Photo by Matt Dilyard, The College of Wooster

Former Wooster head coach Steve Moore and five former Division III basketball players will be inducted into the Small College Basketball Hall of Fame this fall.

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The 10th induction class into the Hall of Fame includes North Park guard Michael Thomas; Wabash center Pete Metzelaars; Otterbein center Jeff Gibbs; Amherst guard Andrew Olson; and Cabrini forward Aaron Walton-Moss.

Moore won 867 games over 39 seasons, most of them with the Fighting Scots whom he led to the NCAA Tournament 28 times. Wooster reached the national semifinals in 2003, 2007, and 2011, and Moore is second all-time to Franklin and Marshall’s Glenn Robinson among coaches who spent most of their career in Division III.

Thomas is the latest member of North Park’s three-time national championship team to receive this honor, following head coach Dan McCarrell (inducted in 2025) and Michael Harper (inducted in 2019). Thomas was the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player in the Vikings’ 1980 championship and drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers in 1981.

While Metzelaars is best known for his 16-season career as an NFL tight end, he was also an outstanding basketball player at Wabash. He led the Little Giants to the 1982 Division III national championship during an NCAA Tournament run in which he set records for points scored (129), field goals (54) and field goal percentage (77.1 percent). He still holds the college’s career record for rebounds with 1,176 and is third all-time in scoring.

Jeff Gibbs has a similar story as a two-sport standout at Otterbein. Standing a little over six-foot tall, the Uber talented, undersized center led the Cardinals to the 2002 national championship. Gibbs grabbed 83 rebounds in the NCAA Tournament, including a 25-board, 25-point effort in the title-clinching win over Elizabethtown. Gibbs, who was also an All-American football player, went on to a long professional basketball career oversees.

Andrew Olson went coast-to-coast, from San Diego to Massachusetts, where he led Amherst College to three national semifinals, two championship games and the 2007 national title. Olson was the Tournament’s Most Outstanding Player when Amherst topped Virginia Wesleyan and then made the All-Tournament team again in 2008 when Amherst finished second to Washington U. Since graduating in 2008, Olson has gone onto a distinguished coaching career in the NBA, where he’s currently on the Cleveland Cavaliers’ staff.

Aaron Walton-Moss took Division III by storm as the X-factor in Cabrini College’s run to the 2012 national championship game and then he became one of the most versatile players in recent Division III basketball history. Walton-Moss, who occasionally played point guard on offense and post on defense, was a triple-double machine for the Cavaliers and went on to a professional career overseas.

The induction celebration will take place November 6 in Lakeland, Florida.

in addition to coaching Northwestern (Minn.), Tim Grosz was the Region 9 representative on the Division III men's basketball committee this past season. Photo by Ryan Coleman, d3photography.com

After 26 years leading the Northwestern (Minn.) men's basketball program, a new chapter will be beginning soon for coach Tim Grosz. The program's all-time winningest coach, who is the active wins leader in the state of Minnesota at all levels of men's college basketball, has accepted the position of associate athletic director for compliance at Northern Colorado. Although Minnesota born-and-raised, it is a homecoming of sorts for Tim and his wife, Tanya, who have several family members already living in the Greeley area.

Grosz hangs it up with a 474-256 mark to his name, which is the most wins in program and UMAC history and most among active men's basketball coaches in the state of Minnesota as well. He is an 11-time UMAC Coach of the Year award winner and was named Coach of the Decade by the conference in 2019.

A 1992 graduate of Northwestern, Grosz was hired to lead the program he once led as a player, succeeding his father-in-law, Joe Smith. The Eagles saw immediate success, winning both the conference regular season and tournament championships, the first of 16 and 13, respectively. Since the UMAC's move from NAIA to NCAA Division III in 2008, Grosz's program has been the conference's most successful, with nine Division III NCAA Tournament appearances and three wins in the big dance.

The program's first tournament win came in 2015, in a buzzer-beating upset over No. 3 St. Thomas, and the second came the following night, when UNW defeated Elmhurst to advance to the first Sweet 16 in Northwestern Athletics history. In 2019, the Eagles again defeated a top-10 team from the MIAC, taking down No. 8 St. John's, 93-78, on its home floor in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

The 2015 first-round win was named the third-best first-round upset of the decade by D3hoops.com in 2019.

