April 7, 2008
Ben Braun, who guided the University of California at Berkley to more postseason appearances and postseason wins than any other basketball coach in school history, was introduced on Monday as the 23rd head men's basketball coach at Rice University. The announcement was made by Rice Athletics Director Chris Del Conte.
"This is an exciting moment for Rice Athletics," Del Conte said. "Ben Braun is an established coach who shares our vision in the potential that exists in the opportunity to coach at Rice. He has demonstrated again and again the ability to not only produce quality teams on the court, but also quality student athletes who can excel in the classroom as well."
"I welcome the opportunity and challenge to lead the Rice basketball program," Braun said. "I am committed to bringing all the passion and energy needed to help make this program successful. I am honored to represent Rice University and all it stands for," Braun stated.
"There are a number of people who can share in the exciting completion of the selection process of our new coach," Del Conte noted. "Parker Executive Search was instrumental in streamlining the process that was challenged by the number of individuals who expressed an interest in Rice. Our internal search committee of Bobby Tudor, Steve Trauber, Adam Peakes, Glenn Youngkin, Frank Liu, Ricky Pierce, Kevin Rabbitt and Torrey Andrews spoke from the heart about their experiences at Rice which gave each candidate a sense of our shared vision for the future of Rice Basketball. And I can't thank senior staff members David Sayler, Leslie Claybrook and Russell Dean enough for their hard work through this process. That said, we all know that with Ben Braun in place, the real work of creating the next chapter in the history of Rice Basketball is only just beginning," he added.
During his 12-year tenure at Cal, Braun directed the Bears to five NCAA Tournament berths and three trips to the NIT. He led the 1998 Bears to a berth in the NCAA Sweet 16 and to an NIT championship in 1999.
Two of his players earned Pac-10 Player of the Year honors - Ed Gray in 1997 and Sean Lampley in 2001 - while Leon Powe was the 2004 Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. Overall, Braun's players received All-Pac-10 status nine times, Pac-10 All-Freshman notice on seven occasions and Pac-10 All-Academic accolades 14 times.
As a result of his success, not only at Cal, but during previous head coaching stops at Eastern Michigan and Siena Heights, Braun ranks 11th among all active Division I coaches with 552 victories. He was 219-154 in his 12 seasons at Berkley and ranked second among active Pac-10 coaches in overall wins and Pac-10 wins (110).
The 1997 Pac-10 Coach of the Year and a finalist for the 2003 Naismith National Coach of the Year, Braun brings a 31-year career mark of 552-389. He finished his Cal career second only to Nibs Price (1925-54, 449-294) in both longevity and wins in Cal annals and his Cal winning percentage of .594 was the best at the school since Hall of Famer Pete Newell guided the Bears to a 119-44 mark from 1955-60.
Generally regarded as one of college basketball's top teachers and strategists, Braun brought his energetic style of coaching to Cal in September 1996.
During his initial season at Cal in 1996-97, Braun took a team that was predicted to finish in the conference's lower half, molded it into one that tied for second in the league and reached the NCAA Sweet 16 with tournament victories over Princeton and Villanova. In addition, the 23-9 overall mark gave Braun a school record for most wins by a Bear coach in his first year with the program.
In 1998-99, Braun's club became the first Cal team ever to beat three Top 10 schools in the same season wih victories over North Carolina, UCLA and Arizona during the course of the year. After earning a bid to the NIT, the Bears went on a 5-0 run to capture the title - Cal's first postseason tournament championship since the Bears won the 1959 NCAA crown. Cal finished the 1998-99 campaign with a 22-11 record.
A year later, Braun took a freshman-dominated squad back to the postseason as the Bears reached the quarterfinals of the NIT. On Jan.15, 2000, he picked up his 400th career victory with a 71-65 win at Oregon State. In 2000-01, the Bears returned to the NCAA Tournament with a 20-11 record. Lampley - Braun's first recruit at Cal - became the school's all-time leading scorer late in his senior campaign, finishing with 1,776 points.
