Emporia State University Director of Athletics David Spafford has announced that Kansas State University Associate Head Coach Brian Ostermann, will be the eighth head coach of the Lady Hornet basketball program. An introductory press conference will be held on Tuesday, May 2 at 1:00 p.m. in White Auditorium.
“I am so grateful that Director of Athletics David Spafford & his team selected me to be their Women’s Basketball Head Coach. It’s an honor & privilege,” said Ostermann. “The opportunity to be a head coach at a school with the rich basketball history that is Emporia State University is something I couldn’t pass up.”
Ostermann will be entering his 35th season as a collegiate coach with a history record of success at all levels of the collegiate game. He has 15 years of NCAA Division I experience, with the last nine years at K-State, to go with 20 years at the NCAA Division II and junior college levels.
“Coach Ostermann brings a wealth of experience to Emporia State,” said Emporia State Director of Athletics David Spafford. “He contacted us early in the process but with such an important hire we wanted to make sure we did our due diligence. Coach Ostermann and I worked together at Kansas State. Knowing him as a person in addition to his experience at several levels of collegiate basketball as an assistant coach and head coach, extensive post season experience, his ties to the state of Kansas and the MIAA, met our goals in the search process and for the program”.
As the Associate Head Coach of the Wildcats Ostermann was responsible for scheduling, academic mentoring, recruiting evaluation and game plan preparation and development. K-State made seven post season appearances in his nine years, including four NCAA Tournament appearances. This past season the Wildcats were ranked as high #24 in the nation and advanced to the WNIT Tournament.
Ostermann was the primary recruiter of All-American Ayoka Lee who led the Wildcats to the second round of the 2022 NCAA Tournament and scored an NCAA single game record 61 points against Oklahoma in the regular season.
Prior to his time at K-State, Ostermann served as the Associate Head Coach at Texas Christian University from 2008-14. The Horned Frogs went 107-81 during his six seasons in Fort Worth with two NCAA and two WNIT berths. TCU was ranked in the Top 25 in three of his six seasons. They won the Mountain West regular season championship in 2010 before moving to the Big 12 in 2012.
Ostermann made the transition to the women’s game at TCU following a nine year career as a head men’s basketball coach at the junior college level. He was 83-46 in four seasons from 2004-08 at Missouri State-West Plains. He took two of his last three teams at West Plains to the Region 16 championship game. His final team saw the Grizzlies go 27-5 and finish ranked #18 in the nation.
His first head coaching position was at Jayhawk Conference member Colby CC from 1999-2004. He was 95-61 in his five seasons in western Kansas with a 50-14 record over his final two years and were ranked as high as #2 in the nation in 2004. He was named the Jayhawk West Men’s Coach of the Year and left as the Trojans all-time leader in victories.
Ostermann’s coaching roots are in the MIAA. He started out as a graduate assistant at Northwest Missouri State University from 1989-91. After a season at PSAC member Mercyhurst College he returned to the MIAA as an assistant coach for both the men and women at Missouri Western State University. He was in St. Joseph from 1992-96 before moving to the University of Missouri-Kansas City for three seasons.
“My vision falls right in line with President Hush and Mr. Spafford’s. We will compete at the top of the MIAA, the best NCAA DII league in the country,” said Ostermann. “We will work every day with the end in mind – for the ladies in our program to reach the highest level of their character and to win another National Championship!”
A native of Good Thunder, Minn., Ostermann earned his Bachelor of Science degree in physical education from Wisconsin-La Crosse in 1988. He and his wife, Julie, have four children: Robbie, John, Allie and Emily.
“I will promise the fans that what they see will be who we are – a team that loves one another and loves others,” said Ostermann. “On the court we will be fun to watch and easy to cheer for & get behind while off the court, we will be exemplary students and people.”
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