Braun chosen as new men's basketball coach

By Casey Michel     4/10/08 7:00pm

When the 2008-'09 men's basketball season opens, the completed renovations to Autry Court will not be the only new sight for fans. On Sunday, Ben Braun was announced as the new head basketball coach at Rice, replacing 16-year coach Willis Wilson (Will Rice '82), who was released March 14.Athletic Director Chris Del Conte said Braun brightens the program's future prospects.

"This is an exciting moment for Rice athletics," Del Conte said. "Braun is an established coach who shares our vision in the potential that exists in the opportunity to coach at Rice. He has demonstrated again and again the ability to not only produce quality teams on the court, but also quality student-athletes who can excel in the classroom as well."

Braun's resumé includes Division I experience with coaching the men's basketball team at the University of California-Berkeley since 1997. Prior to his stint at Berkeley, Braun coached Sienna Heights College from 1977-85 and led the Saints to a 148-103 record. He then moved on to Eastern Michigan University for 11 seasons, where he led the Eagles to four postseason berths and the NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 in 1991.

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At Cal, the Chicago native compiled a 219-154 record in 12 seasons, the second-highest win total in the school's history. As he enters his 32nd season as a head coach, Braun has 552 wins to his name, 11th-most among active coaches.

In his first season with Cal, Braun led the team to the Sweet 16, his first of five NCAA Tournament appearances. The Golden Bears also won the National Invitation Tournament Championship in 1999 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2002 and '03. Besides his teams' results, Braun also received 1997 Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors and was a finalist for the 2003 Naismith National Coach of the year.

The Golden Bears missed the postseason from 2005-'07 before falling to Ohio State University in the second round of the 2008 NIT. Cal fired Braun on March 26, two days after their loss to the Buckeyes.

Braun said coaching has become more than just creating plays and teaching fundamentals over his career.

"To me, coaching is making a difference in the lives of others, and I want our players to be successful in everything they do," Braun said. "I met with the team [on Monday,] and I communicated to them that a learning curve is not a straight line, and it never has been. Every success involves adversity and challenges."

The search process employed by Del Conte utilized both the Parker Executive Search firm and former players, including Bobby Tudor (Hanszen '82) and Ricky Pierce (Will Rice '83), and began immediately after Willis' departure. But according to Tudor, once Braun's name surfaced as a potential candidate, his credentials sealed their choice.

"If you had told us at the beginning of the process that we could have a coach that has gone to the Sweet 16 twice with two different teams [and] who understands having an athletic program that is consistent with the academic mission of the university and believes in [it], would we take him," Tudor said. "We would have said, 'Absolutely - we'll take him.'"

Braun immediately interviewed, and once the position was offered, said he made the decision quickly.

"I'm not a guy that takes a long time to make a lot of decisions," he said. "I think being indecisive is not a great quality. [But] when Rice University and Del Conte called, to me, that was a perfect fit. I've got a lot of passion, I've got a lot of energy in coaching, and to do that at Rice, it's huge. Rice represents everything I believe a university should have."

Obstacles that faced Wilson in his final season will, if construction goes according to plan, vanish by the time Braun's first season commences. The renovations to Autry Court, which have been ongoing all year and forced the 2007-'08 basketball team to play all of their "home" games on the road, are set to be completed this fall. And while injuries sidelined four of the team's five opening day starters for nearly the entire campaign, none of the injuries should carry over into the upcoming season.

Braun is no stranger to entering a new program coming off a season of difficulties. Braun's predecessor at Cal, Todd Bozeman, was accused of paying a player's family travel expenses to see the team play. As part of the punishment from the NCAA, Cal received three years of probation, beginning with Braun's first year on the job.

The coach also had to deal with two year's of renovations to the team's home arena, a situation similar to what Rice faced last season.

While the situations of his first years at Cal and the current state of Rice basketball obviously differ, Braun said the immense challenges he and the team are facing will better prepare them for the road ahead.

"I came to Cal, [to] a program that was on probation and lost some scholarships," Braun said. "Those things can really plant the seeds of moving forward. The [Rice] players have had to endure challenges, have had to endure being displaced, have had to endure playing without a home court. That's not easy in today's game of college basketball. But because of the experience this team went through, I think that good things will happen."

Braun said he hopes to both assemble the rest of his staff and introduce them to the team within the week.

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