Hillsdale College appointed Keven Bradley as the new head coach of the Chargers’ men’s basketball program Tuesday, April 11.

The move came after the college announced previous head coach John Tharp will be moving into a new position as the Hillsdale College Athletic Director June 30 of this year. 

“Kevin was my recommendation to the administration and to Dr. Arnn of who I thought would be a great men’s basketball coach,” Tharp said. “I think Kevin is a man with just high morals and great character.”

Bradley coached at several DII and DIII institutions — including Lawrence University, Upper Iowa University, and the University of Wisconsin-Parkside — before joining the Chargers’ men’s basketball program as an associate head coach three years ago. 

During his time at Hillsdale, Bradley has helped lead the program to three consecutive NCAA DII Tournament berths and three consecutive 21 or more win seasons — one of which saw the Chargers secure the program’s first-ever Midwest Regional title.

“I’m incredibly grateful and humbled to have the opportunity to help lead this program,” Bradley said. “This program has been so incredibly successful under Coach Tharp’s tutelage for the last 16 years.”

Bradley said he plans to continue building on this success, making use of the work and preparation that has already been accomplished in getting the team to the place it is today. 

“I kind of told our team that there’s not a lot of things that I want to change or do because the structure and the culture and the format, the foundation of the program is here,” Bradley said. “I wanted to continue to help build on that and continue to provide our student athletes with great experiences and memorable experiences and give them the best four years that they could have here at Hillsdale.”

In line with carrying forward the culture of the team, the program will continue to recruit high character, academic-minded students who will be competitive and successful both in the classroom and on the court, according to Bradley.

“I’m a big believer that we can accomplish both of those without sacrificing one for the other, and that’s kind of our goal and our mission,” Bradley said.

Tharp said he believes, in addition to carrying over the core values of the program, Bradley will bring his own distinct style to his new role as head coach.

“I hope and I know that he’s going to bring different strategic thoughts and put his own personality on this program and I want him to do that,” Tharp said. 

According to sophomore Joe Reuter, the team has the same expectations moving forward.

“We still have all these goals in front of us that we feel like we can achieve,” Reuter said. “We still have a lot of faith in coach Bradley that he’s going to be able to care for the tradition and the culture of our program.”

Bradley said that he is excited to continue working with Tharp moving forward.

“Still having him available and still having him as a resource around for me is going to be incredibly important for me moving into this first year of head coaching,” Bradley said. “Having him around is going to be something that I value a ton.”