Years Of Work And Planning Paying Dividends At William Penn

William Penn Men’s Basketball Head Coach John Henry holds the net from the team’s sixth in seven years conference championship.

February 15, 2022

Oskaloosa, Iowa – There has been an air of excitement around the William Penn campus in recent years, and it shows in the energy being displayed by its staff and the students.

Earlier this year, Oskaloosa News and many community members toured the newly updated Penn Activity Center or PAC facilities. In addition, they toured the recently completed classrooms that house the new nursing and science facilities within the PAC.

You can read about that tour and more by reading our article HERE –  William Penn Nursing Program

The pandemic was difficult, and the businesses and institutions that made it through that time and prepared for a return to normalcy have been finding success as the world transitions out of the pandemic.

In addition to academic success, William Penn is finding success in athletics this year.

Several new sports have been added in the past few years as a way of helping to attract students to the university, so those individuals could continue with the extra-curricular activities they have enjoyed.

One of those new sports is men’s volleyball.

Luke Bentley was tabbed as the coach for the new program, and he set out to find and recruit that inaugural team.

That team, now in its third year, is currently playing at such a high level; they sit in the fifth spot in the national rankings, a place they earned after upsetting the number one team in the nation.

If you think it was a fluke, they beat the number one team, then ask the number five and number eight teams that fell to them before that.

After beating number one at home, they took the show back on the road, once again beating a top ten team on the road.

Bentley says he knew this year would be “a lot better than last year.” His comments came just days after upsetting Grand View, who was the number one team in the nation at the time of their defeat.

“This has been a pretty special couple of weeks we’ve had,” said Bentley. “It’s just been a lot of collective things coming together at the right time.”

“We’ve had bumps along the way,” says Bentley. We’ve kept the same collective group from year one into year two, and now in year three, added pieces around them. And it’s kind of followed the path that we thought it would this year; maybe we’re going a little more uphill than we thought at first.”

Bentley says he’s “not quite surprised” at his team’s success. “We knew what we were getting. We’re very fortunate we have some really good kids.”

Bentley says that his ability to recruit top players is based on William Penn University’s environment right now.

From the campus to the family environment, those help attract students. “We have a vision. We have a culture that we’ve been able to build. All that stuff’s important,” added Bentley.

Another team of the nine or so teams earning national recognition is the Men’s Basketball Team, headed up by the veteran coach John Henry.

Henry and that program have enjoyed so much success over the years that it would make headlines if the team weren’t ranked or in the national tournament.

Watching Bentley and Henry interact at the taping of the weekly coaches show indicates both programs and the university’s position right now. It’s a moment in time that both teams and coaches are sharing and enjoying.

The men’s basketball team celebrated with the men’s volleyball team after their big win, rushing the floor after those big wins. The men’s volleyball team helped ring the bell after the men’s basketball team chalked up another win.

Success Breeds Success

That culture is something both coaches point to as part of the success happening now at William Penn.

The moment isn’t ever lost on Henry, as he says, “How you finish is really what you’re graded on anymore.”

William Penn joined the Heart of America conference just seven years ago.”But it has been fun, and to win six out of the last seven conference championships in the Heart of America, is a feat that I am very, very proud of as the head coach.”

“All my former players and my former coaches, fans, people should realize how special this is,” added Henry.

If you think Henry doesn’t like to share the spotlight, you’d be mistaken. “The more, the merrier,” says Henry of successful teams at William Penn. “I’m a Statesmen through and through. I went to school here. My degree says William Penn College. My wife’s an alum. We’ve lived here in Oskaloosa for quite some time. So it matters to me that these teams do well, and I’m just super proud.”

Nik Rule is now the Athletic Director at William Penn, where he graduated in 2010.

He’s no stranger to success, as he led the William Penn Women’s Golf Team to five league crowns and was recognized by his peers as being named conference coach of the year on four occasions.

Success Breeds Success

“We had a vision when our new leadership team came together,” says Rule. “We had such an amazing foundation.”

At the sports show taping, Rule notes that six different coaches are there to participate that evening, enjoying the success of the other programs.

“Our crowds have been amazing, and our students are supporting each other,” says Rule. “We want people to have success like we want to be successful. We want to win everything. We want to win at life.”

Be it from the success now found in the classroom, and the new areas of study, to the success on the field, Rule says they are excited about the momentum they have.

Men’s volleyball and basketball aren’t the only teams getting national attention; nine programs in total have that distinction.

After attaining a level of success, many programs can find they have become stale and lose their edge competitively.

“Henry and I talk a lot about this. The way that you continue to make sure that you’re not stale is you continue to invest in evolving,” says Rule. “Programs get stale when you get comfortable, and you stop evolving and stop trying to figure out how can I be better.”

For many fans, alumni, and locals not used to this level of success, Rule says, “It’s a different era. We’re proud of it.”

The past wasn’t always kind to the then college. Lopsided defeats and some local issues had created a perception of the university. “We’ve had success in the past, and we’ve also had some really tough times in the past. And so we’re proud of that. It’s made us who we are as a university today; we’re tough, we’re gritty, blue-collar, you know, we’re gonna work our tails off,” says Rule.

“But I think the community in the last several years is starting to see that there’s a different William Penn out there,” Rule added.

When it comes to the community crowd, Rule describes them as avid. “We invite everyone to come out and be a part of it. We’ll take anybody at any time.”

“What is more fun than being a part of something that has forward momentum, and you can feel it? You can hear it. You can see it. It’s authentic,” says Rule in closing.