, United States. It was founded as North Dakota Agricultural Colle ...

, where he led the Bison to four consecutive 20-win seasons in his five seasons at the helm (from 1992 to 1997). He left the school, despite his success, to take an assistant coaching job at high profile Division I program St. John's. After a year at St. John's, then five seasons as an assistant at Texas A&M, Billeter was hired as head coach at Augustana in 2003. After going 42–69 in his first four seasons, he then led the Vikings to three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances from 2008 to 2010. Billeter received the Clarence Gaines Coach of the Year award in 2013. In the 2014–15 season, the Vikings went 31–3 but were knocked out of the 2015 NCAA tournament by Northwest Missouri in the second round. The Vikings avenged the loss the following season as they went 34–2 behind national player of the year

Dan Jansen Daniel Erwin Jansen (born June 17, 1965) is a retired American speed skater. A multiple world champion in sprint and perennial favorite at the Winter Olympics, he broke a ten-year Olympic jinx when he won a gold medal in his final race, which ...

and won the school's first national championship. Billeter was named the national Division II coach of the year by the

National Association of Basketball Coaches The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, is an American organization of men's college basketball coaches. It was founded in 1927 by Phog Allen, the men's basketball head coach for the Univ ...

(NABC) at the conclusion of the season. On January 26, 2019, Billeter won his 300th game as Augustana Vikings coach.

College coaching record

References

External links

Augustana Vikings bio2016 National Champions retrospective
{{DEFAULTSORT:Billeter, Tom 1961 births Living people American men's basketball coaches Arizona Wildcats men's basketball coaches Augustana (South Dakota) Vikings men's basketball coaches Emporia State Hornets basketball coaches Basketball coaches from Illinois College men's basketball head coaches in the United States High school basketball coaches in the United States North Dakota State Bison men's basketball coaches People from Byron, Illinois Rice Owls men's basketball coaches St. John's Red Storm men's basketball coaches Texas A&M Aggies men's basketball coaches University of Arizona alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni