Alaska Nanooks head women’s basketball coach Cody Bench has announced the addition of Brett Sawyer to her staff. Sawyer will serve as the team’s assistant coach.
Sawyer comes to Alaska after a four-year stint as an assistant coach at Snow College, a National Junior College Athletic Association affiliate in Ephraim, Utah. During Sawyer’s tenure with the Badgers, the team was consistently ranked inside the Top-20 of the NJCAA rankings and guided the team as high as No. 12 in the NJCAA during the 2014-15 campaign. Sawyer also helped Snow win its first-ever NJCAA Region 18 Championship during his first season and collected a pair of 20-win seasons in his four years.
“Brett is a coach that’s always learning,” said Bench. “He comes from a complete basketball family and is very well rounded. His knowledge of the game is constant, he’s never satisfied and wants to learn more, and that’s what I think is the biggest asset any young coach can bring to a team.”
Sawyer helped in the development of one NJCAA All-American and nine All-Region 18 selections, including a pair of first team selections, five second team honors and two third team recipients. Sawyer’s success at Snow was not limited to the just the classroom, as he helped the Badgers post the highest team GPA in NJCAA for three consecutive years.
“He’s worked for a few years at the junior college level and he’s very passionate about developing players and himself as a coach. At our level, I think he’s going to bring a lot of energy and knowledge about individual players and what they bring to the team. But there is going to be a learning curve as he learns about our conference and the speed and size of play here at the Division II level.”
Prior to Snow College, Sawyer was the head coach for the Utah Diamondbacks Varsity team from 2009-2013, where he helped 13 players move on to the collegiate level. He guided the Diamondbacks to the 2013 Big MTN Jam Gold Bracket Champions.
Sawyer graduated Cum Laude from Utah State University in May of 2015 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. Prior to coaching, Sawyer served in the Army National Guard from 2002-2008 where he served a combat deployment in Ramadi, Iraq from 2005-2006. A decorative soldier, Sawyer was awarded the Army Commendation Medal, Combat Action Badge and Army Achievement Medal.
Sawyer makes the move to Fairbanks with his wife, Kimberly and two kids Brody (six) and Peyton (one).
http://www.alaskananooks.com/news/2015/9/16/WBB_0916155550.aspx
Tagged with: Alaska DII GNAC