In addition to success in the NCAA, two of Grosz's most memorable seasons came in years where there was no NCAA Tournament available to Northwestern. In 2010, while still in the transition period from NAIA to NCAA, the Eagles defeated King College to win the first National Christian College Athletic Association DI National Championship in program history. 11 years later, with no NCAA Division III Tournament due to the Covid-19 pandemic, UNW accomplished the feat again, defeating Ottawa University (AZ) to claim a second NCCAA DI National Title.

"After 26 incredible years, I am filled with gratitude for our success and the journey we've shared," Grosz said. "While the wins were great, the relationships are what I'll carry with me most. The bus rides, the locker room talks, and the joy of watching young men succeed on and off the court have formed bonds that far outlast any trophy. I didn't walk this path alone."

Northwestern athletic director Matt Hill notes that Grosz's legacy stretches far beyond his on-court success. "For over a quarter of a century, Northwestern has had one men's basketball coach," said Hill, who hired Grosz in 2000 as a second-year athletic director. "Coach Grosz has amassed Hall of Fame results, but way more importantly, he has guided hundreds of young men in their journey of becoming Godly men and incredible people. Northwestern has been blessed to have Tim for all these years and will miss him greatly. I'm very excited for this new journey he is embarking on and know that those who he will be working alongside will experience the same high level of professionalism and leadership we have for 26 years."

UNW's search for Grosz's successor will begin immediately. His final day at Northwestern will be Friday, May 8.

Matt Lewis won 141 games and a national championship in eight seasons at UW-Oshkosh. d3photography.com file photo

Matt Lewis announced on Tuesday, March 31, that he will be resigning as UW-Oshkosh's men's basketball head coach to support his wife in an amazing opportunity. His plan is to stay in basketball.
 
Lewis departs Oshkosh following eight seasons at the helm of the Titans, leading the program to its only NCAA Division III championship in 2019, four total national tournament appearances – including a run to the Elite Eight in 2023 – three WIAC regular season championships, two WIAC tournament titles, and a head coaching record of 141-62, including an 11-3 mark in national postseason play. He became the fastest head coach to 100 career wins in WIAC men's basketball history on March 5, 2023, when the Titans defeated Hope 51-50, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

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His wife, Gaelyn Rose, has been Vice President for Enrollment at Illinois Wesleyan University, after holding an admissions position at Lawrence, which is much closer to Oshkosh.
 
Lewis, a three-time WIAC Coach of the Year, earned Region Coach of the Year twice from the National Association of Basketball Coaches and Division III Coach of the Year laurels from the NABC and D3hoops.com in 2019.
 
"I want to thank Matt and his family for their nearly decade-and-a-half commitment to UW-Oshkosh basketball and the wider Oshkosh community,' UW-Oshkosh athletic director Darryl Sims said. "Matt has been a campus leader since arriving in Oshkosh, and his positive presence will be missed well beyond the basketball court. His parents, Jim and Lyndee, and wife, Gaelyn, have also supported UW-Oshkosh athletics in numerous ways throughout the years."
 
Lewis, who was named the interim head coach ahead of UW-Oshkosh's national championship run and was promoted to full-time head coach the following spring, joined the men's basketball coaching staff as the top assistant ahead of the 2012-13 campaign. Across 14 total seasons with the Titans, Lewis mentored the team to an 236-135 overall record, including a 110-81 mark in WIAC play. Oshkosh also made three Division III NCAA Tournament appearances during Lewis' tenure as the top assistant coach, reaching the first round in both 2016 and 2017, while finishing as the national runner-up in 2018. Between Oshkosh's first NCAA Tournament appearance with Lewis on staff and the end of the 2025 season, the Titans' 16 tournament wins were the second-most in the country.
 
"It has truly been an honor to be part of the UW-Oshkosh men's basketball program for the past 14 years," Lewis said. "I'm incredibly grateful for the student-athletes, coaches, and community members who've made this experience so rewarding. Together, we've built something special, and I'm proud to have played a part in continuing the program's tradition of excellence.
 
This was not an easy decision – UWO has been home for a long time – but our family is entering a new chapter."
 
As head coach Lewis helped nine players achieve a total of 17 All-WIAC First Team honors. During his eight-year tenure, five Titans garnered a total of twelve All-Region accolades, and four players received a total of ten All-America honors.