Following up on a rumor that HoopDirt.com posted back on August 24th (Wisconsin Dirt). It has now been made official, Kyle Blackbourn has become the newest addition to the Wisconsin men’s basketball staff, as announced by head coach Greg Gard. A 10-year coaching veteran, Blackbourn comes to the Badgers staff from Rockhurst University in Kansas City, Missouri.
“We’re really pleased to be able to add Kyle to our staff,” Gard said. “He has worked our summer camps for several years and our staff has gotten to know him quite well. He’s a Wisconsin native who knows what our program is all about and we’ll be able to depend on him. Kyle has a variety of experience and I know he’ll step right in and help us from day one.”
In his new role, Blackbourn will assist UW’s director of basketball operations, Katherine Vosters, with scheduling and administrative duties.
Blackbourn spent the 2015-16 season as an assistant coach with the Rockhurst University men’s basketball program after spending the previous season as the head coach at Delta College in University Center, Michigan. During his season atop the Delta program, Blackbourn led the Pioneers to a 19-13 overall record and a third-place finish in the Michigan Community College Athletic Association.
Prior to leading Delta College, Blackbourn spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, after serving in the same role at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2011-12. Blackbourn broke into collegiate athletics as an assistant with the Clarke University women’s basketball program in 2010-11.
A native of Shullsburg, Wisconsin, Blackbourn’s coaching career began as an assistant coach at Scales Mound (Ill.) High School during the 2006-07 season before spending three seasons as the head boys varsity assistant at Shullsburg (Wis.) High School.
Blackbourn earned a physical education degree from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, while also obtaining a minor in health education, a certificate in adapted physical education and an endorsement in coaching. He received his master’s degree in educational leadership from Benedictine College in the summer of 2014.
