Wright State Lake Campus has announced the hiring of its new Men’s Basketball Head Coach, Richard Westerlund.
Westerlund comes to Wright State from Crossroads College, where he had been the Head Coach the previous 3 seasons. Westerlund had great success and accomplishments at Crossroads. Westerlund was directly responsible for the recruitment of 34 unique student-athletes. Westerlund built up the men’s basketball program from only having 3 returners in 2013 to a nationally ranked NCCAA program in 2016. Westerlund led Crossroads to its 4th ever ACCA II National Championship in the schools 103 year history. He had a total of 18 student-athletes on the dean’s list under his leadership and coached 5 All-Americans.
Westerlund leaves with a career record of 33-37 when not counting financial guarantee games and a record of 28-18 against colleges with 500 students or less. Westerlund led the men’s program to the NCCAA region championship game in Crossroads’ first year as a full member. He lead the Knights to their best ever performance against an NCAA D2 level team (University of Minnesota- Crookston) losing in double overtime. Westerlund led the school to its first ever win over an athletic scholarship school (Lincoln Christian University- NAIA) in 2014.
“I am thrilled to welcome Rich to the Laker Family,” said AD Trent Kline. “Rich comes to use with proven success from his time at Crossroads. He, also, shares the beliefs and priorities of our department and will undoubtedly help lead the program to the next level. I couldn’t be more excited about the long-term future of our basketball programs.”
“I’m very excited about the opportunity at Wright State University Lake Campus. Thank you to Trent Kline and the administration for giving me this opportunity,” said Westerlund. “Our program wlll play an exciting brand of basketball, but more importantly we are going to build into the lives of student-athletes. I love the opportunity coaching allows to impact lives and I’m very humbled to have that opportunity at Wright State Lake. We are going to do things the Wright Way.”
http://www.wsulclakers.com/sports/mbkb/2016-17/releases/20160510z76pnf
