Both basketball teams add new assistant coach to their staff

Two new Coyotes will find themselves on the sideline this upcoming basketball season. Eddie Hill and Ariel Braker found themselves in the position of men’s and women’s assistant basketball coaches, respectively. 

Prior to coming to USD Aug. 30, Hill had previous assistant coaching experience. After graduating from Washington State University where he played basketball, he went directly into coaching. He spent time as the assistant coach at the University of Portland, University of Texas-El Paso, San Jose State University and Cal State University Northridge. Hill most recently served as the co-head coach of the ProSkills 17U Nike Elite Youth Basketball League team.

Unlike Hill, who came out of college with the hopes of a basketball coaching career, Braker didn’t think that’s where her future would end up. Braker graduated from Notre Dame in 2014 with a degree in industrial design and a college basketball career amounting to four Final Four berths and three National Championship appearances. 

“I didn’t originally want to get into coaching,” Braker said. “I thought I was just going to go into the working world. I played for four years at Notre Dame, and after that your body wears down, so I wasn’t thinking about playing overseas or anything like that, but then I was a grad assistant at Wayne State DII in Detroit, right next door to where I grew up. I worked with their women’s basketball team for a year and loved it.”

While Braker has past coaching experience, she said that her time at USD has continued to teach her a lot about new ways to coach effectively.

“(Coaching at USD has) been a little different. I’m learning a lot from Coach (Plitzuweit),” Braker said. “She does things in an interesting way that I’ve never really thought about as a coach but that I definitely want to add to my bag as I move further in this industry.”

For Hill, he is hoping to contribute his experience, both in the game and in life, to this relatively young USD men’s team.

“I want to bring energy and maturity,” Hill said. “I’ve got three grown kids and lots of experience. This is my eighth year as a Division I assistant coach. I also think a big thing I can bring to the team is energy to the defensive end.”

As both the men’s and women’s basketball teams begin their seasons, the newest members to their coaching staffs have agreed that they can’t wait for preseason practices to be over and for the season schedules to begin.

“I’m excited to actually get to experience a game day with my team,” Braker said. “I watched plenty of games as I was going through the interviewing process to get to know the team and the girls, but I am so excited to experience a live game with them, especially with such a veteran team.”