UW-Stout has named four finalists to be interviewed for the head men’s basketball coach position. The four finalists are Jim Lake, assistant men’s basketball coach at Ferris State University (MI); Zach Malvik, assistant men’s basketball coach at Winona State University (MN); Mark Darnell, assistant men’s basketball coach at California State University, Chico; and Mike DeGeorge, head men’s basketball coach at Rhodes College (TN).
Jim Lake
Lake has been with Ferris State for a combined 10 years over two stints and over that time the Bulldogs have posted a 179-93 record. Lake has been the top assistant for the last five seasons.
The 2017-18 Ferris State team posted a 38-1 record on their way to winning the NCAA Division II championship. Over the last four seasons, the Bulldogs have made four consecutive trips to the NCAA tournament and have won three Great Lake Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) North Division championships, two overall conference titles and and three tournament titles.
In between when Lake began at Ferris State as a volunteer assistant coach from 2003-06 and when he returned in 2011, Lake worked with the Grand Rapid Storm Basketball Club and was also the head boys basketball coach at Chippewa Hills High School.
Lake earned his bachelor’s degree in Social Studies Education from Central Michigan University and his master’s in Recreation and Sports Sciences from Ohio University.
Zach Malvik
Malvik has been the head men’s basketball assistant coach at Winona State University, his alma mater, the last four years.
Malvik was an All-American selection during his senior season while being named the MVP of the NCAA Regional Tournament. The point guard was an All-Nothern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) selection in each of his four years with the program. Malvik ended his career as the program’s all-time assist leader (549) and is second on the school’s scoring charts (1,971). The Warriors won the NCAA Division II title in 2006 and returned to the national championship the following year.
Malvik was as assistant men’s basketball coach at NCAA Division III St. Mary’s University in Winona, Minn. during the 2013-14 season before moving across town to Division II Winona State. Malvik was a graduate assistant coach at the University of Arkansas in 2010 and played professionally and coached basketball in Australia.
Malvik earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Winona State and his master’s degree in Educational Leadership – Sports Management from Winona State.
Mark Darnell
Darnell has coached men’s basketball at all three NCAA levels and is currently the top assistant men’s basketball coach at Division II Chico State.
Darnall came to Chico State after serving one year as an assistant coach at UW-Platteville. Darnell was the director of basketball operations and an assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of California, Davis, from 2011-17. He was the video coordinator at Division I Bradley University for the 2010-11 season.
Darnall played collegiately at Division III Eureka College in Illinois where he led the Red Devils in scoring and shot 41.4 percent from 3-point territory in 2007–08.
Darnell earned his bachelor’s degree in Sports Management from Eureka College and his master’s degree in Sports Management from Illinois State University.
Mike DeGeorge
DeGeorge has made a career of revitalizing men’s basketball programs. Currently the head men’s basketball coach at Rhodes College, DeGeorge inherited a program that had 10 consecutive losing seasons in the Southern Athletic Association. By the 2017-18 season, the Lynx had secured a top four finish in the conference regular season six of eight times.
DeGeorge was the head coach at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, from 2004-09 and set a school record for most wins in single season with 21 in the 2008-09 season, earning the school’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament in 15 years and the school’s first-ever conference title in any of the men’s sports.
DeGeorge coached Eureka College from 2000-04, building the team from two wins to 17 wins in his final season. DeGeorge was an assistant coach at Grinnell College, Lawrence University and Beloit College.
DeGeorge earned his bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Monmouth College, where as a player, he helped Monmouth to two Midwest Conference championships and two NCAA Division III appearances. He earned his master’s degree in Education from Viterbo University.
