The Hillsdale College men’s basketball team has its staff in place for the 2025-26 season with the hiring of two young up-and-coming coaches earlier in June.
The Chargers are welcoming Jackson McLaughlin and Braeden Proctor to the fold as assistants under head coach Keven Bradley, who’s entering his third season as the head coach at Hillsdale this winter.
“I am incredibly excited about the additions of both Jackson and Braeden to our basketball coaching staff,” Bradley said. “Already, in a very short time on campus, their work ethic and enthusiasm have made a noticeable impact, and their understanding of the game and ability to teach it will greatly benefit our program and our student athletes.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with what I’ve seen from them so far, and I’m looking forward with excitement for the season to come with them in the fold.”
Originally from Davenport, Iowa on the Mississippi River, McLaughlin comes to Hillsdale from Augustana University, a Division II institution in Sioux Falls, South Dakota that plays in the rugged Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, one of the top basketball leagues in NCAA DII. McLaughlin was a graduate assistant for the Vikings for the 2024-25 campaign, serving a variety of roles for the Vikings, including directing the team’s recruiting efforts, arranging team travel, assisting with film breakdown and executing individual player skill workouts, among a variety of coaching, operations and administrative tasks.
Prior to his time at Augustana, McLaughlin served for four seasons as a student manager at the University of Iowa under then-head coach Fran McCafferty, working on the inside of an elite NCAA Division I program with future NBA players Keegan and Kris Murray, Luka Garza and Joe Wieskamp, and helping the Hawkeyes make NCAA Tournament appearances in 2022 and 2023.
“Jackson is a great addition to our program,” Bradley said. “He really stood out to us in the hiring process and in the couple of weeks he’s been on campus, he’s already proven to be a driven, hard working and organized coach.
“His commitment and constant effort will directly benefit our student-athletes in many positive areas.”
Proctor, meanwhile, has proven ability as a recruiter and deep connections in the game from time spent as a coach at both the prep and junior college levels. A Michigan native who graduated from Central Michigan University in 2017 and played two years of college basketball at Mid-Michigan College from 2013 to 2015, Proctor has coaching experience several of basketball’s richest sources of talent, including most recently IMG Academy in Florida, where he was an assistant coach for the elite prep school program’s National Team for the 2024-25 season. During his time at IMG, Proctor helped the national team reach the Prep National Championship as one of the top 16 teams in the country, and coached six players who have signed to play at the NCAA DI level.
Prior to IMG, Proctor also served as an assistant coach at a top 25 JuCo team in the nation, Coffeyville Community College in Kansas, under NJCAA Hall of Fame head coach Jay Herkelman for the 2023-24 campaign, and worked for four years as an assistant at another one of the nation’s top prep schools, Sunrise Christian Academy, from 2019 to 2023, helping coach future NBA draft picks Matas Buzelis, Gradey Dick, Bobi Klintman, Shaedon Sharpe, Kendall Brown, Kennedy Chandler, and Dillon Jones, among others.
Before becoming a coach, Proctor got his start in scouting, working for Prep Hoops Michigan as the site’s lead scout from 2016 to 2018 and for Bankhoops.com in the same role from 2018 to 2019.
“Braeden is someone with great connections and a positive reputation throughout the basketball community nationwide, and his ability to build relationships with our student-athletes and recruits will be very valuable for the future of our program,” Bradley said. “He too, is a hard working, driven coach that’s made an excellent impression already.”
McLaughlin and Proctor join a Hillsdale College program that’s coming off a 20-win season in 2024-25 and looking to add to a notable run of team success that includes eight straight finishes of third or better in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference and five seasons of 20 or more wins in the last eight campaigns. Hillsdale must replace graduated All-G-MAC honorees Joe Reuter and Charles Woodhams, but returns starting point guard Ashton Janowski and wing Mikey McCollum, who averaged 12.1 points per game, among several experienced contributors who will give the Chargers a solid core to build around.
