Benedictine University Athletics

Voted as the 2015-2016 D3hoops.com National Coach of the Year, Keith Bunkenburg took over the reins of the Benedictine men’s basketball program in 1995 and has established a tradition of success at his alma mater, creating a program that stresses success both on the court and in the classroom in 25 seasons at the helm. Bunkenburg is the winningest coach in program history.

Benedictine has logged seven consecutive winning seasons and has qualified for the NACC Tournament in 12 of the 14 seasons in conference history.

Benedictine posted a banner run through the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference from 2015-2017, finishing with a 39-1 record in conference play and reaching the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons. Benedictine claimed a conference record 34 consecutive wins in conference play from 2015-2017. The team finished the 2016-17 season ranked 23rd following a 23-5 year that saw Tahron Harvey earn NACC Player of the Year and First Team All-American status. Bunkenburg, selected as the NACC Coach of the Year in back-to-back seasons, served as the head coach of the NCAA Division III Select Team on a summer tour through Brazil in 2017

Bunkenburg and the Eagles capped off a historic 2015-16 season which included making it to the DIII Men's Basketball National Championship in Virginia where they finished as National Runner-Up. The Eagles finished with a record of 31-1 and led all of DIII men's basketball in six major statistical categories including win percentage and field goal percentage defense while re-writing the school record books. 

Since the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference was established in 2006, Bunkenburg has coached 28 All-Conference players and six "Player of the Year" winners (three Offensive, one Defensive, one Freshman). The Eagles have won seven regular season NACC Championships (2008-09 - Division, 2010-11, 2011-12 - South Division, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17, 2019-20) and have won the tournament three times (2010-11, 2015-16 and 2016-17).

Bunkenburg won his 400th career game on November 30, 2019, a 93-63 home win over Lakeland. Other milestone victories include January 7, 2015, when Bunkenburg secured his 300th victory when Benedictine downed Wisconsin Lutheran on the road 73-57. At the University of Puget Sound on December 20, 2018, Bunkenburg became the program's all-time leader in wins with a 97-85 victory. Bunkenburg has averaged over 16 wins per season as Benedictine’s head coach in 25 years, and has guided the Eagles to either regular-season or conference tournament titles nine times. His career win percentage ranks him among the winningest active NCAA Division III coaches.

Bunkenburg guided the program to a school-record nine consecutive winning seasons between 1996-2005. His teams have won 20 games on seven occasions, most recently in 2019-2020. Benedictine has won or shared seven Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference titles, four Northern Illinois-Iowa Conference (NIIC) regular-season titles, and has made six NCAA Division III tournament appearances, most recently in 2019-2020.

The NIIC “Coach of the Year” for both the 1999-00 and 2000-01 campaigns, Bunkenburg was named Illinois’ NCAA Division III “Coach of the Year” in both 2000 and 2004 while earning IBCA Coach of the Year in 2016, 2017 and 2020. He was also the NACC "Coach of the Year" for the 2015-2016 season and again in 2016-17.

Within two years of taking over as the Eagles’ head coach, Bunkenburg had his team in the NCAA tournament winning the NIIC title during the 1996-97 campaign. He guided the Eagles to three-straight regular-season crowns in 1998-99, 1999-00 and 2000-01; the last two of those ended in NCAA tournament appearances as well. The 2003-04 squad won the program’s first NIIC tournament crown to earn another NCAA tourney appearance.

In 2006-07, Bunkenburg transitioned the Eagles’ program into the newly-formed, 12-team Northern Athletics Conference. In 2008-09, the Eagles went 12-4 in the NAC to win the South Division championship. Two seasons later in 2010-11, the Eagles finished 13-3 in the regular season, won their first-ever NAC Tournament Championship, and advanced to the Division III NCAA Tournament. 

Bunkenburg replaced legendary coach Tony LaScala, a Benedictine Athletic Department Hall of Fame honoree for whom he played from 1984-88 and served for five years as an assistant coach (1990-95). Recognizing that being part of a winning tradition as a player legitimizes his efforts as a coach, Bunkenburg can fall back upon his teams’ combined 68-34 record and four NIIC regular-season titles during his playing career. A three-time all-conference honoree and four-year starter, Bunkenburg ranks ninth on the school’s career scoring list (1,432) and second on its all-time assists chart (497). He was a major contributor on the 1987-88 team that won 21 games, second-most in school history.

A native of Chicago, Ill., Bunkenburg attended St. Patrick High School where he was an all-conference baseball and basketball player as well as each team’s MVP. He continued that two-sport success in college, starting for two seasons as a catcher for the baseball team. As a junior, he was tabbed as both the baseball and basketball team MVP, making him one of few athletes in school history to receive that honor from two teams in the same year. He also played golf for the school all four years.

A 1989 graduate of Illinois Benedictine College (now Benedictine University), Bunkenburg earned his degree in physical education. He has also served as the head men’s and women’s tennis coach and the head men’s and women’s golf coach during his tenure at Benedictine. He is also an Associate Director of Athletics at Benedictine.

Bunkenburg is married to Karen, who assists the women's volleyball team at Benedictine, and the two reside in Naperville with their two children.