The Bears again won 23 games and tied for second in the Pac-10 race in 2001-02. Cal reached the semifinals of the conference tournament by defeating UCLA in the opening round and earned a No. 6 seed in the NCAA playoffs, where the Bears toppled Penn before falling to Pittsburgh.
In 2003, Cal reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament behind All-Pac-10 forwards Joe Shipp and Amit Tamir. Shipp ended his career with the No. 3 position on the Bears' all-time scoring list, while teammate Brian Wethers finished in the No. 15 position.
Behind tournament MVP Leon Powe, Cal defeated USC and Oregon to reach the Pac-10 Tournament final for the first time ever in 2006. The Bears then earned a No. 7 regional seed in the NCAA Tournament and finished the year with a 20-11 mark. On Nov. 21, 2005, Cal defeated Long Beach State, 88-69, to give Braun his 500th career win.
Braun's 2007 Cal team fought of injuries to a pair of key post players to reach the semifinals of the Pac-10 Tournament for the fourth time in six years. The Bears upset top-seed and fourth-ranked UCLA, 76-69, in overtime in the quarterfinals, and freshman Ryan Anderson was voted to the all-tournament team.
This past season, Cal reached the second round of the NIT, before losing at eventual champion Ohio State. Twice in the season, the Bears defeated nationally ranked opponents, including a 69-64 upset on the road of ninth-ranked Washington State. Sophomore Ryan Anderson was an all Pac-10 selection.
At age 54 year, Braun already has 31 years of experience as a head coach, including 11 highly successful years at Eastern Michigan, where he guided the Eagles to four postseason berths, including three NCAA appearances. During his tenure there, Braun accumulated a record of 185-132, averaging almost 18 wins per season, and was named Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year three times. In addition, Braun coached at Siena Heights College for eight years, taking the NAIA school to a 148-103 record and five postseason tournaments.
Braun's players have proved to be successful both on the court and in the classroom, with Golden Bears earning Pac-10 All-Academic recognition 14 times under his direction. In 2001, three players - Morgan Lingle, Dennis Gates and Ryan Forehan-Kelly - were first-team selections, while Donte Smith was an honorable mention pick, which gave Cal more than twice as many all-academic members as any other school in the conference. The Bears have had at least one all-academic pick each of the last eight years, including Alex Pribble, a second-team choice in 2005 and a first-team selection in both 2006 and '07.
Braun began his career as an assistant coach at Park High School in Racine, Wis. Within two years, he accepted the head coaching job at Siena Heights. After an 8-21 debut season in 1977-78, his teams posted a 140-82 record over the next seven years, including four 20-win campaigns. His squads qualified for National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) postseason tournaments five times. During his time at Siena Heights, he not only coached, but also taught English and Physical Education classes at the school. In the summer of 1999, Braun was inducted into the first class of the Siena Heights Athletic Hall of Fame.
Braun accepted the position of associate head coach at Eastern Michigan prior to the start of the 1985-86 season, but midway through the year, on Jan. 15, 1986, he was elevated to interim head coach. Success came quickly and within two years he had the Eagles in the NCAA Tournament for the first time ever.
In 1989, Braun served as head coach of the U.S. men's basketball team at the Maccabiah Games. He took an internationally inexperienced squad into the championship round before bowing to the host Israeli team in the final.
During his career, Braun has coached more than a dozen players who have gone on to play in the NBA. Among those he has coached at Cal are Ed Gray, Michael Stewart, Sean Marks, Francisco Elson, Sean Lampley, Jamal Sampson and Leon Powe. Tony Gonzalez, now an All-Pro tight end for the NFL's Kansas City Chiefs, played basketball for Braun in 1996-97. He also coached Grant Long and Earl Boykins while at Eastern Michigan.
A native of Chicago, Braun graduated from New Trier High School, where he starred in both basketball and baseball. He went on to play one year of basketball at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse before he transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned a teaching degree in English in June of 1975 with a minor in African-American Studies. Five years later, he earned his master's degree in guidance and counseling from Siena Heights.