Lawrence Today magazine, Summer 2007
One coach takes on a new role in the Lawrence University Department of Athletics,
and another is welcomed to the fold.
Joel “JoJo” DePagter ’98 has been named interim head men’s
basketball coach by Director of Athletics Robert Beeman. Paul Kinsella has accepted
the position of offensive coordinator/recruiting coordinator for the football
team.
DePagter takes over for John Tharp, who resigned after 13 seasons to become the
head men’s basketball coach at Division II Hillsdale College.
DePagter has spent the past four years as an assistant for the Vikings and also
served as an assistant for the 1999-2000 season. Between those two stints he
held a similar position at Hillsdale.
A native of Sheboygan, DePagter is one of the finest players in Lawrence history.
He led the Vikings to the 1997 Midwest Conference championship and was the league
Player of the Year in 1998. He holds nine school records and is seventh in career
scoring with 1,243 points.
A native of Bolingbrook, Ill., Kinsella comes to Lawrence from Lakeland College,
where he has spent the past five seasons. He served as both the offensive and
defensive coordinator during his time at Lakeland, which compiled a 34-17 record
over that period.
A 1995 graduate of Illinois Wesleyan University, Kinsella earned a bachelor’s
degree in mathematics. An All-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin selection
for the Titans, he holds a master’s degree in sports management from Northern
Illinois University.
Kinsella was the defensive coordinator and defensive line coach at Lakeland last
season and had spent the previous three seasons coaching the offensive line and
serving as offensive coordinator. The Muskies were one of the top offenses in
the country during that stretch and won back-to-back Illini-Badger Conference
championships in 2004 and 2005.
Before coming to Lakeland, Kinsella worked as the defensive coordinator, secondary
coach, and offensive line coach at North Park University in 2001-02. He was a
graduate assistant at Northern Illinois from 1999-2001 and the offensive line
coach at North Central College in 1998-99. JVA