Vance Patrick Walberg (born July 9, 1956) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach who is the head coach of the

Fresno State Bulldogs The Fresno State Bulldogs are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent California State University, Fresno (commonly referred to as Fresno State). The university is a member of NCAA Division I's Mountain West Conference (MW). It was a ...

of the

Mountain West Conference The Mountain West Conference (MW) is a collegiate athletic conference in the Western United States, participating in NCAA Division I. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). The MW officially began operations on Ja ...

. He was previously an assistant coach for the

Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Confere ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA), the head men's basketball coach at

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private university, private Christianity, Christian research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ, with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pepperdine's main campus consists ...

, and an assistant coach at the

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the Public university, public university system of the Massachusetts, Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes six campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, University of Massachusetts Lowell ...

. He is known for developing the

dribble drive motion The dribble drive motion is an offensive strategy in basketball, developed by former Pepperdine head coach Vance Walberg during his time as a California high school coach and at Fresno City College. The offense was popularized at the major col ...

offense, sometimes known as the Memphis Attack,

AASAA offense The dribble drive motion is an Basketball#Common techniques and practices, offensive strategy in basketball, developed by former Pepperdine Waves, Pepperdine head coach Vance Walberg during his time as a California high school coach and at Fresno C ...

Early life

Walberg graduated from Monta Vista High in

Cupertino, California Cupertino ( ) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, directly west of San Jose, California, San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The ...

in 1974, where he was the team's Most Valuable Player in winning a league championship. He spent two seasons at De Anza Community College, where he won two conference championships and finished as the school's all-time steals leader. He then went to Cal State Bakersfield for the next two years, and was named the school's Defensive Player of the Year twice and served as team captain.

Coaching career

Walberg became head coach of Mountain View (Calif.) High at age 22. He also served as badminton coach at James Logan High School (1983–84) and head basketball coach at Los Altos High School (1981–83). Walberg then became the head coach at Newark (Calif.) Memorial High School for five seasons (1985–89), winning one league title on two trips to the championships. In 1990, he embarked on a 13-year tenure as head coach at Clovis West High School in

Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

, Calif. In 1997, he had his Clovis West High team adopt his AASAA offense, leading to a 159–18 five-year record. Walberg's stint at Fresno City College (2002–06) had his team going 133–11 on more than 100 points a game, leading to a 2005 California state community college title. He was named California Community College Coach of the Year twice (2003 and 2005) and was Central Valley Conference Coach in every season he coached there. He became the Pepperdine head coach in April 2006. On January 17, 2008, Walberg resigned from Pepperdine, citing family issues. Walberg would later reveal that health issues and the death of his mother were major contributing factors to his resignation at Pepperdine. On May 5, 2008, he officially joined head coach Derek Kellogg's staff at UMass. He served on the UMass staff for three seasons. Walberg spent time with the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA), W ...

in the 2011–2012 season. In October 2012,

George Karl George Matthew Karl (born May 12, 1951) is an American former professional basketball coach and player. After spending five years as a player for the San Antonio Spurs, he became an assistant with the team before being appointed as a head coach ...

announced that Walberg officially joined the Nuggets' staff as an assistant coach. On February 23, 2015, it was announced that Walberg would reunite with George Karl on the

' coaching staff as an assistant coach. On February 17, 2016, he was fired by the Kings. On July 20, 2016, Walberg returned to Clovis West High School as varsity boys' basketball head coach. On April 6, 2024, multiple news outlets reported that Walberg has been hired as the new men's basketball coach at Fresno State, becoming the 20th head coach in program history.

Personal

Walberg has a physical education degree from Cal-State Bakersfield in 1978, a teaching credential from the College of Belmont in 1979 and a master's degree in health, physical education and recreation from Saint Mary's College in 1986. He and his wife, Rose, have four children.

Head coaching record

References

External links

UMass profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walberg, Vance 1956 births Living people American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball coaches from California Basketball players from Santa Clara County, California Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners men's basketball players College men's basketball head coaches in the United States Denver Nuggets assistant coaches High school basketball coaches in the United States Junior college men's basketball coaches in the United States Junior college men's basketball players in the United States Sportspeople from Cupertino, California Pepperdine Waves men's basketball coaches Philadelphia 76ers assistant coaches Place of birth missing (living people) UMass Minutemen basketball coaches Newark Memorial High School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen