Shane Kimura, the longest-tenured active volleyball coach in NCAA Division III, is retiring at the conclusion of the 2017 season. He also plans to step down as professor within the Health and Human Performance and Athletics department at the end of the fall term.
  
On Saturday, Kimura completes his 40th season as Wildcats head coach. He began his tenure in 1974 while still a student. Heading into his final weekend as coach, Kimura sports a career record of 664-520.
 
Among active Division III coaches, his 664 career victories rank ninth. He is 19th in all-time wins, a list encompassing both current and retired coaches. In the history of Division III volleyball, only Juniata College's Larry Bock, who coached 40 years at the Pennsylvania school and is now retired, headed a Division III program as many seasons as Kimura.
 
"I'm going to miss Shane as a colleague," said Linfield director of athletics Dr. Garry Killgore, who also worked with Kimura in his previous role as chairperson of HHPA. "Shane has always conducted himself on the volleyball court and in the classroom with a high degree of professionalism and with great integrity."
 
"You always hope for more wins. It's been a good run," said Kimura. "We did things the right way and we treated our athletes the right way. I feel pretty good about that and I feel as though we are leaving the program in a good place."
 
Kimura departs with the distinction of having coached more seasons than any coach of any sport in Linfield history. No other active Division III coach has led a program as many seasons as Kimura.
 
Kimura led Linfield to a national runner-up finish in 1980 at the AIAW championship tournament. His teams shared or won outright five Northwest Conference titles in 1980, 1983, 1989, 2003, 2006 and he led the Wildcats to four NCAA Division III playoff appearances.
 
"Shane cares greatly about the kids and is a real quality person," said Killgore. "Shane is 'old school' in the sense that he understands how to just get the job done. We appreciate his professionalism and consistency during the 40 years he's given as a professor and coach to Linfield."
 
"The relationship you have with players is what brought me back to coach year after year. You get to work with some pretty good people here. We always tried to bring in good athletes. By the same token, we looked for good people off the court, too. Having good people in our program made coaching enjoyable."
 
Kimura hasn't yet mapped out a plan for retirement.
 
"I really don't know what the next chapter in my life is going to be like. I know there is going to be some travel down the line. I'm not going to rule out coaching, possibly at a grass roots level or through summer camps. Who knows? I might be coaching my granddaughter's 10-and-under team."
 
Naturally, he'll continue to follow the Linfield program, this time from the stands or while watching the webstream from home.
 
"Linfield is a great place to coach. "Whoever comes in to coach this program will see that and keep it going and hopefully make it better," he said. "I see our program continuing to grow and perform better. I'm looking forward to watching the players I recruited here develop themselves under new leadership and get better over the next three seasons. There's a lot of good things ahead."
 
Killgore said a search for a replacement is expected to begin soon.