Bradley coaching staff changes

[houstonbrave]

Not sure I agree. Jimmy Foster has been coaching with Brian since 2010-11. Bargan joined Brian when he came to Bradley. I know they played together but Jimmy has been with Brian longer. Both are good and I don’t say one is better than the other because only Brian knows-just wanted to point out how long Jimmy has been coaching with Brian.

[NashvilleBU]

I’m not too concerned with the lower level assistant coaching moves. I think this will give him a chance at coaching in the future.

As long as Wardle is leading the ship and Bargan and Foster are the main assistant, we will be in good hands (especially if we have some top notch players)

[BUfan14]

It definitely pissed me off, and I would have made him mend some fences publicly before I hired him on. I did look at it looks like he abandoned his twitter account as someone new has his old handle.

I must have missed this, what did he say?

[Classof77]

I must have missed this, what did he say?

I'd like to know too.

[PhiAlphaBoy]

I'd like to know too.

My recollection is hazy (I'm getting old, lol) but he tweeted some negative comments regarding Bradley University and Coach Wardle about not taking a proactive stance or making a proactive comment/pronouncement during the height of the George Floyd and BLM Movement/protests/riots. His comments to me came across as very negative, bitter, and ungrateful towards the university and coaching staff that had his back and gave him an opportunity and education. It showed tremendous disloyalty in my opinion.

[Da Coach]

This is really surprising to me, considering the comments DB made on twitter right before he graduated.

Sorry, I was compiling this and did not see PhiAlphaBoy's post.

I went back and searched the Bradleyfans message board, and couldn't find anything negative that was attributed to DB while at Bradley or since he graduated. As noted, I am not able to search DB's twitter, since he has deleted that account.
Here is what I did find...

>> In his senior season, Darrel Brown lead Bradley to the 2020 MVC Tournament Championship and was named the Most Outstanding Player and 1st team All MVC Tournament team.-
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...eam#post492104

>> Darrell received accolades in a number of national publications-

https://twitter.com/hochman/status/1239558670805020672

https://www.stltoday.com/sports/colu...a888b8439.html
https://bradleybraves.com/news/2020/...ct-honors.aspx

>> Shortly after the season ended, Darrell did a lengthy Question & Answer with the Peoria Journal Star. There was no hint of any negativity-
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...698#post492698

>> The Bradley Athletic Department then helped Darrell get signed with a pro agent, who helped him land a pro job overseas-
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...ent#post492927

>> Shortly after the season ended, the Bradley Athletic Department assigned Darrell Brown to do a series of video reports and interviews with Bradley athletes. The series was titled "Five with 5". The series ran at least 9 episodes until DB graduated and left Bradley-
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...ost#post492897

>> May 16, 2020, Darrell Brown graduates-
https://www.bradleyfans.com/forum/sp...day#post493315

>> In August, 2020, 3 months after he graduated, he landed his pro job-
https://twitter.com/BradleyUMBB/stat...49183685545984

>> And in October, 2020, 6 months after he graduated, Darrell visited the Bradley campus and dropped in on the 2020-21 team practice to visit with the Bradley coaches and some of his former teammates-
https://twitter.com/bradleyumbb/stat...59859505668098

>> And as we know, Darrel returned to Peoria in 2021 for the "Always a Brave" team in The 2021 Basketball Tournament", and was the leading scorer for the team with 47 points in the 3 games they played.

And, I have heard he has kept in touch with the coaches since his graduation.

[PhiAlphaBoy]

For the record, I like Darrell Brown and was always a big fan of his; he will go down as one of the all-time great Bradley Braves. I acknowledge that their was a lot of built up emotion during the George Floyd murder and BLM protests and that it should not be unexpected to see a young person like DB lash out emotionally at that moment. I was upset at the time by the shots he appeared to be taking at Bradley and Coach Wardle...but time heals most wounds. I'm glad Bradley has given him the opportunity to get started on a coaching career if that is the path he has chosen as his profession. I continue to wish DB the best and remain on Team DB -- Once A Brave Always A Brave!

[Da Coach]

Just for the record, the George Floyd incident occurred May 25, 2020. That was after the academic year was over, everyone had gone home, and the campus was empty. The Bradley players did return to campus a couple weeks later in June, 2020, and along with about "100 BU athletes, coaches, administrators and their families and friends gathered for a peaceful protest supporting the African-American community during this period of racial unrest nationally."
Coach Wardle and AD Chris Reynolds are quoted in this article, and were part of the march, in addition to other Bradley coaches, players, and administrators.
So it's hard to believe any of DB's sentiments that summer would be directed toward Coach Wardle or the BU Athletic Department.
https://www.pjstar.com/story/sports/...ice/114290936/

This Bradley Scout article says Coach Wardle played a key part to "get the wheels turning on the protest".

https://www.bradleyscout.com/sports/were-focused-on-this-topic-and-not-just-on-basketball-bradley-athletics-comes-together-as-sports-move-towards-the-forefront-of-the-black-lives-matter-movement/

[PhiAlphaBoy]

