DAVID NAKAGAMI
Sports Assistant
The professional life of Vance Walberg, head coach of the Pepperdine men’s basketball team, is dominated by matchups, percentages, and Xs and Os. Off the court, the essence of Vance Walberg, a husband and a father, is consumed by five people: his wife Rose, and their four children – Jason, Heather, Jaimie-Rose and Ian.
Most people recognize Walberg as the intense, motivated man shouting directions and leading the team to victory from the sidelines of Firestone Fieldhouse. However, only a select few know the rookie head coach cannot live without Diet Pepsi. Perhaps even fewer know that he has a really big soft spot.
Jason, the first of the Walbergs’ four children, is graduating this spring with a masters’ degree in educational technology from Pepperdine’s graduate school. Heather, Walberg’s oldest daughter, is also in the process of earning her masters’ degree in educational technology from Pepperdine. Youngest daughter Jaimie-Rose is a junior sports medicine major at Seaver College. Ian, the youngest of the four, is enrolled at nearby Moorpark College as a freshman.
“My hobbies are my kids,” Walberg said. “I love my kids.”
It seems appropriate, then, that Walberg coached three of his four children at Clovis West High School in Fresno. He had Jason on the varsity basketball team, and served as Heather and Jaimie-Rose’s PE teacher in badminton. This past season, Jason played under his father’s direction for the Waves.
“It’s a challenge,” Jason said of having his father as a coach. “I have to earn the respect of everybody else. At the same time, I like it a lot.”
Although a torn ACL sidelined the guard late last November for the remainder of the 2006-2007 campaign, Jason is petitioning for a medical redshirt, hopefully allowing him the eligibility to play again next year.
Remembering her high school years, Jaimie-Rose agrees with her older brother.
“It wasn’t anything awkward or weird,” she said. “It was really fun, and I really enjoyed it.”
Ian is the only child who has yet to play under his father.
“Right when he got to high school, he wanted to play for me, and I left (for Fresno City College),” Walberg said. “Right when he came to junior college, I left (for Pepperdine). Ian got the short end of the stick.”
These transitions have not extinguished the hope and possibility of Ian playing under his father’s leadership in the future. He hopes to get a Division I scholarship to Pepperdine in three years and join the Waves.
During his 13 years at Clovis West, Walberg estimates that he worked an average of 75 to 80 hours a week. Even now, since getting hired in April of last year, he estimates that he has had a total of three or four days completely off. He said he understands that the extensive amount of time he puts in at the office comes with the job.
“There are an awful lot of things we have to get squared away here,” he said.
With such a demanding schedule, it makes sense that Walberg enjoys having his family nearby. Ian and Heather live at home with their parents, while Jaimie-Rose lives on campus and Jason off campus. Nevertheless, “they’re in the house all the time,” Walberg said, “for food.” Heather and Jaimie-Rose also serve as the managers for the basketball team, which enables them to spend quality time with their dad.
“They both want to go into the coaching profession, so I really thought it would be good for them to see what it’s really like,” the first-year head coach said. “It’s not as easy as a lot of people think it is.”
For Walberg, taking on the responsibility of a Division I basketball program has been a blessing for the family, especially for wife Rose. Before this year, she held a job, attended to the children, and performed most household chores. In addition, she put together the team scrapbooks, made the team video, and attended every game.
“People ask you in interviews what your top three strengths are,” Walberg said. “My number one is definitely my wife. With me getting this job, the one thing I want to try to do is let her retire.”
The popular saying behind every good man is a great woman certainly proves true in this situation. Jaimie-Rose portrays her mom as a marvelous maternal figure and the ultimate coach’s wife. Ian describes her as an unwavering supporter of all of her husband’s endeavors.
“I’ve heard her say many times that my dad’s dreams are her dreams,” Heather said. “She’s the backbone of it all.”
This large yet close-knit family has strengthened their ties through many summer road trips to tournaments, competitive Wiffle ball games, and their annual August excursion to Lake Tahoe.
“Every single year, we go to Lake Tahoe,” Ian explained. “We just chill out for a week and just get away from regular life.”
Still, the family values any moments they get to share with each other, regardless of the location or activity.
“I like just the simple times when it’s just our family, doing nothing huge but spending quality time with each other ,just the really simple times away from all the craziness that basketball can bring,” Jaimie Rose said.
But basketball can bring the family together as well. Walberg took Jaimie-Rose, along with his wife and Heather, to the Final Four in Atlanta this past weekend. A trip to the zenith of the men’s college basketball postseason, with its excitement and fanfare, doesn’t seem like the ideal environment for simple family quality time. To Walberg, it was a wonderful way to spend time with the women of his life while taking in the high level of competition of other Division I schools.
“It’s great to have time after basketball season to hang out,” Jaimie-Rose said.
This men’s basketball season, like many of the recent past, has allowed its head coaches a considerable amount of time to devote to other interests after its conclusion. Hopefully, this time in the near future, Walberg’s season will not be over. Instead, in coming years, he will be taking the Waves family, as well as his wife and children, with him to participate and compete in March Madness.
04-05-2007