Valparaiso Men’s Basketball announced in a press conference today that former Assistant Coach, Matt Lottich, will be the new Head Coach of the Crusaders starting in the 2016-17 season.
"I am truly honored and privileged to be the next Head Coach of Valparaiso University," Lottich told media at the press conference today. "Valpo has players that play with integrity and extreme character, and they fight like mad (on the court)."
"This is a team that I want to coach."
Lottich told press that the decision to become the next coach of Valpo was one that "just felt right."
"Three years ago I came here with my wife and we sat down at a coffee shop," explained Lottich about the decision to first join Valpo's program. "I told my wife that this is a program and a community that embodies who we are."
Lottich is a graduate of New Trier High School in Chicago, and was a two-sport athlete at Stanford University, where he was nominated as a Wooden Award midseason candidate for basketball as a senior in 2004.
Shortly before joining the Crusaders coaching staff in 2013, Lottich served as the Head Scout for the National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA), helping High School Athletes understand the system of college recruiting.
In addition to Lottich’s tie-ins with recruiting, the new coach is also the founder of Team LIFE Skills basketball camps, a series of summer basketball camps on the West Coast aimed at developing young and up-and-coming players.
Valparaiso finished the 2015-16 season with a school-record 30 wins, taking the Horizon League regular season title in the process and was National Invitation Tournament Runner-Up. Valparaiso returns 9 of its 14 players from last year after losing four seniors and junior, Alec Peters, who announced he was declaring for the NBA draft.
Photos by Anna Hanson.
