Former Zeeland East athletic director will coach at Kuyper College

Stan Jesky

By GARY BROWER
The Holland Sentinel
Posted Jun 20, 2008 @ 12:30 PM
Zeeland, MI —

Stan Jesky didn’t stay retired long.

In fact, before his contract officially expired as athletic director at Zeeland East High School, he landed another job in athletics.

Jesky, who was an athletic director in Zeeland for 20 years, was recently named the head men’s basketball coach at tiny Kuyper College in Grand Rapids.

Formerly known as Reformed Bible College, Kuyper is a non-denominational Christian college with an enrollment of about 300 students, roughly a quarter the size of Zeeland East. Jesky is taking over a second-year program whose inaugural season ended with a solid 17-14 record.

“I missed coaching and I didn’t want to go after a football job,” said Jesky, who coached varsity football in Zeeland for 13 seasons, compiling a 72-49 record. “I wanted to get back into coaching. I didn’t know it would be basketball.”

It is a return to his roots for Jesky, whose first coaching job was with the basketball team at the private Hill-Murray School in suburban Minneapolis while playing minor league baseball during the summer. Eventually, he gave up the dream of reaching the Majors and focused on education.

After leading the basketball program at Hill-Murray for a 10 years, Jesky took a job in Florence, Wis., where he was also the varsity basketball coach. He coached at Florence for 13 years before coming to Zeeland in 1988 as football coach and athletic director.

“I coached basketball for 23 straight years until I came down (to Zeeland),” Jesky said. “That was my forte in coaching. That was the first sport I got into as a coach.”

Jesky learned about the Kuyper College job from Rich Renzema, a former Coopersville High School basketball coach who is now coaching the women’s basketball team at Grace Bible College in Grand Rapids.

Jesky, who had already announced his plans to leave Zeeland, felt it was a perfect time to get back into coaching and Kuyper College seemed to be a great environment in which to jumpstart his career.

“I wanted to do something without just sitting on my hands,” Jesky said. “I’ve also got another part-time gig. I have a friend who owns Image Masters and I’m a regional sales consultant for them.

Jesky was reunited with Zeeland alumna Christine (Gruppen) Moran, who is now the athletic director at Kuyper. Moran could not be reached for comment, but a school spokesman confirmed Jesky’s hiring.

Jesky replaces Zach Harris, who coached the Cougars during their inaugural season. Jesky inherits a team that won 17 games with a roster of underclassmen. All but one member of last year’s squad is eligible to return, including three players who earned National Christian College Athletic Association Division II All-Region honors.

Jesky has met most of the returning players, but only briefly. He is in the process of hiring an assistant and is looking forward to putting his energy back into coaching.
“Right now my first priority is to talk to the recruits and send a letter to the players who are coming back and to hire an assistant,” Jesky said. “I think it will be a great challenge. I’m looking forward to it. I think it will be fun.”