Hodgson, a New York native, took the podium and explained how his upbringing developed his basketball philosophy. I wanted someone who would get out in our community and relate to the people of Jonesboro and northeast Arkansas and Bryan is that person.” I thought here, fit and community engagement is a big part of it. We had to make the right hire but we had to move quickly because the transfer portal has changed what college basketball is today. Some of the priorities for me in terms of what we wanted in this hire leadership, culture, ability to relate to our players, style of play, understanding of the recruiting, transfer portal. “He has a plan for developing student-athletes, both as players as well as people. “We talked to outstanding candidates and Bryan really separated himself as we went through that process,” Purinton said. Purinton added he talked with Alabama head basketball coach Nate Oats, New Orleans Pelicans forward Herb Jones and ESPN’s Jay Bilas, all had raving reviews for Hodgson. “He said, ‘man I want to tell you, y’all need to hire coach Bryan.’ And I said, ‘well, coach, tell me why?’ And he said, ‘well, we’ve recruited about four of the same players over the last few years and he has kicked my tail every single time.’” “My favorite story from the entire search process is I got a call from Juwan Howard,” Welch said. Purinton said there was “a ton” of interest in the open position and candidates included both current and former head coaches. Todd Shields detailed what stood out about Hodgson in the interview process. We want to set the bar higher at Arkansas State, where we can compete for conference championships and go to the NCAA Tournament on an annual basis.” ![]() That’s the same number that Buffalo had been to before Nate Oats and Bryan Hodgson got there. The fact is we’ve only been to one NCAA Tournament in school history. “I initially wrote down exciting, but this is bigger than that. “This is a monumental day for A-State athletics,” Vice Chancellor of Intercollegiate Athletics Jeff Purinton said. ![]() Former Alabama and Buffalo assistant Bryan Hodgson was introduced Monday afternoon in front of a packed Centennial Bank Athletics Operations Center. (KAIT) - The new leader of the hardwood pack is bringing a ‘blue collar’ brand of basketball to Jonesboro.
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