WRITTEN BY ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS INTERN: BRENDAN BILLBURY

The level of success within Oakland University Athletics is undeniable.
 
Two key contributors to these successes are the swimming and diving Head Coach Pete Hovland and men's basketball Head Coach Greg Kampe. 
 
From the days of Pioneer Pete to the modern day mascot, Grizz, these two have built quite a reputation as highly respected coaches.
 
Hovland took over the men's swimming and diving program in 1981, replacing his mentor and fellow Oakland Hall of Honor member, Ernie Maglischo.
 
Kampe arrived on campus in 1984 after Oakland only achieved six winning seasons in the 16 years prior to his first day on campus. 
 
The pair are two pioneers of this athletic program and in those early days, they were the builders of their respective programs. Due to the success they saw early on in their careers, they earned opportunities to move up in the world of college athletics or into more lucrative opportunities, but it's the memories made early in the life of Golden Grizzlies athletics that keep them on campus here in Rochester, Michigan. 
 
At the time they arrived, there were only a few workers in the office of the Hollie Lepley Athletics Center including Tracy Huth (women's swimming coach), Gary Parsons (soccer coach) and Tom Ford (athletic trainer). 

Bonding in the adolescence of athletics involved playing pick-up basketball games and even getting in on intramural athletics next door at the recreation center. One year, the coaches actually beat the students. 
 
Through all of these memories and all of the growth Oakland University saw as a whole, even outside of athletics, the relationship between Coach Hovland and Coach Kampe has continued to grow. 
 
Surely, they must have some kind of friendship or at the very least a working relationship having worked in the same building for the past 37 years, right? 
 
The answer to that question is a resounding yes. 
 
Family would be a more appropriate term for the bond between these two coaches. When Kampe was first hired some 37 years ago, the athletic department in its entirety was a group of coaches that wore multiple hats. 
 
This process of building Oakland University Athletics to what it is today created a special bond that could never be broken. That goes for all of the people on the staff over the years. Coach Hovland and Coach Kampe had a unique experience that not many get to have. They got to build their programs to fit their mold. 
 
They were also able to grow together over the decades. 
 
What is seen from many programs around the country is a strictly professional relationship or even some animosity between coaches of different programs within athletics. Here at Oakland, because of the way the department was built by people like Kampe and Hovland. It feels like a family more than anything. 
 
Coach Kampe defines his relationship with Coach Hovland as "one of the best things about my time here." 
 
"Pete Hovland is a guy I can always count on," Kampe said.
 
When talking to either of these main pillars of Oakland University Athletics, what jumps out immediately is the respect they have for each other. 
 
Both have had success whether it be in the pool or on the hardwood and it doesn't go unnoticed. Coach Hovland and Coach Kampe are both inductees into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame. 

Hovland has racked up a number of accolades including 28 conference Coach of the Year awards, 42-straight conference championships on the men's side, 26 for the women and has guided more than 750 individual conference champions during his tenure at Oakland. Under Hovland's leadership, he has coached four Olympians and 13 NCAA qualifiers.
 
Under Kampe's direction, more than 30 players have gone on to play professionally in the NBA and overseas, and six student-athletes have led the NCAA in a statistical category from 2010-18. Kampe has tallied 630-plus wins at the helm of the program and has led Oakland to three NCAA Tournament appearances.
 
This much success would surely push these two coaches away from each other and force them to focus more on their own work. Not in this case. Coach Hovland says that the two talk almost every week to catch up and talk about each other's teams. 
 
The duo are supportive of one another and their respective programs, Hovland has been a men's basketball season ticket holder for years, and Kampe makes it out to as many swim meets as possible, including when his team showed up at the 2020 Horizon League Swimming and Diving Championships with chests painted, full of OU pride.
Hovland describes his "admiration" of Kampe's coaching style in practice and in competition. The more you speak with these two, the more you realize the respect they have for each other on a personal as well as a professional level. 
 
"I really enjoy, and I'm fortunate to have the relationship and friendship we have together," Hovland said.
 
Now, looking at the department, there are multiple new resources for student athletes, an expansive administration and a support staff that would have never been imagined 30-plus years ago. The Pioneer nickname has been replaced with the Golden Grizzlies, all of the programs play in Division I as opposed to Division II and the facility that houses OU athletics has grown massively. When you walk through the main corridor of the Athletics Center O'rena, you see large pictures and signatures of professional athletes who spent their college career at this modest university in Rochester. 
 
Through all of these changes the word family is still used often to describe the relationships between the people who roam the halls of the O'rena. And family is what Pete Hovland and Greg Kampe consider each other.