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Coach R. Clair Oleen is now in his 14th year at the helm of the men’s basketball program.
As a basketball player, Coach Oleen was two-year starter and a captain at Barton County Community College, before he joined the Swedes at Bethany. In a Swede uniform he earned All- KCAC, All-District 1- of NAIA, and All-Lutheran honors nationally. He was a BC co-captain for the 1976 -77 KCAC co-champion team, while he also received the Most Valuable Swede award. Following his college playing days, Oleen received numerous AAU basketball awards including induction into the Kansas Independent Basketball Tournament Hall of Fame.
He received the B.A. degree in 1977 from Bethany, and the M.S. in physical education from Kansas State University. Clair and his wife Jerrine have two adult children: Nathan and Andrea.
Coach Oleen was the men’s basketball assistant coach in 1979-80 and 1980-81, when the Swedes garnered two KCAC championship titles. He then took over the leadership of the women’s basketball program, amassing a 208-123 record in twelve seasons (1981-93).
During his tenure there were ten NAIA playoff appearances and numerous national rankings, as the program attained national prominence.
Oleen has brought the same dynamic and effective leadership to the men’s program. He continues to demonstrate the same personal, caring and knowledgeable concern for the welfare of each of the young men in the Swede basketball program. His work and persistence have paid off, as the Swedes have been in the upper echelon of the KCAC in recent seasons and are becoming nationally prominent. The 1998-99 team and the 1999-2000 teams both won the KCAC post-season tournaments and received bids to the NAIA National Tournament.
The 2002-03 men's team went further in the NAIA-II National Tournament than any other pervious team. The Bethany College men's basketball team and head coach R. Clair Oleen, as the year 2003 "NAIA-II National Championship Runner-up Team," was honored with a state proclamation presented in the Governor's office on Thursday morning, April 10, 2003. The Bethany basketball team was the national champion runner-up of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics division two, in a game played March 18 in the Branson area of Missouri. Coach R. Clair Oleen was named the NAIA-II "National Coach of the Year." The Bethany Swedes were unseeded an ranked in the national tournament, but they had won the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference post-season tournament to qualify. Bethany men won all their games until the national championship tilt. Bethany College, with an enrollment of 623 students, was the smallest institution in the NAIA-II national tournament.
Coach Oleen's teams at Bethany have amassed 394 wins. Coach Oleen continually insists that the reason for all the Bethany wins over the years is the fact that he has been blessed with good players, good people, and good assistant coaches.
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 Randy Clark
Ext. 8313
clarkr@bethanylb.edu
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Coach Clark in the fall of 2006 began his ninth year as a varsity assistant coach for the Swedes. He has coached basketball at five different high schools across Kansas ranging from class 1A to class 5A with success at every stop. Five of his teams made it to the state tournament.
Coach Oleen considers Coach Clark an integral part of the program and a major factor in KCAC and NAIA competitive success over the last half decade or so.
Clark and his wife Jan are both natives of Lindsborg and graduates of Bethany College. Randy played on the 1966 Lindsborg State Championship team and he played basketball four years at Bethany. Randy and Jan have two adult sons, Peter and Brian.
Student Coaches
Mike Melcher - Head Junior Varsity Coach
Melcher is student teaching this year as he completes his degree in health and physical education. He captained the 2005-2006 team while leading the Swedes to a second-place tie in the KCAC. The Swedes won 34 games in Melcher's two years as a member of the basketball team at Bethany. This past summer he worked at many basketball camps in preparation for a career of teaching at coaching at the high school or college level.
Adam Esses - Assistant Junior Varsity Coach
Esses returns for a third year as a member of the Swedes coaching staff. He was a part of 34 wins in his first two years with the Swedes. Esses spends his summers working basketball camps preparing for a coaching career. He also serves as Bethany's Student Congress president.
Ben Zuker - Student Assistant
Zuker returns to Bethany after a four year career as a student-athlete for the Swede basketball team. He was a part of 70 victories at Bethany including a KCAC tournament championship. He helped the Swedes get to the 2003 NAIA Division II Championship game.
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