Commentary: Basketball blends brains with Braun to bring back buzz

By Justin Hudson     4/10/08 7:00pm

The first thing I noticed about Ben Braun during the press conference announcing his hiring last Monday was his clothing. Usually, new head coaches are dressed in their finest suits, trying to make a good first impression on skeptical alumni and fans. But Braun, the new men's basketball coach, walked into the media spotlight in a Rice polo shirt and sweat pants. He made it clear he was already hard at work rebuilding a somewhat broken program."Excuse my working clothes," Braun said. "Today is my first day on the job."

If you don't know that much about Braun and his past history, fear not. I think we have the perfect man for the job. You see, Braun has a habit of turning around struggling programs and creating winners. Before he began coaching at Eastern Michigan in 1985, the school had never made the NCAA Tournament. By the time Braun moved on in 1996, the Eagles had made three trips to the Big Dance. In 1991, they made it to the Sweet 16 as the No. 12 seed, and in 1996, they beat national powerhouse Duke in the first round.

Then there was the University of California. When Braun arrived at Berkeley, he inherited a program that was struggling with probation and subsequent scholarship restrictions, but in his first year on the job, Braun defied expectations to earn Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors and another Sweet 16 appearance. When Cal's home gym was being renovated for two seasons, Braun refused to let the loss of an on-campus facility hinder his team. In their last year off-campus, Cal won the NIT championship.

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At a school not known for much athletic success in the "money sports" of basketball and football, Braun flourished. He was able to challenge UCLA, Stanford and Arizona in the Pac-10 for top players such as current NBA forward Leon Powe, who may soon be hoisting the NBA Championship trophy with the Boston Celtics. In a word, he made Cal basketball relevant.

To say that Rice basketball needs the same boost Braun gave Eastern Michigan and Cal would be like saying the Houston Astros need some better pitching. The program's struggles are just not limited to the court. Though last year's games were all off-campus because of the renovation of Autry, attendance was still appalling. Interest in the program is probably at an all-time low. Students and alumni are apathetic at best, and the average Houstonian barely knows the team exists. Athletic Director Chris Del Conte wants to put butts in the seats at the renovated Autry Court, and in Braun he has a coach committed to getting the community interested.

Besides a public relations makeover, the program obviously needs to win more games. Except for Memphis, which choked away a national championship last Monday, Conference USA is very much wide open. Even in a 3-27 season, the team proved that it could at least be competitive with most conference teams. It is Braun's job to find talent to turn a lot of those close calls into victories.

Fortunately, Braun has proven himself to be an excellent recruiter of athletic and intellectual talent. He has sent over a dozen players to the NBA, and his most famous player, Tony Gonzalez, is an All-Pro tight end for the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs. But just as impressively, Braun had 15 players placed on the Pac-10 All-Academic team during his 12 years, with at least one player in the group for the past eight straight seasons. He has also successfully recruited in two areas, the Detroit metro area and California, where competition for top high school players is fierce. This experience should help him navigate the recruiting battlefields of both Houston and Texas as a whole.

It takes a special coach to succeed at Rice, someone who understands the unique aspects of the Rice community and does his best to uphold those qualities. We have already seen what happens when coaches cannot handle the task - does the name "Todd Graham" ring a bell? As Braun stated in his press conference, Rice's academic standards and small alumni base are not obstacles blocking our potential, but opportunities for him to build a winning program that the entire Rice community can be proud of.

And if he has to show up to press conferences in work clothes, then so be it.

Justin Hudson is a Martel College senior and women's basketball writer.

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