The Bradley players did return to campus a couple weeks later in June, 2020, and along with about "100 BU athletes, coaches, administrators and their families and friends gathered for a peaceful protest supporting the African-American community during this period of racial unrest nationally."
Coach Wardle and AD Chris Reynolds are quoted in this article, and were part of the march, in addition to other Bradley coaches, players, and administrators.
So it's hard to believe any of DB's sentiments that summer would be directed toward Coach Wardle or the BU Athletic Department.
https://www.pjstar.com/story/sports/...ice/114290936/

This Bradley Scout article says Coach Wardle played a key part to "get the wheels turning on the protest".

https://www.bradleyscout.com/sports/were-focused-on-this-topic-and-not-just-on-basketball-bradley-athletics-comes-together-as-sports-move-towards-the-forefront-of-the-black-lives-matter-movement/

DB's tweets were prior to the Bradley athletic community's peaceful protest march. Other coaches around the country took the initiative to speak out in support of black athletes while Wardle and Bradley remained silent. It could be argued that DB's statements might actually have spurred Bradley to action, even though I don't think DB was one of the athletes who returned for this march. Regardless, DB did it and Bradley made things right.

[egib52]

My recollection is hazy (I'm getting old, lol) but he tweeted some negative comments regarding Bradley University and Coach Wardle about not taking a proactive stance or making a proactive comment/pronouncement during the height of the George Floyd and BLM Movement/protests/riots. His comments to me came across as very negative, bitter, and ungrateful towards the university and coaching staff that had his back and gave him an opportunity and education. It showed tremendous disloyalty in my opinion.

PhiAlphaBoy has the essence of the tweets. I went to try to pull them, but as I said he has given up the account. Essentially, he sounded very ungrateful, and suggested that the Bradley community was not supportive of African American individuals.

[Da Coach]

I've heard an update on former Bradley coach Drew Adams that will be announced in the upcoming weeks.
Drew spent the last year at Cincinnati as Associate Athletics Director for Men's Basketball, and he will soon be promoted to an assistant coaching position on head coach Wes Miller's staff.

Note that all 3 of Wes Miller's assistant coaches from this past year are still on the staff at Cincinnati- Chad Dollar, Andre Morgan, and Josh Loeffler.
https://gobearcats.com/sports/mens-b...roster-coaches

But a new NCAA rule, which takes effect on July 1st, increases the maximum number of bench assistants that a Division I coaching staff can have from 3 to 5-
https://www.ncaa.com/news/ncaa/artic...oaching-limits

"The Council supported an increase of two coaches in men's and women's basketball. These additional coaches may engage in coaching activities but may not recruit off campus."

As noted in that article, the 2 new coaches function the same as the original three, except they are not allowed to recruit off campus. But since recruiting is one of Drew's strong points, he will be promoted to one of the three recruiting assistants, and current Asst. Coach Josh Loeffler will convert to a non-recruiting coaching spot. So Coach Drew will join Chad Dollar and Andre Morgan as the three recruiting assistants at UC.
This is a nice promotion for Coach Adams. Congrats to him.

I also found this podcast on the BearCat Journal website from a couple days ago that features a long interview with Coach Adams. The first 60 minutes of the 2 hour podcast features Coach Adams.
https://247sports.com/college/cincin...ams-210981681/

[Da Coach]

I have heard from multiple sources now that updates to the coaching staff have been made and will be announced soon.
There will be a couple promotions... Current DBO Mike Black will be named an assistant coach, replacing Brian Jones, and current Video Coordinator Pat Althoff will receive a promotion, too.
And Bradley is planning to bring back Darrell Brown, Jr., as the new Men's Basketball Video Coordinator of Player Development....

As was noted elsewhere, Darrell Brown had deleted his DBCinco Twitter account shortly after leaving Bradley in 2020.
But he just recently created and activated a new Twitter account- Dbrown5BU. He hasn't tweeted anything yet...

https://twitter.com/Dbrown5BU

Give him a follow if you are on Twitter.

[Da Coach]

I have heard from multiple sources now that updates to the coaching staff have been made and will be announced soon.
There will be a couple promotions... Current DBO Mike Black will be named an assistant coach, replacing Brian Jones, and current Video Coordinator Pat Althoff will receive a promotion, too.
And Bradley is planning to bring back Darrell Brown, Jr., as the new Men's Basketball Video Coordinator of Player Development.

Congrats DB!

Today, the Bradley coaches page was finally updated, and as noted here 6 weeks ago, Darrell Brown, Jr. is now listed as Bradley's new Director of Player Development, and Mike Black is now listed as Assistant Coach.
https://bradleybraves.com/sports/men...r#roster-staff

Darrell Brown's page-
https://bradleybraves.com/sports/men...brown-jr-/3439

[yoda]

Bradley Special Assistant Patrick Althoff talks in this podcast about his job at Bradley
https://twitter.com/MikeBonoComedy/s...77175474692099

[PhiAlphaBoy]

https://bradleybraves.com/sports/men...brown-jr-/3439

You almost forget how great of a player DB was in Bradley's long history until you see his career accomplishments listed here. I know I probably underappreciated him.