Bellarmine University announced today that Beau Braden and Josh Sewell have been named as assistant coaches for the men’s basketball team.

Braden is a Louisville native who played at DeSales High School and Centre College before entering the coaching ranks.  He first served on the staff at Georgetown College before moving on to St. Catharine College and Morehead State.  Most recently, he was an assistant coach at the University of Tennessee.

Bellarmine fans will remember Sewell as a guard on last season’s Knights team that went 31-4 and advanced the NCAA Division II Final Four.  Also a Louisville native, Sewell played high school basketball for Trinity, where he was a runner-up in the Mr. Basketball voting his senior season.  He played three seasons at Miami University before transferring to Bellarmine to use his fourth season of eligibility.

“I’m thrilled to have Beau and Josh join the staff,” said Bellarmine Head Coach Scott Davenport.  “Beau has paid a great amount of dues in basketball from DeSales to Centre to Tennessee. He is a basketball coach, meaning he can coach all facets of the game.  He can recruit, scout, and provide individual instruction.  For us, he’ll focus on the defensive end of the court.”

“Josh was a great addition to our program last year as a player, and he’ll continue that as a coach,” Davenport said.  “The passion he displayed as a student and as a player will serve him well as a coach.”

After helping Centre to a 92-21 record during his four years as a player, Braden embarked on a collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant at Georgetown College in the 2009-10 season when the Tigers went 27-6 and won the Mid-South Conference Championship.  He then moved to St. Catharine College and served a year as an assistant before joining the Division I ranks at Morehead State in 2012. During Braden’s two seasons as a full-time assistant coach at Morehead State, the Eagles recorded 35 overall victories, 18 conference wins and posted a 20-win campaign in 2013-14.

Last season Braden served on the staff at University of Tennessee, where he worked closely with Tennessee’s perimeter players.  The Volunteer backcourt saw improvement on both ends of the court as UT ranked second in the SEC with 7.7 steals per game while point guard Josh Richardson and shooting guard Robert Hubbs III saw their offensive production soar by 163 percent.

Braden said he’s happy to return to his hometown to continue his coaching career.  “It’s a great opportunity to return to my roots in Louisville and have a chance to join the staff at Bellarmine University,” he said. “Bellarmine is a first class institution with a first class athletics program. I look forward to learning from Coach Davenport, who has done a tremendous job building Bellarmine into a program that consistently competes for conference and national championships. Most importantly, I am excited to begin working with our players whose outstanding character, hard work, and dedication on and off the floor have created a great deal of success for Bellarmine basketball.”

Sewell, meanwhile, is making the transition from player to coach as he finishes his master’s degree in communication.  As a Knight, Sewell was one of the biggest contributors off the bench.  The 6-5 guard-forward  averaged 8.9 points and 2.5 rebounds a game with perhaps his best game as a Knight coming in a clutch performance in Bellarmine’s 82-79 overtime victory over Lewis.  In that game, Sewell netted 19 points on 7-of-10 shooting and drained all four free throws while hauling in seven rebounds.  He also produced when the game was on the line, scoring four of Bellarmine’s eight points in overtime.

“I am humbled by Coach Davenport’s faith and confidence in me to continue to help our basketball program in a professional capacity,” Sewell said. “He a great ambassador to our community with his public service and leadership as a basketball coach, and he is an even better person. I am excited to help in any way possible to ensure that Bellarmine basketball program is the best division II program in the country.”

http://athletics.bellarmine.edu/news/2015/6/3/MBB_0603151548.aspx

Photo Courtesy Bellarmine Athletics