In 17 seasons under coach Brian Morehouse, the Hope women's basketball team has won 20-or-more games 15 consecutive seasons, claimed 11 Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) titles, made 12 trips to the NCAA tournament, including two Final Four appearances, and won the Division III national championship in 2006.
The 2012-13 Flying Dutch posted a 29-2 record. The Flying Dutch are 426-70 under Morehouse's guidance.
Morehouse was chosen the 2005-06 Division III national coach of the year by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) and the publication DIII News. The Detroit Free Press included coach Brian Morehouse among the state's top sports figures in 2006 and among the candidates for the newspaper's annual "Michigan's Best" honor roll. Three times in his career, (2001-02, 2002-03 and 2008-09), he has been voted the Regional Coach of the Year by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA). He has been named the Michigan Collegiate women's basketball coach of the year by the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan three times in his career (2001-02, 2007-08, 2011-12).
He entered the 2012-13 season ranked second among NCAA Division III coaches by winning percentage (.858).
A 1991 Hope graduate who serves as director of the college's Dow Physical Education and Health Center and DeVos Fieldhouse, Morehouse is familiar with the Hope basketball scene having served in the men's program for a number of years. He was the men's junior varsity coach for two years, compiling a record of 30-9. He was a student assistant coach through his undergraduate years.
He graduated with honors from Hope with a major in business administration and minors in history, psychology and sociology and earned a teaching certificate for secondary education.
Morehouse's basketball roots run deep. His father, Dean, was the boy's basketball coach at Fremont (Mich.) High School. He joined son Brian as an assistant coach in 2000-01. Brian and Dean were honored as "Hometown Heroes" during the 2006 National Baby Food Festival in Fremont.
He contributed a chapter to the book, "Chicken Soup for the Soul: Inside Basketball," chronicling an experience from the 2006 national championship run (February, 2009).
In November 2010, he was profiled in in a major article in the Grand Rapids Press.
He was a contributor to a book Leadership Off the Wall (2010) by Paul B. Thornton. The author invited contributions of quotes relating to a guiding principle that has led the individual to achieve success. Morehouse displays a quote in his office by Hope alumnus Max DePree, who is chairman emeritus of Herman Miller Inc. and the author of books on leadership. The quote: "Leaders should be able to Stand Alone, Take the Heat, Bear the Pain, Tell the Truth and Do What's Right".
He currently represents MIAA coaches on the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Conference Captains Committee and serves as a member of the WBCA board. He also serves as a member of the board of the Hands Up Fund, and is involved with Special Olympics and Holland Area Hospice.
His wife, Elizabeth (Liz) Hain, a 1993 Hope graduate, played in the college's basketball program for two years. The Morehouses have two daughters, Megan and Emma. The Morehouses are members of Calvary Reformed Church in Holland.
