By: by Scott Lipsky
KENNESAW, Ga. – Kennesaw State Owls head men’s basketball coach Tony Ingle announced the addition of Dave Houle to his staff on Monday. Houle, who spent 29 years at Mountain View High School in Orem, Utah, won a record 68 State Championships at the school in five different sports and is a member of the National High School Hall of Fame.
“Dave brings to this program years of coaching experience and has always been around a culture of winning,” Ingle said of his new assistant. “A lot of his work over the years has been in skill development, and all of his experience and success makes him a great addition to our staff. We’re very excited to have him.”
Houle’s has coached men’s basketball at both the collegiate and high school levels, including stints as an assistant coach at Southern Utah University and Utah Valley University, both NCAA Division I programs. As an assistant at the high school level, he helped guide teams to a state championship and three runner-up performances.
Houle is one of the most decorated high school athletics coaches in the nation’s history. Of his 68 state high school championships as a head coach, all of them at Mountain View, which is located about 40 miles south of Sale Lake City, 11 of them came as the head girl’s basketball coach between 1991 and 2006, with the rest coming at the helm of the men’s and women’s cross country and track and field programs.
His basketball team’s sustained dominance resulted in the Salt Tribune naming his team the Basketball Program of the Century in 2000. His 2001 team was named the Girl’s High School National Champions in 2001 by the ESPN National Poll. Additionally, he was named the National Girl’s High School Basketball Coach of the Year by the National High School Coaches Association in 2002.
His success at Mountain View High School has afforded him opportunities to coach some of the best players in the country, as he has served as a head coach for the USA Women’s Team and for the Women’s McDonald’s All-American game, both in 2002.
Houle’s years of winning earned him induction into the National High School Hall of Fame in 2000 with a class that included NBA legend Kevin McHale and running great Steve Prefontaine. He was also the 1995 recipient of Brigham Young University’s Dale Rex Memorial Award, which is given each year to the person who it is determined has done the most to promote amateur athletics in the state of Utah.
“I'm really excited to work with Coach Ingle. I consider him to be one of the best coaches in the country,” said Houle, who will fill the void on the Owls’ staff created by the departure of Greg Matta. “It's an honor to be able to coach with him, I know he has a lot of confidence in me. This is a great opportunity for myself and my family. I've followed this program for years, I remember watching their 2004 national title run, so it will be amazing to be able to be a part of this and help get this team to the next level.”
He comes from a family that has a lot of experience coaching at the collegiate level, as his brothers, Eric and Scott, are currently the head track and field coaches at Southern Utah and Utah Valley, respectively. While Houle has seen a lot of success as a track and field coach, he has won big on the hard court, and is excited to focus exclusively on basketball.
"I knew I was going to be a coach since I was 12 years old, but I couldn't decide what sport I wanted to coach, so I decided to try all of them," Houle joked. “I’m definitely ready for the challenge of coaching basketball at this level.”
Houle will be joined in Kennesaw with his wife, Laurie. The couple has two children; Davy, a science teacher; and Starre Houle McDaniel, who works in a hospital in Monticello, Utah. They have two grandkids, grandson Davy III, 3, and granddaughter Sedar, 1.
