COACHING BACKGROUND
Bill Harmsen began leading the Dordt Defender women’s program in 2018-19 after serving several years at Western Christian High School (Iowa). The 2025-26 season will be his eighth with the Defenders.
His 2018-19 Dordt team proved to be record-breaking and historic as it posted a 20-12 season record with a 13-9 mark in the Great Plains Athletic Conference which was good for fourth place. The team earned an at-large berth to the NAIA Division II National Basketball Championship where its season ended in the first round of the 32-team field. The bid was the first ever for the Defenders and capped a season where they spent most of the year in the top-20 of the rankings and started the year with a 15-4 record. Harmsen coached the team to a program best 80.3 points per game and topped the nation in defensive rebounds (31.96) and was 9th in scoring average.
The 2019-20 team followed up with another record-setting performance by posting a 24-8 overall record and a 15-7 GPAC mark. The Defenders spent the entire season ranked in the top-12 of the national poll. The Defenders also advanced to the semifinals of the GPAC post-season tournament for the first time in program history. Dordt qualified for the NAIA Division II National Championship field but didn't get a chance to play as the event was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2019-20 team matched the previous year's points per game average with an 80.3 average and the team out-rebounded teams 42.8-33.1 with that margin ranking 7th in the NAIA. The team also converted 46.1 percent of its field goals which was 6th.
In 2020-21 the Defenders posted a 15-11 record and a 14-8 GPAC record, marking the third season in a row Dordt posted a winning record with Harmsen coaching. The team dealt with injuries early on in the season before going on a run from December 5-January 9 when it won nine out of ten games.
Dordt’s 2021-22 season featured a 15-game winning streak from December 18-February 12 and the team posted a 16-6 GPAC record that was good for a runner-up finish. For the third time in four years the team qualified for the NAIA National Championship field and advanced to the finals of the event before claiming runner-up honors. The team featured two All-GPAC first-team honorees and Ashtyn Veerbeek was named the GPAC Player of the Year—the first time a Dordt women’s basketball player has earned the honor.
The 2022-23 team won the school's first-ever women's basketball GPAC regular season championship and the team was 20-2 in GPAC play and 30-4 overall after starting the year 16-0. The Defenders were awarded a NAIA National Championship Opening Round Host Site berth and won two games in the field before falling in the Round of 16. They had two All-GPAC first-team performers in Karly Gustafson and Bailey Beckman and Harmsen was named Co-Coach of the Year by the GPAC for the second time in his career.
The 2023-24 team won its first 12 games before a setback to South Dakota State on December 12. The Defenders then won 14 games and ended the season with the regular season GPAC championship. Dordt then won three games to claim the GPAC postseason tournament and hosted the NAIA National Championship First and Second Rounds for the second straight season. Dordt proceeded win its four games in Sioux City to claim the program’s first ever National Championship. Harmsen was named GPAC Coach of the Year for the third time and the NAIA National Coach of the Year for the first time. The Defenders had four CSC Academic All-District performers, two first-team all-GPAC members and Macy Sievers was a first-team All-American and Karly Gustafson was a third-team pick.
The 2024-25 season saw the Defenders go wire-to-wire as the preseason no. 1 team in the NAIA poll and they successfully defended their national championship with another run to the title and a 35-2 record. The team won its first 23 games and hosted all three rounds of the GPAC postseason tournament, winning by an average of 14 points per game. For the third straigt year Dordt hosted the first two rounds of the NAIA National Championship and qualified for the final site with two wins at the De Witt Gym. After a hard fought, four-point win in teh Round of 16, Dordt won the next three games by combined 62 points. Dordt's Macy Sievers was named the NAIA Player of the Year and claimed first-team All-American honors along with CSC Academic All-American honors. Janie Van Donge was named a second-team NAIA All-American and a second team CSC Academic All-American.
Harmsen has coached 11 first-team All-GPAC performers, three first-team NAIA All-Americans, four second-team NAIA All-Americans, two third-team NAIA All-Americans and six CoSIDA Academic All-American selections. The 2018-19, 2019-20, and 2020-21 teams had the best cumulative grade point averages for teams in their divisions with scores of 3.82, 3.82, and 3.83. Harmsen has a career 188-48 record and a career .797 college winning percentage.
Harmsen also works with Dordt University Athletic Advancement and Development. .
While at Western Christian Coach Harmsen guided both the girls and boys basketball teams to state titles. Harmsen was the girls coach from 2012-16 and the boys head coach for two seasons from 2016-18. His 2012, 2013, and 2014 girls teams won state titles and the boys team he guided in 2017 won a state title.
In his time at Western Harmsen also taught Bible classes and served as an assistant boys basketball coach, assistant to the principal and activities director. He served at Western from 2001-18.
Harmsen also taught, coached, and was athletic director at Dakota Christian High School and served as an assistant men’s basketball coach at the University of Sioux Falls and was the head girls basketball coach at Sioux Falls Christian.
COACHING PHILOSOPHY
Coaching at Dordt University is a pleasure and a blessing. I get to walk alongside student-athletes through their highest highs and lowest lows. This is where spiritual and emotional mentoring takes place. My goal is that every woman in the Dordt University women's program will be maximized and equipped with the spiritual, academic, social, and emotional skills to prosper in the workplace while establishing homes built on Jesus Christ.
ACADEMIC BACKGROUND
B.A. in Health, Physical Education from the University of Sioux Falls
M.A. in Educational Leadership from the University of Sioux Falls
FAMILY
Wife-Shawna
Children-Payton and Caleb
June 24, 2025
