Head Coach Ron Rose

Ron Rose, who played on two conference championship teams and three NCAA Division III tournament teams during his career at Illinois Wesleyan University, became the 14th men’s basketball coach at his alma mater on May 12, 2006.

After two seasons and prior to 2008-09 Rose has a career record of 27-25 (.519) and a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin record of 13-15 (.464). At Wesleyan Rose has coached three all-conference players and one Division III All-American (Zach Freeman in 2007).

In 2007-08 Rose guided his team to a 16-11 overall mark and a 9-5 ledger in the CCIW, good for a second place tie and a berth in the league’s postseason tournament after being picked seventh in the preseason coaches’ poll.

After opening with three straight wins for the first-year coach, Rose's first Titan team (2006-07) finished 11-14 overall and 4-10 in the CCIW.

Prior to returning to IWU, the 41-year-old Rose was head basketball coach at Bloomington High School for five seasons (2001-06), where his teams were 103-38 with two Big 12 Conference titles, four straight Intercity tournament championships and regional and sectional championships in 2006. The Raiders’ sectional title was the first at the school in 31 years and in 2004-05, BHS won the Pontiac Holiday Tournament for the first time in school history.

In nine total seasons as a high school head coach (four at Normal Community), Rose amassed a cumulative record of 154-93 for a .623 winning percentage.

A Morton (Ill.) High School graduate, Rose was the “Most Valuable Player” for the Class AA South in the 1984 Illinois Basketball Coaches Association all-star game and attended Valparaiso University, where he started his final two games before transferring to IWU midseason of his freshman year (1984-85).

A four-year letterman at IWU, Rose played on Bridges-coached teams that went a combined 66-33 and was a starting guard in 68 career games, averaging 5.9 points and amassing 356 assists, a total that still ranks No. 6 all-time at IWU. His 137 assists in 1987-88 is seventh best in a Titan single season.

The Titans were 19-10 in 1985-86, 17-10 in 1986-87, and 24-5 in 1987-88, earning NCAA Division III tournament bids all three seasons and winning the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin titles in 1986 and 1988. The 1988 team advanced to the final eight of the Division III tournament before losing at eventual national champion Ohio Wesleyan, and the 1987 team was ousted by North Park, who was also the eventual national champion.

After graduating from Illinois Wesleyan in 1988 with a degree in business administration and mathematics, Rose worked as an actuarial assistant at Bloomington’s State Farm Insurance before returning to school at Olivet Nazarene University, where he earned a master’s degree in teaching in 1992 and served two seasons as a basketball assistant for Ralph Hodge.

Rose was an assistant basketball coach under Scott Thompson at Wichita State University from 1992-94, where his duties included evaluating and recruiting prospective student-athletes, monitoring academic progress, coordinating scouting and assisting with summer camps and clinics.

Rose returned to the Twin Cities to coach and teach at Normal Community High School, where his teams were 51-55 in four seasons, including a 17-10 mark in 1996-97.

He worked as human resources benefit analyst at State Farm in 1999-2000 before joining the Bloomington High staff.

Rose and his wife, Tina, have four children - Austin, Brady, Ryan, and Aubrey.

College Coaching Record

High School Coaching Record