In a related move, Central College named assistant coach Conor Riordan as the men’s basketball team’s temporary head coach. Pella Christian announced on Wednesday that Joe Steinkamp has been hired as their new head boys basketball coach.
For 18 of his 20 years as a collegiate basketball coach, Steinkamp was at Central. Joe, a 2003 Central graduate and former Dutch men’s basketball co-captain, was the program’s head women’s basketball coach from 2017 to 22 after serving as an assistant coach for ten years. He was selected the 2023 American Rivers Conference coach of the year after rejoining the men’s program as head coach in 2022. He is taking over for Brendan Foughty, who accepted the position in March but then resigned as head boys basketball coach of the Eagles.
In 2022, Riordan joined Steinkamp’s staff. He was a finalist for the Jostens Trophy as the NCAA Division III player of the year and a two-time CSC Academic All-American honoree at Simpson College from 2016 to 2020. He finished with 1,533 points and was named an American Rivers all-conference guard three times. After serving as the captain of the Ankeny High School team for three years, Riordan returned to as the team’s sophomore coach in 2020–21. He then went on to Midland University (Neb.) as a graduate assistant, where he obtained a master’s degree.
The Dutch have a 57-28 record in the three years that Steinkamp and Riordan have been together, and in 2023 they won Central’s 18th conference championship. With a 17-12 record, Central won the American Rivers Conference championship this past season, securing the program’s 12th berth in the NCAA Division III tournament.
