Aaron Kallhoff completed his second season as an assistant coach on the Red Wolves coaching staff 2014-15.
In his two years on the bench, Kallhoff and the Red Wolves have been one of the league’s top teams in the Sun Belt Conference. The team has won 46 games over the last two years, including a historic 2014-15 campaign in which Arkansas State tied the school’s regular season record for wins at 21 and went on to finish with 24 victories, one shy of the school record for most in a single year.
A-State finished the year with a 24-11 overall record and advanced to the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship game for the second consecutive team. The squad narrowly missed out on a NCAA Tournament at-large bid, and was the highest team in the NCAA’s RPI rankings not to receive a bid. Arkansas State accepted a bid to play in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) for the second consecutive year and defeated Western Michigan in the opening round for its first win the postseason tournament since the 2007 tournament.
Kallhoff also helped guide Aundrea Gamble to her second straight Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year award. The All-America candidate also set an Arkansas State record with 171 assists and won the league’s scoring title with a 19.0 points per game average. As a team, A-State had the 13th best field goal percentage in the country at 44.9 percent and had the second best scoring offense in the Sun Belt Conference after averaging 71.0 points per contest.
A-State went 22-12 and 14-4 in league play in 2013-14 and earned the No. 1 seed entering the conference tournament at the end of the year. The team advanced to the SBC championship for just the second time in school history and made its ninth appearance in the WNIT at the season’s end.
The Red Wolves saw their offensive production rise by nearly 13 points per game upon his arrival and the 2013-14 squad won the third most games in school history (22) and scored the eighth most in program history (107) on March 5 on it’s to clinching the SBC regular-season title.
Kallhoff (Pronounced: Call-Off) joins the staff after spending a season as an assistant coach at Trinity Valley Community College in Athens, Texas where he helped coach the Lady Cardinals to their seventh National Junior College Athletic Association Women’s Basketball Championship in 2012-13. TVCC finished the year with a 36-1 record.
Prior to his time at Trinity Valley Community College, Kallhoff spent fours at Hill College in Hillsboro, Texas, where he served as the head coach of the Lady Rebels. In his first year he coached Hill College to a conference runner-up finish and helped the Lady Rebels advance to the Region V Tournament. He was named the North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference Co-Coach of the Year in his final season at Hill College and led the Lady Rebels to the Region V semifinals. The 2011-12 squad finished 27-5 and was co-conference champions. Kallhoff was named as one of the nation’s top and upcoming Junior College Coaches by Women’s Basketball Insider publication.
In his time at Hill, Kallhoff coached three All-Americans, four All-Region V selections, 16 NTJCAC All-Conference selections, one NTJCAC Player of the Year, two NTJCAC Defensive Players of the Year and one NTJCAC Freshman of the Year. His teams were also named Academic All-American teams on three separate occasions.
He spent one season serving as the head women’s basketball coach and assistant athletic director at Allen County Community College in Iola, Kan., prior to his time at Hill College where the Red Devils achieved a 3.1 overall team grade point average under his tenure. He also coached a player to a Jayhawk East All-Conference selection.
Kallhoff also spent time as the men’s assistant basketball at Seward County Community College in Liberal, Kan., where the Saints made the Region VI tournament and had every sophomore move on to a four-year university, with three signing with Division I institutions.
After graduating from college, Kallhoff spent three years as the men’s assistant basketball coach at Allen County. From 2003-06, he helped lead the Allen County basketball program to two berths in the Region VI Tournament. In his three seasons, Kallhoff coached four Jayhawk East All-Conference selections, two NJCAA All-Region VI picks and one JUCO All-American.
A native of Norfolk, Neb., Kallhoff’s career as a player began in 1998, when he was tabbed the Northeast Nebraska High School Player of the Year at Norfolk Catholic High School.
He began his collegiate career at Iowa Central Community College where he led the NJCAA Division II Iowa Region in three-point field goal percentage. In 2000, he earned All-Region IX athletic and academic honors at Northeast Nebraska Community College after averaging 14 points per game.
After Northeast, Kallhoff spent a redshirt season at Southern Utah, where the team advanced to the first round of the NCAA Tournament. He completed his playing career at Bemidji State where he was a two-year starter, and in his senior season led the nation (NCAA Division II) in assist/turnover ratio.
In 2003, Kallhoff graduated from Bemidji State University in Bemidji, Minn., earning a bachelor’s degree in mass communication with an emphasis in public relations, advertising and electronic media. While at Bemidji State, he represented the university as a chairman for the Special Olympics and the United Way Foundation. Additionally, Kallhoff was involved with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Kallhoff and his wife, Josie, have a seven-year-old daughter, Camden, a two-year old son, Caylix and are expecting a baby girl in August of 2014.
