Assistant basketball coach Brady Bergeson is leaving to become the head coach at the University of Western Oregon.

During his time at Sac State, Bergeson served as the team’s offensive coordinator and also assisted in the recruitment and scouting of players.

Head coach Brian Katz’s main focus is to not only in help the team win games, but to also prepare his assistants to one day enter a head-coaching position of their own.

“With all my assistant coaches, (I try) to develop them to become a head coach, that’s the goal,” Katz said.  “You certainly want them to help your program but you also want help them as well.”

Katz made an effort to prepare Bergeson to meet the demands of a head coaching position.

“I always constantly tried to challenge him and put him in a position to grow, whether it’s handling a certain scouting report, coaching the guards or coaching the press,” Katz said.

During Bergeson’s time at Sac State, Katz has seen his coaching skills grow to the point where he could successfully manage a team.

“When he first came here, he hadn’t done a lot of recruiting,” Katz said.

“Player evaluation is very critical and his player evaluation has really developed along with his recruiting. He has really improved.”

Katz said Bergeson has made significant contributions in the development of the Sac State’s basketball program.

“He’s been a great contributor, a very hard worker and an excellent teacher,” Katz said. “We’d like to think we’ve helped him but he’s helped us at times too.”

In the three years Bergeson has been with Sac State, he has gathered many different methods under Katz that he can use to better his team at Western Oregon.

“Coach Katz has been a tremendous friend and mentor for me,” Bergeson said. “The thing I liked about working for coach (Katz) was he has an open forum for discussion in a lot of the staff meetings and he likes to think things through with his staff. It allows you to work through your problems as a staff in an open way where you get a lot of good discussion and a lot of creative thinking.”

The discussions during staff meetings have taught Bergeson to think about different solutions during games and also during practices that he can use to benefit his current team.

“I think out of that sort of thinking spawned a lot of good ideas and from that, I’m sure it helped coach and it also helps the assistants in learning how to go through the process of solving problems,” Bergeson said.

Another aspect that has helped Bergeson attain the ability to command his own team is the different he has encountered during his time at Sac State.

“The Division I level prepares coaches much more than lower levels simply because of the pressure you’re under,” Bergeson said. “The pressure is high day in and day out, and the competition level is fierce.”

With Western Oregon’s record at 13-16 overall and 8-10 in its conference last season, Bergeson has already found ways to improve upon that previous record. He can already see the potential that his new team possesses.

“We’ve got a team right now that, statistically, has shown that they can score pretty well.” Bergeson said. “I think we’ve got some guys that can make some shots and put some shots in the hole.”

Katz trusts that his former colleague will help change the culture at Western Oregon just as he did at Sac State.

“I think just by playing defense they will get up to 18 or 20 (wins) just like that,” Katz said. “If you look at the statistics, they scored a lot, but they didn’t defend very well. Just by bringing in a disciplined defensive system, I think you’ll see them win more games.”

 

You can reach Anthony Honrade at [email protected]