YPSILANTI, Mich. -- Ben Braun was named basketball coach at Eastern Michigan University today, a little over two months after he was named the Hurons' interim coach.
Braun, 32, first came to Eastern Michigan as assistant coach last August after eight years as head coach at Siena Heights College in Adrian.
He was named interim coach on Jan. 15 when veteran coach Jim Boyce announced his resgination.
'We're very pleased that we were able to hire a coach with Ben Braun's qualifications,' said Gene Smith, Eastern Michigan's interim executive athletic director. 'We based our decision on Coach Braun's outstanding coaching performance while at Siena Heights and also his work with the EMU squad in the short time he has been here.'
Smith said the athletic department expects Braun 'to produce some dramatic changes in our EMU basketball program.'
Braun came to Eastern Michgan after eight successful seasons at Siena Heights. He took over the fledgling Siena Heights program in 1977 and directed the school to 148 wins against 103 losses during his tenure.
His teams qualified for NAIA post-season play five times and won four independent titles while averaging 20 wins per season over the last seven years.
A native of Milwaukee, Braun graduated from New Trier, Ill., High School, where he was captain of the basketball team. He went on to play one year of basketball at Wisconsin-LaCrosse before transferring to the main campus at Madison, where he earned his undergraduate degree in English in 1975.
After graduation from college, Braun coached at Park High School in Racine, Wis., from 1975 through 1977.
