Dan Voudrie, Head Coach
It didn’t take Voudrie long, after moving into his new office in early July, to implement a preseasson workout and conditioning schedule for the Peregrines. He also moved the daily practice schedule from late afternoon to a top-of-the-morning wake up call. The changes were effective for player performance and attitude for a new season.
Voudrie’s hiring as the fifth men’s head basketball coach since 1980, was announced at a news conference last July at Briar Ridge Country Club. The top assistant at former Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference rival Olivet Nazarene University said he has “spent a lifetime preparing for an opportunity like this.”
A 14-year college basketball coaching veteran, Voudrie, 35, and son of longtime central Illinois coach Stan Voudrie succeeds Grayling Gordon, who resigned last spring after directing Purdue Calumet to a 6-23 record during his lone season at the Peregrines helm.
“It’s almost too good to be true to become head coach at a school with the reputation of excellence that trickles down throughout the Purdue system,” Voudrie said. “Everything I had observed from the outside about Purdue Calumet has been reaffirmed during my process of pursuing this position.”
A former three-sport Illinois high school athlete, Voudrie said he came to realize quickly that his athletic future was in coaching. After graduating from Bradley (Ill.) University in 1994 with a mathematics degree, he began his coaching career at Olivet Nazarene as a graduate assistant under current head coach Ralph Hodge. He also served there as interim head women’s team coach one season.
He went on to hold assistant men’s coaching positions at Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) University and Indiana Wesleyan University before returning six years ago to Olivet Nazarene as Hodge’s top assistant and recruiting coordinator. Indiana Basketball News recognized Voudrie in 2000 and 2001 as top recruiter among NAIA assistant coaches.
During his 14-year college coaching career he has recruited and coached 16 All-America players and served on the staffs of seven teams that have earned national tournament berths. In Hodge and Mount Vernon Nazarene’s Scott Flemming, Voudrie has been mentored by a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Hall of Famer and NAIA Coach-of-the-Year, respectively.
But before he can earn that type of distinction at Purdue Calumet, “My number one goal is to build relationships so we can improve on a daily basis,” he said. “When that happens, performance as students, basketball players and young men will take care of itself. My job is to develop a group that represents Purdue Calumet with a level of excellence that is readily observed.”
Voudrie and his wife, Amber, have a young daughter, Jaelyn. He also holds a Master of Arts in Teaching from Olivet Nazarene, where he taught mathematics.
