It hasn’t quite sunk in yet for Brendan Phelps, just weeks after being named the boys’ basketball coach in Berlin. His first game as head coach is still several months away.
But ask Phelps, 38, what his expectations are for the program and he doesn’t hesitate: they are high. And he doesn’t have to look far to see where he wants to take the program.
“I want basketball to be on the same level as soccer and baseball (in Berlin),” Phelps said. “My expectations are high. I know the conference is competitive, but the things I’m going to implement are different from what anyone else is doing in the league or in the state. I think more teams will have to adapt to what we’re going to do than we adapt to others.”
Phelps, a resident of Bristol, has spent the past four seasons as an assistant coach at Post University in Waterbury. The program has won 39 games combined over the past two seasons.
He expects to implement a style of pressing all over the pitch, among other things.
“It’s not a hobby for me. I’m not someone who coaches 3 and a half months a year,” Phelps said. “Basketball is what I do. … It will be a big change, but I’m sure the guys will take it back.
Previously, Phelps played and coached alongside his father, Steve, at St. Paul. Steve Phelps has been the head coach of this program for over three decades. Brendan also played at Eastern Connecticut State.
Phelps replaces Stan Glowiak. A longtime former New Britain coach, Glowiak originally traveled to Berlin to co-coach with cancer-battling Mike Veneziano. Veneziano died of cancer before the start of the season.
Berlin went 17-7 last season, winning 15 games in the regular season and then two more in the Division III state tournament, reaching the quarter-finals.
Phelps said he had already watched a film of a number of games from last year and watched some of the summer league games since taking over as head coach. Berlin won’t play St. Paul – the schedule will be played during the preseason – but the Redcoats will face Bloomfield, the reigning Division IV state champion, as well as Manchester, Newington, Bloomfield, East Hartford and Middletown.
“We are delighted to welcome Brendan as the next men’s basketball head coach,” Berlin athletic director Dave Francalangia said in a statement released by the school. “His basketball pedigree, knowledge and extensive coaching experience at the high school and college level are vast and he brings a passion and enthusiasm for the game that stood out in the interview process.”
[email protected]; @nhrJoeMorelli