Welcome to the Dragon Community: Jason Kemp

Jason Kemp is Minnesota State Moorhead's new head men's basketball coach. In his position, Coach Kemp's goals are to work hard, and bring out the best in all the students-athletes he coaches while being a good leader, colleague, father and husband.

Q: What drew you to Minnesota State Moorhead?
A: Moorhead and Fargo — this community is home. After four years of coaching in division I, I felt it was time to be back at division II, particularly in Moorhead, which gave me my start. Division II has a major advantage right now, because student-athletes embrace their opportunity and are encouraged to be part of the campus community, not bouncing from team to team.

Kemp started his coaching career as an assistant coach in 2004 at Minnesota State Moorhead.

Q: What surprised you about Minnesota State Moorhead when you came back?
A: The growth of Moorhead, the campus and the athletics department has changed so much. The game day atmosphere wasn't what it is today. The overall growth of the sports teams and the winning tradition over the last 15 to 20 years is amazing to see.

Q: Do you have a pre-game ritual or something that you always do?
A: I used to be very superstitious until two years ago. I had to do the same preparations for every game. There were like 10 things on that list — One of them was chewing Orbit, sweet mint flavor gum.

Then, I understood that as a coach I can control outcomes with my work and preparation but there's always going to be an 'uncontrollable' part, when the outcome might not have anything to do with you. Now, I just do whatever I want, knowing that I worked and prepared, and I live with the results. It's a better way to live!

Q: What would we most likely find you doing on the weekend?
A: My son and I will be on some kind of adventure around Fargo. He's a pretty unique kid, adventurous, and likes to try new things. We may drive down to Minneapolis for Twins or Timberwolves games. My wife and I like concerts. So, we'll try to find any live music event we can go to.

Q: What's one thing people might not know about you?
A: I have played the guitar since I was five. I can turn off everything and not think about work or anything else. I just focus on the guitar even when it can be frustrating and challenging sometimes.

Q: If you could trade places with anyone for one day, who would you choose? 
A: Whoever the president is, I'd want to see how a day looks like from that leadership perspective, or Michael Jordan in the prime of his career, to see how cool it would be to be that skilled at basketball.

Q: What's the best advice you were ever given? Who was it from?
A: "Find out what you want to do and who you want to be and get there as fast as possible." It was from Tracy Webster. He is now a scout for the Dallas Mavericks, but he coached me in high school. That advice helped me get on the coaching path very early in my career. It helped me work hard and I kept that in the forefront of my mind all the time.

Welcome to the Dragon Community Coach Kemp!