After 17 seasons (1996-present), Chris Conger is easily thewinningest head coach in the history of the Forester men’sbasketball program. He has been recognized as one of the best inhis profession, having four times earned Midwest Conference Coachof the Year honors (1998, 2000, 2007, and 2012). He was also chosenas the 1999-2000 National Association of Basketball Coaches MidwestRegion Division III Coach of the Year.
Lake Forest ranked second in the MWC in scoring defense in2012-13 after leading the league in that category the previousseason. Under Conger’s direction, the Foresters have finishedamong the top three teams in the conference in scoring defense eachof the last 10 years.
Conference coaches selected Lake Forest senior guard Jeff Beckas a First Team All-MWC honoree following the 2012-13 season.Conger’s players have now earned 33 All-MWC distinctions, 35Academic All-MWC honors, two MWC Player of the Year awards, a pairof All-American accolades (Mike Ansani in 1997-98 and Travis Clarkin 2011-12), and an NCAA Division III national three-pointpercentage title (Bryan Bertola in 2000-01).
Conger’s 2011-12 squad captured the program’s thirdconference championship and posted the best record (20-4) in teamhistory. He also directed the 1999-2000 Foresters to theprogram’s first-ever outright conference championship with aperfect 16-0 league record. Lake Forest followed up thatperformance with another stellar season in 2000-01, highlighted byeight weeks among the nation’s top 20 ranked teams. Duringthis two-year run the team won a program-best 32 games, a featmatched only by the Foresters from 2010-12. Lake Forest has reachedthe four-team MWC Tournament eight times in the last 16 years andadvanced to the event’s final for the first time in teamhistory in 2007.
Conger’s coaching career began at Lake Forest after hegraduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1995. He spent oneseason as an assistant coach at Lake Forest before becoming theyoungest head coach in the NCAA in 1996. His first team, whichfinished the season sixth in the nation for three-point shootingaccuracy, achieved its highest league finish since 1991-92 and itsbest conference mark since 1983-84. The Foresters broke through in1997-98 with the school’s first-ever appearance in thefour-team MWC Championship Tournament.
Achieving previously unheard-of success is nothing new toConger. During his playing career at the University of Wisconsin,the Badgers broke the school record for the best three-year mark inschool history, which included the school’s firstback-to-back post-season tournament berths (1993 and 1994). Thelatter squad became the first Badger team since 1947 to earn a tripto the NCAA Tournament.
Conger, a Green Bay, Wisconsin, native and graduate of SouthwestHigh School in Green Bay, began his collegiate playing career as awalk-on at the University of Wisconsin before being elevated to ascholarship player. During his Badger career, Conger played undertwo head coaches who have since moved to to the NBA - Stu Jackson,Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations, and Stan Van Gundy,former Orlando Magic and Miami Heat Head Coach. Conger was atwo-time Academic All-Big Ten selection and a three-time High HonorDean’s List member while earning his B.S. degree inEngineering Mechanics.
During the summer Conger directs multiple sessions of the LakeForest Boys Basketball Camp.
He lives in Gurnee with his wife Julie and daughters Hailey andHannah.
