By Brad Ziegler
The Avila men’s basketball team recently kicked off their 2023-24 season with a lot of new faces on the roster, including new head coach Tyler Bredehoeft. Bredehoeft joined the Eagles in June, coming from Rock Valley College in Rock Valley, Illinois, where he led the Golden Eagles to a 64-35 record over three seasons and a NJCAA Division III Final Four in 2022. After leading the team to a 20-12 record in 2022-23, their first in NJCAA Division II, Bredehoeft came to Avila to take over for long-time Avila coach Bill Sloan, who had recently retired.
The move to Avila is a coming home of sorts for Bredehoeft, an Alma, Missouri native who grew up a Missouri Tigers fan and played two seasons for Central Methodist University. Prior to his stint at Rock Valley, Bredehoeft had served as an assistant coach at the University of Saint Mary and Emporia State University. Avila Athletic Director Shawn Summe is excited about his new coach, saying “his experience as a basketball coach, as a Kansas City guy, and as a collegiate head coach all made him an ideal candidate for this position.”
Bredehoeft takes over an Eagles team which finished 7-20 during 2022-23, 6-16 in conference play. Since the end of last season, the team has lost the majority of its players to graduation or transfer and those departed players had contributed nearly 75% of the 2022-23 team’s minutes and points. The new coach has hit the ground running, however, bringing an assistant coach and two players from his Rock Valley team, and recruiting more than a dozen other players to join the varsity team, including three new freshmen.
The 2023-24 team is expected to feature a balanced lineup and has been led in early season games by transfers Jaren Miller, George Williams and James Ross III and freshman Matthew Boldt, but Coach Bredehoeft will likely utilize a dozen or more players each game as he seeks to find the right combination.
The Eagles won’t have much time for their new lineup to jell as they once again face a tough KCAC conference schedule that kicked off with a one point loss on the road last week against University of Saint Mary and a second loss against Southwestern. Avila should have a pretty good idea of what they have in January, when they get into the thick of conference play and get the chance to play more games at the Mabee Fieldhouse on the Avila campus.