Bob Chipman
Coached Men's Basketball 1979-Present
Coached Softball 1977
Coached Men's Tennis
Inducted 2004-05
Bob Chipman, one of college basketball’s winningest coaches and a national champion in 1986-87, begins his 29th season in 2007-08 at the helm of the Ichabod basketball program. He also coached the softball and men's tennis teams for a year early in his career and he was inducted into the Washburn Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004-05.
His first win in 2006-07 made him the second winningest coach as a member of the MIAA with 387 wins while coaching since WU joined the conference.
Chipman, the all-time winningest coach in Washburn University’s basketball history, finished 2006-07 with a career record of 628-240 (.724).
With the Ichabods’ 82-62 win over Southwest Baptist on Jan. 19, 2005 Chipman became the tenth coach
in Division II to reach 600 wins. Chipman entered 2006-07 ranked fourth in victories and fourth by winning percentage among active NCAA Division II coaches. He was 13th in all-time winning percentage and 9th in all-time Division II victories.
Chipman has guided his teams to 22 20-win seasons, including seven in a row from 1983-84 to 1989-90, and four in a row from 1991-92 to 1994-95 and seven in a row from 1998-99 to 2004-05. Chipman’s teams have made 14 national tournament appearances, 10 in the NCAA and four in the NAIA. His teams have averaged 23 wins a year.
Chipman joined the Washburn staff in 1976 as an assistant to longtime Hall of Fame head coach Glenn Cafer. He served as assistant coach for three seasons, in addition to being an associate professor of physical education, softball and men’s tennis coach, and facilities coordinator. Chipman was promoted to head coach in April 1979 when Cafer was appointed director of athletics. Chipman enjoyed a banner season in 1986-87, capping a 35-4 campaign with an NAIA national championship crown. A 90-59 win over Marymount that season gave him career victory No. 173, making him the winningest coach in Washburn history. Chipman was well-recognized for his accomplishments, garnering conference, district, area and national coach of the year honors.
In addition to the coaching awards obtained after the 1986-87 season, Chipman was named MIAA coach of the year following the 1992, 1993 and 2004 seasons. He was named Kodak district coach of the year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) in 1993 and the men’s four-year coach of the year by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association (KBCA) in 1994 and 2001.
His success at the collegiate level has brought Chipman the opportunity to coach on an international level as well. He served a second stint as an assistant coach for the U.S. entry in the Pan American Games during the summer of 1991, earning a bronze medal. In 1983, he was an assistant to the team that won the gold medal. He helped coach the U.S. entry in the World University Games to a gold medal in 1989. In 1985, he was an assistant coach for the Amateur Basketball Association/USA Jones Cup Team that won a silver medal. Chipman holds both bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Kansas State University.
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| Bob Chipman (second from the right) is seen with his 1986-87 NAIA national championship team. |
Chipman has always looked to Kansas basketball players first as evident from the 10 Kansas players on this year’s roster. In his 27 years as the Ichabod’s head coach, he has spent more than $1 million in scholarship money for basketball players from the Sunflower State.
The 1973 graduate earned two letters as a guard while playing for Wildcat coaching legend Jack Hartman. He played his first two seasons of college ball at Flint Community Junior College, in his hometown of Flint, Mich.
Chipman and his wife, Carol, live in Topeka with their son Bobby. Their daughter Kelsey was a freshman on the Kansas State volleyball team in 2006.
