Kuyper College restarts its basketball program after 8-year hiatus
Kuyper College basketball coach Gary Bailey talks to his team during a timeout during a game against Cornerstone University on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Richard Major had never heard of Kuyper College. He didn’t know where it was or what it was. But once he heard they had a new basketball team, it piqued his interest.
“I didn’t know where it was,” Major said. “I had to do my research and find out where it was. Then I went on a visit and walked around the campus. And I thought ‘Its kinda of cool. I like this.’ I figured, since Coach (Gary) Bailey was at Kuyper, I was a little more at ease about it.”
Major, who was a standout basketball player for Wyoming Godwin Heights, saw Kuyper as a chance to play college basketball one last time.
It’s not a surprise that Major had never heard of Kuyper College, which is on the East Beltline in Grand Rapids, three miles north of Cornerstone University. It is one of the smallest schools in the state, with an enrollment of 305 students.
Kuyper College eliminated its athletic program in 2015 and it had been dormant ever since. But the school approached Gary Bailey, the long-time Grace Christian University men’s basketball coach, about helping them restart the program. Bailey had no plans to leave Grace, but he took the job as the new Kuyper basketball coach and athletic director.
“I’ve seen a lot of small Christian schools struggle and enrollment was sliding a little bit (at Kuyper). I admire them for wanting to do things right. They said ‘we want a good culture here.’”
The school has added men’s and women’s basketball, men’s soccer, cross country and track and field. That’s a boost of 60 student athletes, Bailey said.
Richard Major, a Godwin Heights grad, competes against Cornerstone University on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).
Bailey, who coached at Grace Christian University for 17 years, was starting from scratch at Kuyper.
“It was everything from having to recruit a team,” Bailey said. “We redid the floor, we put in new bleachers, I had to buy water jugs. There was a lot of little things that I didn’t think about. It took us a year to get things ready and I think its going well.”
One of the local players that Bailey wanted was point guard Danyel Bibbs, who graduated from Grand Rapids Union. Bibbs played one year at Aquinas College and two at Grand Rapids Community College before Bailey contacted him.
But Bibbs had never heard of Kuyper College.
“No, I hadn’t,” he said. “I thought, when I first came here, that it’s kinda small. But when I got around there, the community really cares for (its students). The campus is nice. I Googled it. I saw that it was small and secluded.”
Bailey put together a roster of 18 players.
“I’ve got a great group of guys,” he said. “They understand what we’re doing. They’re still learning. It’s exciting. We had a game in our gym the other day, so its nice to have things up an running. There’s a lot of excitement for the school.”
After eight years, Kuyper basketball returned to campus on October 24 with a 95-80 win over Boyce College.
Kuyper College guard Danyel Bibbs drives to the basket while being defended by Cornerstone University’s Jack Joldersma on Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. (Photo | Lenny Padilla).
“That was big for us,” Major said. “We always knew we had it. But it was good to show everybody how we are as a team. It was a moral boost.”
Major, 25, is the veteran on the team. He won a state championship at Godwin Heights in 2015 and graduated in 2016. He played two years at GRCC, but he thought he was done with college sports.
“I took a hiatus during Covid,” he said of the 2020-21 season. “So I just started working. I found out about Kuyper through Coach Bailey. It was a little surprising. I didn’t expect to be in the position that I’m in right now, but I’m very grateful for it.”
Bailey put together an ambitious schedule, which includes mid-season exhibition games against four NCAA Division II teams: Davenport, Ferris State, Lake Superior State and Saginaw Valley State.
“We’re ready for the competition,” Bibbs said. “It’s going to help us get better. It’s good to get the exposure.”
But the Cougars will be taking their lumps this first season, too. In their second game of the season, they were crushed 106-64 to Cornerstone University.
“I’m very confident that this team is going to be good,” Major said.
There are four West Michigan natives on the Kuyper roster: Bibbs (Union), Major (Godwin Heights), Kaden Tofferi (Comstock Park), and Damion Cochran (Ottawa Hills).
For more photos from the Kuyper College game on Nov. 4, click here.
