His slow pace up and down the sideline hints at a worn down nearly seven foot tall body, his arms folded and facial expression never changing.

After his season as a manager at Colorado, he accepted a graduate assistant position at Wyoming University before becoming a full-time assistant at Bowling Green. After Bowling Green, he went on to help lead Boise State to an appearance in the College Basketball Invitational, before accepting his first ever head coaching position at Emporia State.

“It made me feel really good that we got the guy that had played at the highest level, but I thought one of the biggest things was he could teach our guys that there’s life after basketball,” said Kent Wiser, athletic director. “I thought him having that experience would be great to share and you can’t question his knowledge of the game because he’s a first-round draft pick.”

After a real struggle in his first season at ESU only winning nine games, the turn-around has started with back to back winning season and a trip to Kansas City for the MIAA tournament, the first in his tenure. One of the reasons for his success is Terrance Moore, junior guard and physical education major.

“He told me he’d been everywhere…He’s been over-seas, he’s been in the NBA, so I know to listen to him because he’s done it all,” Moore said. “He’s got a lot of wisdom, so he’s always giving me tips for things to work on.”

Vandiver has had a wealth of experience in the game of basketball, both as a coach and as a player. Vandiver was a standout at Hutchinson Junior College, leading them to a national title in 1988 before signing on for a scholarship at Colorado University, where he was the Big 8 rookie of the year. He was a two time All Big 8 team member, and in only three seasons with CU he became third in all-time scoring at the school. He currently sits at fourth on that list. After his collegiate career was finished, he entered the NBA draft and was selected 25 overall by the Golden State Warriors but never played for them.

He had an offer from a team in Italy as well as the Warriors. The offer from the team in Italy was for more than one year, so he left the states. He played for a decade overseas averaging 18 points and six rebounds in the seventh of a nine year career. He played for two teams in Italy and four teams in Spain.

“I enjoyed it thoroughly. A lot of guys go over-seas and they lock themselves in their apartment,” Vandiver said. “I’m open to learning new cultures and I had my family there with me, which helped.”

Vandiver’s daughter Amber, who plays for the women’s team at ESU and the rest of their family lived in Spain with him during his playing years.

“I remember going to his games where the crowd was amazing, and just there was so much energy,” Amber Vandiver said.

If being a professional basketball player and juggling a family life isn’t tough enough, learning a new way of life and culture made things even tougher on Vandiver.

“You had to work through cultural barriers,” Vandiver said. “Lunch breaks were two to three hours; dinners were later; the mentality and approach to basketball is different.”

Unlike a lot of players that go overseas and play, Vandiver says he didn’t just count down the days until he made his next trip home. He enjoyed learning new cultures and languages, which also lead to some endorsement deals and commercials.

“The only way you can be a celebrity is if you can speak the language, and yeah I signed some autographs, if you want to call that being a celebrity,” Vandiver said.

The toughest part for Vandiver was not being able to see his family and friends as much as he wanted to because of the rigorous schedule that basketball players put themselves through.

“It was difficult because I couldn’t see my parents as much as I wanted to, and I didn’t get to see my friends much, and we had a house in the States so my kids missed their friends here,” Vandiver said. “But they also had friends there. You would start late July early August and if you were in the playoffs you wouldn’t come back until May.”

Vandiver said being a manager at Colorado made him respect the business of coaching better, and has spent 10 years in the profession.

“To truly appreciate the business you have to start at the bottom,” Vandiver said.