Concordia (NE) hires new HC

Ben Limback will return to his alma mater as Concordia’s head men’s basketball coach, the university announced Tuesday. Limback, formerly the head coach at Concordia University-Ann Arbor, steps into the role that Marty Kohlwey held during the 2012-13 season. Kohlwey will resume his position as the program’s top assistant.

Limback emerged as the top candidate among a field of applicants of more than 100.

Limback, a 1999 Concordia graduate and native of Cedar Falls, Iowa, brings nearly a decade of NAIA head coaching experience having spent nine years as the head coach at CU-Ann Arbor. Limback, who has also served as the school’s director of admissions since 2010 and its athletics director from 2009-2011, is the Cardinals’ all-time winningest men’s basketball head coach with 115 victories. He earned Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors in 2007 and was recognized as the WHAC Champions of Character Coach by the NAIA in both 2009 and 2010. In 2007 Limback led CU-Ann Arbor to its first ever Concordia Invitational Tournament title.

Prior to becoming CU-Ann Arbor’s head coach, Limback filled the role of assistant coach for three seasons from 2000-2003 at NCAA Division II Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville in Edwardsville, Ill., where he was tutored by current NCAA Division I Evansville University head coach Marty Simmons. That coaching stop was preceded by a one-year stint with Concordia-Nebraska for the 1999-2000 season under 23-year head coach Grant Schmidt.

From 1995-99, Limback donned the Bulldog jersey as a player for Coach Schmidt. As a senior during the 1998-99 season, he earned Nebraska-Iowa Athletic Conference Player of the Year honors and was named the Nebraska State College Player of the Year by the Omaha World-Herald. In addition, he twice received both NAIA honorable mention All-America (1998 and 1999) and NAIA Academic All-America (1998 and 1999) accolades. He was a member of Bulldog teams that advanced to the national tournament on three separate occasions.

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