Brian Wardle, who led Green Bay to the 2014 Horizon League regular-season championship and three straight postseason appearances, has been named the 14th head coach in Bradley Basketball history, according to an announcement Friday evening by Bradley Director of Athletics Chris Reynolds.
Wardle officially will be introduced as Bradley’s new head coach Saturday during a 5 p.m. press conference on Mitchell “J.J.” Anderson Court in the Renaissance Coliseum Basketball Performance Center (Click HERE to watch live on Bradley All-Access). Saturday’s introductory event will be open to the public. Free parking will be available throughout campus, including the Main Street Parking Deck, and fans should enter the building through the Bradley Athletics Entrance on the west side of Renaissance Coliseum.
“After an intensive and strategic search, it thrills me to announce the hiring of Coach Brian Wardle,” said Reynolds. “He has a track record of success as a student-athlete, assistant coach and head coach and both his work ethic and personality are a great fit for Bradley University and the Greater Peoria community. We welcome with open arms Brian, his wife Lecia and his children Mya, Emery and Davin to the Bradley Athletics family.”
“It’s an honor to be the next head coach at Bradley,” said Wardle. “Being from Illinois and understanding the program’s success, tradition and support was a real draw for me. I am excited to bring my family to Peoria, getting to know the community and building a foundation and identity for Bradley Basketball to last a long time.”
Wardle leaves Green Bay with a five-year record of 95-65 (.594) and his 95 wins are the most in the first five years for any Phoenix coach in the program’s 34-year NCAA Division I history. He earned multiple awards after the 2013-14 season, including Horizon League Coach of the Year, the Skip Prosser Man of the Year and the NABC District 12 Coach of the Year.
Led by two-time Horizon League Player of the Year Keifer Sykes, Wardle guided Green Bay to a 24-7 overall record in 2013-14, which included a 14-2 conference record on the way to the Horizon League regular-season title and a bid to the NIT. Green Bay won 24 games again in 2014-15, finishing 24-9 overall with a 68-55 win at then No. 15 Miami, and received an at-large selection to the NIT after finishing runner-up in the Horizon League regular-season race and postseason tournament.
Wardle’s recruiting efforts at Green Bay resulted in several players of note. Alec Brown was the 50th overall selection in the 2014 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns after the 7-foot-1 center was named the 2014 Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year and finished fifth in school history with 1,678 career points. Brown is the only player in Green Bay history with more than 1,500 points, 750 rebounds and 300 blocked shots. A 6-foot guard from Chicago Marshall H.S., Sykes can be found all over the Green Bay record books, finishing second on the school’s all-time scoring list with 2,096 career points and third with 526 assists. He is the only player in Horizon League history to accumulate 2,000 points, 500 assists and 400 rebounds (467).
Wardle’s Green Bay teams averaged 19 wins per season while facing stiff competition. After taking on NCAA Tournament teams Marquette, Wisconsin and Virginia during the 2011-12 season, Green Bay knocked of Big EAST champion Marquette during the 2012-13 campaign and eventual ACC champion Virginia during the 203-14 season to go along with this year’s win at Miami. The Phoenix also beat Bradley’s Missouri Valley Conference rivals Evansville and Drake this past season.
Wardle inherits a Bradley program that finished 9-24 this past season, including a 3-15 showing in The Valley. The Braves graduate only one senior.
A native of Willowbrook, Ill., Wardle was a two-time all-state selection at Hinsdale Central High School, where he ranks as the school’s all-time leading scorer and rebounder. He went on to play collegiately at Marquette, helping the Golden Eagles to a pair of NIT appearances in 1998 and 2000. As a senior in 2000, Wardle served as team captain and finished as the second-leading scorer in Conference USA by pumping in 18.8 points per game.
After graduating from Marquette in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies, Wardle played professionally for two seasons in the NBA Development League and Continental Basketball Association, before beginning his coaching career as Director of Operations at Marquette from 2003-05. He was an assistant coach at Green Bay from 2005-10, before being named Phoenix head coach April 15, 2010.
Wardle is married to the former Lecia Schuetz, a soccer student-athlete during her collegiate career at Marquette. The couple has three children: daughters Mya and Emery, and son, Davin.
