Washburn University Athletics

Bob Chipman - Coached Men's Basketball (1979-2017), Coached Softball (1977), and Coached Men's Tennis
Bob Chipman, the winningest coach in the history of Washburn men's basketball and a National Champion in 1986-87, finished his 38 seasons with the Ichabods with a record 807-353 (.696). He also coached the softball and men's tennis teams for one season early in his career and he was inducted into the Washburn Athletic Hall of Fame in 2004-05.

As of the 2019-20 season, he is the winningest coach in the MIAA with 569 wins.

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. As of the summer of 2020, Chipman was ranked 10th all-time in wins among Division II coaches and 21st across all divisions.

Chipman guided his teams to 24 seasons with 20 or more victories. Chipman’s teams made 16 national tournament appearances, 12 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.

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. Their son Bobby played for the Ichabods from 2009-13, which daughter Kelsey starred in volleyball at Kansas State.