Coaches Recognition

Tom Kleen

Briar Cliff University

Started as a coach in 1981.

Years team advanced: 1994 (the year the finals were in Phoenix)

Special memory: Going to the World Finals (I think in 1994). We didn’t do that well, but were the smallest school there, and I like to tell people that we solved as many problems as MIT did.

David Reed

Creighton University

Has served as a coach since 1993 at Creighton University, Dickinson College and Duke University.

In 2021 his team advanced to North American Championship.

Andy Poe

Northern Michigan University

Has been coaching since 1999

Kevin Brunner

Graceland University

Started as a coach in 2000.

Special memory: The experience for the students is always outstanding!

Dieter van Melkebeek

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Has served as a coach every year since he started in 2001.

Special memory: I didn’t know about the competition until I was volunteered to be the coach.

Stephen Fyfe

Central College

First time coached in 2005.

Favorite memories: My best memories are just hearing the teams talk about the problems after the contest with each other and hearing each team tell the other teams about their approach to some of the problems. Every year they are both excited and frustrated at the same time!

Ahilan Sivasamy

UWO Fox Cities

Coaching since 2007 (UW Fox Valley (Former name)).

Years team advanced: Not yet, we are two year community campus. Students enjoy taking part in programming contests.

Favorite memories: Good collaborating in teamwork and coding practice.

Jeff Ifland

University of Nebraska – Lincoln

Coaching every year since 2007.

Years team advanced: 2007, 2009, 2010, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021

San Skulrattanakulchai

Gustavus Adolphus College

Coaching since 2010.

Favorite memories: Some years we had very enthusiastic teams. Their enthusiasm was infectious.

Nathan Backman

Buena Vista University

Coaching every year since 2012.

Mark Brodie

Simpson College

Coaching continuously since 2012.

Favorite memories: These are not memories specifically from the contests, but it’s always impressed me when students continue working on the problems that they couldn’t solve, even weeks after the contest. That is obviously a very good sign for their future. Also, it’s amazing how much students improves if they compete in these contests every year starting as freshmen. Even students who are not initially very strong at programming improve greatly.

Anne Denton

North Dakota State University

Coaching continuously since 2012.

Favorite memories: The organization and quality of this event impressed me the first year I coached and has done so ever since.

Austin O’Brien

Dakota State University

Coaching since 2015.

Years team advanced: 2019

Laura Brown

Michigan Technological University

Coaching since 2017.

Years team advanced:

• 2020-21 team went to NADC
• teams went to Worlds in 2013-14, 2007-08, 2004-05, 2003-04

Favorite memories: hope to get back to regional sites with other universities

Shana Watters

University of Minnesota

Coaching since 2018.

Favorite memories: We now have a campus life student group called the Competitive Programming Club (CPP). Daniel, a graduate student, was instrumental in making this group happen along with the organizing undergraduates. Shana has taken more of a backseat role in coaching since the students have self organized to work together and practice together. Shana considers herself a co-coach of Daniel instead of the other way around. Shana does all of the administrative stuff like running the site and ensuring we are able to have a great competition day together (finds the money). We enjoy seeing our students participate in this wonderful program. Shout out to Daniel and all of the teams!

Daniel Keyes

University of Minnesota

Coaching since 2019.

Favorite memories: (See Shana Watters’s reply)

Jason Sauppe (pronunciation: “Suh – Pay”)

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse

Coaching since 2019.

Peter Ohmann

College of St. Benedict / St. John’s University

Coaching since 2019.

Md Mahbubur Rahman

Iowa State University

Coaching since 2021.

Hanku Lee

Minnesota State University Moorhead

Coaching since 2021.

Ray Leach

Augustana University

Coaching since 2021.