A familiar face will take the helm as the head coach of the Briercrest men’s basketball program for the 2015-16 season.

Briercrest Athletics is excited to announce that former Briercrest men’s basketball all-star, captain, and assistant coach Gradyn Childerhose has accepted the position of Briercrest men’s basketball head coach beginning May 1, 2015.

Briercrest Athletic Director Nigel Mullan is excited to have Childerhose join his coaching staff.

“We feel that Gradyn has a great understanding of what we are trying to accomplish within the program and believe that he will be able to accomplish the goals that we have,” Mullan said. “His character and desire to build into the program and guys is obvious when talking with him.”

Outlook, SK native Childerhose brings an extensive basketball resume to the Briercrest men’s basketball program. Prior to serving as assistant coach of the program for the 2013-14 season and completing his BA Humanities degree, he was a standout player for the program for four seasons (2008-11 and 2012-13). During the 2011-12 season he played at the University of Regina where he was a CIS Academic All-Canadian. He also served as an assistant coach with the DoggPound Basketball Academy in 2013, and served at Briercrest Basketball camps during the summer. He was Briercrest men’s basketball team captain during the 2010-11 and 2012-13 seasons.

His playing resume at Briercrest is one of the most decorated in program history. After a successful high school career at Caronport High School, he made the transition across campus to Briercrest for the 2008-09 season. He quickly made his presence known on the team, being named team MVP in both 2009-10 and 2010-11. He was an ACAC second team All-Conference in 2009-10 and first team in 2010-11.

His final season as a student-athlete at Briercrest, 2012-13, was one of dominance.  He helped lead the Briercrest basketball team to several firsts that year. He helped lead the team to their first ever CCAA number one national ranking, as well as the first ACAC medal in program history when they won bronze. His individual accomplishments were also recognized that year as he was selected for several awards, including ACAC men’s basketball Player of the Year, CCAA men’s basketball Player of the Year, Briercrest male Athlete of the Year and ACAC Male Athlete of the Year across all sports. He not only excelled on the basketball court, but was also an example in the classroom where he was named a SIRC-CCAA Academic All-Canadian for the 2012-13 season as well as a CCAA National Scholar and ACAC Academic All-Conference member for his academic honours standing.

Childerhose is excited at the opportunity to coach at Briercrest.

“I am excited to be able to work with young men who are serious about playing basketball, but also about their faith,” he said. “And, to work with student-athletes who give their lives to something bigger than themselves. I am excited about teaching them to play sports competitively, while also helping them learn how to be leaders. Using basketball as a platform to teach that is exciting for me.”

The opportunity to coach at Briercrest is special to Childerhose.

“It’s an incredible opportunity to add my name to a list of really great coaches,” he explained. “It is an opportunity to continue to help build the Athletics program at Briercrest. This allows me to serve in an area that I’m passionate about. Coaching at Briercrest means that I get to help develop young men to be great basketball players and follow Jesus in everything they do. That’s important to me. It’s an honour to have that opportunity to pour into young guys as they make that choice about faith and sports as well.”

Childerhose spoke of his immediate and long-term priorities as coach.

“My priorities this summer are simply building the team and getting guys who we can build a foundation around,” he said. “I will be focusing on assembling a team of high character guys and great athletes. It is important to get that lined up so we can be successful this fall and be best set up to win games.”

“My priorities this coming year will be to build a foundation so that we can be in the mix with the best teams in the league,” he continued. “I want to build a good foundation so we can improve from day one till end of the year. Long-term, I want to see the program continue to grow to be perennial champions, both in the ACAC and nationally. This next year will be building a foundation to compete this year and to grow to be successful as a program and department.”

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