Athletics Hall of Fame
Dave Vander Meulen took over the reins of the UW-Whitewater men's basketball team for the 1978-79 season and went 10-17 his first year. That losing record, one of just two in his twenty-three years at Whitewater, would not happen again for twenty years. Vander Meulen's teams won twenty-plus games nine times, totaling 440 wins and 182 losses, a .707 winning percentage. Included in those figures is a 240-128 record, .652, in WIAC play. When he retired from coaching Vander Meulen was second in the number of victories in WIAC men's basketball history, and second in number of national tournament victories (record of 21-11) by any WIAC men's basketball coach. He coached coached teams to WIAC championships (1984, 1989, 1994, 2001) in four different decades, and also directed the Warhawks to twelve NCAA III championship tournament berths (1983, '84, '85, '86, '88, '89, '92, '93, '94, '95, '96, '97). Included in that string are three final fours ('83, '84, '89) and NCAA III championships in 1984, the first for any sport at UW-Whitewater, and 1989. UW-W was ranked among the top twenty teams in the final Division III poll of the season fourteen times under Vander Meulen. While he was the coach players earned a total of 63 all-WIAC honors, 25 all-region honors, and players totaled 25 All-American awards. Vander Meulen was recognized as WIAC Men's Basketball Coach of the Year five times ('84, '89, '94, '97, 2001), NCAA III regional coach of the year five times ('84, '86, '89, '94, '97), and national Division III coach of the year in 1984 and 1989. Vander Meulen is a member of the Madison (WI) Sports Hall of Fame and the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame. He now lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
