Pat Estepp, who guided Cedarville University to three NCCAA Championship banners and spent 24 years on the men’s basketball staff, has resigned his position as head coach.
Estepp, 49, has decided to pursue another opportunity in collegiate basketball with that announcement coming soon. The University has begun an immediate search for his successor.
“I am thankful for Pat’s 24 years of service to our Lord, Cedarville University, and this athletic department,” said Vice President for Athletics Chris Cross.
“We are truly indebted to him for the legacy that he helped to create for men’s basketball and how to lead a team toward Christ.”
Estepp leaves the University as the second-winningest coach in men’s basketball history with 292 victories featuring seven 20-win seasons during his 16-year tenure.
This past season the Yellow Jackets finished 23-12 – the school’s most wins in the NCAA Division II era – and won the NCCAA title. They were the DII national leader in three-point field goals made per game (12.3).
“It was one of the greatest honors of my life to this point to have served as the head coach at Cedarville University,” Estepp said. “I want to thank all of our current and former players and staff for the impact they have had on my life.
“The relationships have had a profound impact on our family. God has used Cedarville in my life in ways I never imagined, first as a student then as an employee. I pray we worshiped well on the court, we lifted up the name of Christ, and left it better than we found it.”
Each of Estepp’s last six teams had winning records and won 63 percent of their games in the demanding Great Midwest Athletic Conference.
His 2021-22 squad made the school’s first and only appearance in the NCAA Division II Championship.
Estepp, a 1997 graduate of Cedarville College, became the head coach in 2008 after serving as assistant coach to Ray Slagle for the previous eight years.
During that timespan the Yellow Jackets made five trips to the NAIA Division II Championship while averaging 24 wins per season.
Estepp continued the school’s NAIA tradition with three more trips to the national tournament followed by a successful transition to NCAA Division II. CU won the first-ever G-MAC men’s basketball trophy in 2013.
Estepp was a Division II congressman on the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Board of Directors as one of just two DII coaches on the 23-member board. He served as head coach of the East team at the 2023 NABC – Reese’s Division II College All Star Game.
Three of Estepp’s last five clubs earned the NABC Team Academic Excellence Award with 34 players total named to the NABC Honors Court for their work in the classroom.
Pat and his wife, Melanie, have been married for 27 years and have three children.
