He's home.
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Returning to the place where he both set and broke school records during his playing career at Grand Canyon University, GCU Club Sports has announced it has hired Josh Braun as the Lopes' Head Club Men's Basketball Coach and head of club basketball operations. Braun will oversee both the
men's and
women's club basketball programs at GCU, working with longtime
Lopes' Women's Club Basketball Head Coach (as well as fellow former Lopes' starting guard) Kyle Speed to help foster the growth in that program. Braun succeeds
Matt Gordon, who left after four years at the helm to manage his other business affairs.
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"Matt's leadership and positioning of the program was critical for its success," said
GCU Club Sports Director Dan Nichols. "Josh is the perfect addition to club basketball as it progresses. His relational skills will attract players and coaches to the program."
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Braun became the perfect undergraduate to lead the
Lopes' Men's Basketball team into the NCAA Division I era, but the Lopes didn't fully discover that until he'd been a student for a year. Braun stayed home to play college ball for GCU after starring at Boulder Creek High School in his hometown of Anthem, but knee injuries forced the Lopes to redshirt Braun during his freshman year of 2013-14. Once healthy, Braun immediately made an impact, averaging 12 points and five rebounds per game as a redshirt freshman. When the Lopes moved him from power forward to his more natural position of shooting guard before his sophomore campaign, Braun flourished, averaging between 16 and 18 points per game the next two seasons. He led GCU in free throw percentage and rebounding as a sophomore, and scoring and 3-point shooting percentage (nearly 42%) as a junior. As a senior, Braun helped lead the Lopes to their first-ever WAC Tournament appearance, reaching the championship game.
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Braun closed his GCU career as the
Lopes' all-time leader in three-pointers made (257), free throws made (449), games started (115) and is tied for most games played (122). He was an All-WAC 1
st Team selection twice and All-2
nd Team once. More impressive than that was the three Academic All-American awards he earned and his cumulative 3.6 grade point average. After graduating from GCU, Braun headed overseas, playing professional basketball in Australia (earning league MVP honors after his first season) and Germany before returning to the states.
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Braun now just wants to keep the momentum of the Lopes' Club Men's and Women's Basketball programs going, since both of them came close to national championship success this past season, with the women
reaching the quarterfinal round of the National Intramural Recreational Sports Association National Championships in Wichita, Kansas; while the men
reached the championship game in Kansas before falling six points short of a title.
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Braun's first official day on the job will be Monday, August 1
st.