Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Athletics

Erich Kaempffe was hired ahead of the 2017-18 season and has helped the Engineers to unprecedented success in his time in Troy.

Rensselaer posted a school record 24 wins (24-5), which included a school record-tying 18-game winning streak and a school record 17 victories in Liberty League contests (17-1) in 2019-20. The Engineers earned a berth into the NCAA Tournament and advanced to the Second Round. They finished the season ranked third out of 416 schools in Division III in scoring defense (60.9 points allowed per game), 11th in steals (281), 13th in three-point field goal defense (30.1%) and 14th in winning percentage (.828). Additionally, junior Patrick Mahoney was chosen to the NABC All-America First Team.

During the off-season, Kaempffe, who is responsible for recruiting, player development, scouting and operations, was named to the 2020 Under Armour 30-Under-30 Team, representing 30 of the most outstanding men's college basketball coaches under the age of 30. The list consists of head and assistant coaches from all three levels of the NCAA. He was one of only two Division III assistant coaches on the list.

In Kaempffe's second season, the Engineers won 15 games (15-11) and played in the Liberty League Tournament with a team that featured a pair of 1,000-point scorers in Tom Horvat and Andreas Kontopidis. Horvat concluded his career ranked second in school history with 1,579 points, while Kontopidis was seventh with 1,238 points. Rensselaer was also above .500 in Kaempffe's first season, going 13-12 in 2017-18.

Prior to coming to Troy, he was an assistant coach at SUNY Oswego, helping the Lakers go 21-7, including a SUNYAC-best 17-3 in the SUNYAC, and winning the conference tournament championship to advance to the NCAA Tournament. 

Kaempffe had previously been a graduate assistant coach at Ithaca, where he earned a Master's of Science in Sports Psychology. In his one season, the Bombers won 15 games and played in the ECAC Metro/Upstate Tournament championship game.

Outside of the college ranks, Kaempffe also has experience working camps and clinics, as well as with summer programs as a head coach.

A 2015 graduate of Wells College, he played four years of basketball as a guard for the Express. A two-time captain, he set the school single season record for three-point shooting percentage (47.6), while ranking in the top 10 in single season free throw percentage (2nd; .917), career games played (3rd; 81), career free throw percentage (5th; .736) and career assists (7th; 91). He was the program's Lesley Mead Express Award recipient twice and a North Eastern Atlantic Conference Scholar Athlete honoree three times.

Kaempffe, who hails from Sodus Point, N.Y., also played golf, earning the team's Rookie of the Year award in 2011-12. A member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa before graduating summa cum laude with a Bachelor's degree in Business and Entrepreneurship.