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John Hemenway
Head Men's Basketball Coach
University of South Dakota ’96
johemenw@dwu.edu
605-995-2875

John Hemenway is in his third season as the head men’s basketball coach at Dakota Wesleyan University. He has a 38-25 overall coaching record in two seasons as head coach. In just two seasons, he has improved the Tigers’ win total by 16 games. In 2006-07, he led DWU to a 24-8 overall record, the third highest win total in school history. The Tigers received an at-large berth to the NAIA II National Tournament for the first time since the 1995 season. He guided the Tigers to a 6-0 start, which was the best start since the 1946-47 season. His 2006-07 squad set a new DWU school record for points in a season. For his efforts in 2006-07, he was named the GPAC Coach-of-the-Year. He was also named the South Dakota College Men’s College Coach-of-the-Year.

In his first season, Hemenway led the Tigers to a 14-17 record and an eighth-place finish in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. During the 2005-06 season, Hemenway guided the Tigers to a 7-11 record in the GPAC, and DWU hosted a first-round GPAC Tournament game for the first time since 2001. The team improved its overall win total by six games and its scoring output by 13 points per game from the previous year.

Under his leadership, Brock Seim became just the second player in school history to be named to the NAIA All-America First Team when he received the honor in 2007. Seim was a two-time All-American and also was selected to play in the Collegiate Basketball Invitational, featuring the best “small college” seniors in America. In just two seasons, Hemenway has coached the GPAC Player-of-the-Year, six All-GPAC performers and two NAIA Scholar-Athletes.

Hemenway came to DWU from Vermillion, S.D., where he served three seasons as the assistant coach for Dave Boots at the University of South Dakota. During his three seasons assisting the program, USD won the 2005 North Central Conference Tournament Championship, setting a season school record of 27 wins. The Coyotes received berths to the NCAA Division II Tournament in 2004 and 2005.

Before returning to his alma mater, Hemenway spent two seasons at Chaminade University in Honolulu, Hawaii, as the assistant coach. Chaminade’s back-to-back 16-11 campaigns were the school’s first consecutive winning seasons since 1985-87.

Hemenway got his start in the coaching profession at Morningside College, where he spent four seasons as the assistant coach. The Mustangs had a 16-game winning streak during the 1998-99 and 1999-00 seasons. He served as the interim head coach over the final 14 games of the 1998-99 season, compiling a 10-4 record that included a 9-1 mark over the last 10 games and a runner-up finish in the North Central Conference.

Hemenway was a two-time All-NCC performer at South Dakota during the 1995 and 1996 seasons. He was named to the All-North Central Region Second Team in 1995 and was a first-team honoree in 1996. Following his senior season, Hemenway was named to the CoSIDA NCAA Division II All-American Second Team.

He received the Jon Van Why Award, honoring the most outstanding athlete for the year at USD in 1996. He was also the team MVP following the 1995 season and served as the Coyotes’ cocaptain during the 1995 and 1996 seasons.

When he finished his eligibility, Hemenway had started 84 consecutive games over a three-year period and had set USD basketball records for assists in a single season with 197, free throws made in a season with 179 and had a career free-throw shooting percentage of .870.

Hemenway graduated from USD in 1996 with a Bachelor of Science degree in education. He also received his Master of Arts degree in health, physical education and recreation from USD in 1998.

Hemenway and his wife, Jessica, live in Mitchell with their son, Jack.

Matt Culhane
Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach
Dakota Wesleyan ’04

Matt Culhane is in his third season as a volunteer assistant coach for the men’s basketball program at Dakota Wesleyan. Culhane was a three-year letterwinner in basketball for the Tigers from 2001-03. As a senior he started 21 games, averaging 7.6 points and 1.8 rebounds.

Culhane earned a bachelor’s degree in business management from Dakota Wesleyan in 2004. He is currently the general manager of the Thunderbird Lodge of Mitchell, S.D.

The graduate of Mitchell High School lives with his wife, Rebecca, and daughter, Logan, in his hometown of Mitchell.

Adam Tyhurst
Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach
Dakota Wesleyan ’07

Adam Tyhurst is in his third season as an assistant coach for the Dakota Wesleyan men’s basketball program. He is serving as a graduate assistant coach this season. He came to DWU after spending three years at Si Tanka University in Huron, S.D.

Tyhurst played one season of college basketball at Blue Mountain Community College in Pendleton, Ore. The native of Boise, Idaho, was a player on the Borah High School team that finished as the state runner-up.

Tyhurst earned his bachelor’s degree in math from Dakota Wesleyan University in 2007. He is currently pursuing his master’s degree at DWU and is teaching classes in the math department at DWU and Mitchell Tech. He married the former Nikki Johnston this summer and the couple reside in Mitchell.