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Congratulations to the MVC Coach of the Year, Brian Wardle of Bradley

Da Coach

Da Coach

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The MVC Coach of the Year for 2023 is Bradley's Brian Wardle.
Congratulations Coach Wardle, and the entire staff
 
MVC Press release-
Bradley's Brian Wardle Named Top MVC Men’s Basketball Coach
Braves Earned First MVC Regular-Season Title Since 1996
https://s3.amazonaws.com/sidearm.sit...f_the_Year.pdf

Wardle joins a legendary group of former Bradley coaches to earn the league's Coach of the Year honor, including Forddy Anderson (1950), Chuck Orsborn (1960, 1962), Joe Stowell (1974), Dick Versace (1980, 1986), Stan Albeck (1988 ), and Jim Molinari (1996).

It wasn't close-
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Way to go BDub! Now one more tourney championship! 11 or 12 seed and a few NCAA wins would be nice, too!
 
I've bit my tongue for a bit, knowing that this would be coming if we kept winning but I think it is time.

Where are all the people on here who were saying that they weren't even sure Wardle was the right guy for us long term merely 2 months ago? Questioning his substitution patterns...questioning his firey nature and picking up Ts sometimes ... questioning his recruiting and how we don't have enough shooters?

Myself, like everyone is is very happy right now, but I do think this revisionist history and lack of accountability for past comments is kind of disingenuous.

You can go back and check my past posts - I've always supported Coach and felt he's the right guy for the program. His teams peak at the right time. He recruits good kids who always play hard every game.

I just truly hope he does love Peoria and raising his family there because he's getting close to having a resume now that big schools are going to come calling and if he were to go, we would be back at square one with the program.

Congrats Coach! You've earned it and you've proven your detractors wrong!
 
BUBraves2006 said:
I've bit my tongue for a bit, knowing that this would be coming if we kept winning but I think it is time.

Where are all the people on here who were saying that they weren't even sure Wardle was the right guy for us long term merely 2 months ago? Questioning his substitution patterns...questioning his firey nature and picking up Ts sometimes ... questioning his recruiting and how we don't have enough shooters?

Myself, like everyone is is very happy right now, but I do think this revisionist history and lack of accountability for past comments is kind of disingenuous.

You can go back and check my past posts - I've always supported Coach and felt he's the right guy for the program. His teams peak at the right time. He recruits good kids who always play hard every game.

I just truly hope he does love Peoria and raising his family there because he's getting close to having a resume now that big schools are going to come calling and if he were to go, we would be back at square one with the program.

Congrats Coach! You've earned it and you've proven your detractors wrong!
Click to expand...

Winning has a way of changing peoples opinions. Lol!!
 
BUBraves2006 said:
I've bit my tongue for a bit, knowing that this would be coming if we kept winning but I think it is time.

Where are all the people on here who were saying that they weren't even sure Wardle was the right guy for us long term merely 2 months ago? Questioning his substitution patterns...questioning his firey nature and picking up Ts sometimes ... questioning his recruiting and how we don't have enough shooters?

Myself, like everyone is is very happy right now, but I do think this revisionist history and lack of accountability for past comments is kind of disingenuous.

You can go back and check my past posts - I've always supported Coach and felt he's the right guy for the program. His teams peak at the right time. He recruits good kids who always play hard every game.

I just truly hope he does love Peoria and raising his family there because he's getting close to having a resume now that big schools are going to come calling and if he were to go, we would be back at square one with the program.

Congrats Coach! You've earned it and you've proven your detractors wrong!
Click to expand...

I was one of the people questioning Wardle a bit, in regards to if he could take the program to the next level or not, which I think is still a question out there. An MVC championship is a really really good first step though. Not to make light of this accomplishment, but I do believe the Valley is pretty weak this year. None of the top half MVC teams have a signature win against a power/ranked opponent. With 5 teams on top of the conference all with 20 wins or more, and the bottom half getting hardly any, it is clear that the top teams benefited in a large way from how weak the Valley is this year.

That said, the postseason should really show if the top Valley teams have become as good as their record says they are. If BU/Drake or another team wins in St. Louis and wins an NCAA game, or another team does well in the NIT I will be proved wrong.

However, when BU doesn't beat a good team in the non-conference and goes something like .500 against winning teams in the conference, I think there are still questions as to how good the team actually is against decent competition.

I don't want to take away any of the accomplishments of BU this year though. They were the best team in the conference, proved it, and I was overjoyed to see their success.

Coming back to Wardle, I just felt that it was fair to ask if he was the coach that could get BU to the top of the league most years and in the post season most years. I want to see BU as a perennial contender for the league and a known commodity in the post-season. It does feel like Wardle is capable of getting there right now though.

Those are just my thoughts on it.
 
BUBraves2006 said:
I've bit my tongue for a bit, knowing that this would be coming if we kept winning but I think it is time.

Where are all the people on here who were saying that they weren't even sure Wardle was the right guy for us long term merely 2 months ago? Questioning his substitution patterns...questioning his firey nature and picking up Ts sometimes ... questioning his recruiting and how we don't have enough shooters?

Myself, like everyone is is very happy right now, but I do think this revisionist history and lack of accountability for past comments is kind of disingenuous.

You can go back and check my past posts - I've always supported Coach and felt he's the right guy for the program. His teams peak at the right time. He recruits good kids who always play hard every game.

I just truly hope he does love Peoria and raising his family there because he's getting close to having a resume now that big schools are going to come calling and if he were to go, we would be back at square one with the program.

Congrats Coach! You've earned it and you've proven your detractors wrong!
Click to expand...

I think fans will always have question some coaching moves like you describe, but the fans here have been overwhelmingly supportive of Coach Wardle. I don't recall ever seeing anyone here go too far or call for a coaching change. But there have been people far more critical of the Coach elsewhere on other forums. I have even seen some suggesting its time for a change, and listing other people they would like to see hired. They would probably like to delete those comments now that Coach Wardle has the first regular season championship and Coach of the Year award since 1996.
 
Tommy said:
Way to go BDub! Now one more tourney championship! 11 or 12 seed and a few NCAA wins would be nice, too!
Click to expand...

We can make the dream a reality!
How awesome would a tourney championship be on the heels of the reg. season crown?
I assume 1988 was the last time we won both?

At any rate, if we win at least 2, it will be the longest win streak (12 games) for Bradley since 1985-'86!
 
CONGRATS Coach Wardle and THANK YOU for bringing back excitement to the program!
Take the young men ONE MORE step!
 
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