There is a sense of hometown pride with Washburn’s new addition to the head coaching position. Bret Ballard, a KU alumni and an esteemed member of the basketball community is now the Ichabods head coach.

With his addition to the sidelines of the court, the hype could not be higher for the Washburn Ichabods this year heading into their first season under Ballard. Ballard was previously a assistant coach for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons serving under Danny Manning for the last five combined seasons.

Ballard has had multiple accolades in the Division I realm of college basketball with tenures at Wake Forest and Tulsa University as well as Baker University. Ballard is a Kansas graduate with a degree in secondary education and is a Hutchinson, Kansas native.

The players he will coach have already seen success in the past seasons with the men’s basketball team earning season tallies of 11-11 in 2015-16 and 11-8 in 2016-17 as conference records under Bob Chipman.

His pedigree adds a moxie that is unrivaled on the men’s basketball roster.

“I am just really excited to get going and start playing games,” sophomore Clayton Holmberg said, “we have been practicing and going against each other for a while now so I am just really excited to get going with Bret at the helm.”

The Ichabods have already had a good start to their season, locking in a win against Winona State University for their second game of the season in a 84-75 final.

So far, so good for the 1-1 Washburn Ichabods, but Ballard is definitely excited for more.

“My goal will be to build on the great tradition that has been established here and help my players compete at the highest level on the court, but more importantly help prepare them to win at the game of life,” Bret Ballard said via wusports.com.

With the Washburn Ichabods dropping their season opener to Northern State University 57-69, there are a couple pitfalls seen with the first game.

As Washburn