By Michael Christensen
Along with April showers and May flowers, Spring has brought a plethora of new faces to the BYU men”s basketball team.
In the past few weeks the Cougars have added two new coaches and three transfer players to their roster.
The coaches are former Cougar player Andy Toolson and Cougar alumnus John Wardenburg.
Both join coach Steve Cleveland”s staff as assistant coaches.
Toolson”s main duties will be recruiting and offensive game preparation. Toolson said he is looking forward to working with the team.
“I”m excited about the opportunity and feel I can contribute to the continued success of BYU basketball,” he said.
Wardenburg”s duties will include film coordination and defensive game preparation.
BYU junior swingman Travis Hansen was actually recruited by Wardenburg when he was an assistant at Dixie College.
Hansen said he has great respect for Wardenburg. “He”s intense and he”s intelligent about the game,” Hansen said. “He loves what he does.”
Sophomore guard Daniel Bobik said he is eager to work with the new coaches.
“I”m really excited to work with them and have them develop me into a better player,” he said.
In addition to the coaching changes, three transfer players have announced plans to join the Cougars.
University of Wisconsin player Ricky Bower, a 6-foot-4-inch point guard may be the biggest addition. He has two years of eligibility remaining.
Along with Bower, University of Utah center Jon Carlisle will join the team.
Carlisle, a 6-10 center, was a backup on the Utah team that went to the final four in 1998.
He returned from a mission earlier this year and will be eligible to play this fall.
The final addition is Weber State forward Jake Shoff.
Shoff played two years at Weber State sandwiched around an LDS mission.
As a sophomore he averaged 7.4 points per game and led the team with six rebounds a game.
Hansen said all three players will add to the team.
“I”ve heard great things about them,” he said.
Bower and Shoff will have to sit out one year before they can play.
Because Carlisle is coming off of a mission he is eligible to play this year. He may red-shirt this season so he can get in better shape and learn the system.
