On April 14, Denver men’s basketball announced the hiring of their next head coach, Tim Bergstraser. This announcement came after the conclusion of Denver’s basketball season on March 6, where they lost to St. Thomas in the Summit League quarterfinal after finishing the regular season with an 11-20 record.
Bergstraser will replace Jeff Wulbrun, who mutually agreed to part ways with Denver basketball after he was placed on leave with two games left in the season. The reason for this leave has yet to be announced.
Bergstraser coached at Minnesota State Moorhead for the past three seasons, accumulating a 75-22 record and bringing them to the NCAA Division II Sweet Sixteen.
This coaching announcement came amidst a mass exodus to the transfer portal, with only four players from Denver’s 2024-25 roster set to return. Of the four returners, only senior guard Josh Lee has started a game for Denver.
Freshman guard Sebastian Akins, who set Denver’s freshman scoring record, announced his transfer intent on March 12, just days after the end of the season.
Freshman forward Josh Pickett held out until Bergstraser was appointed, when he announced via X, “Due to the recent coaching changes, I will be entering the Transfer Portal.”
Despite the loss of players, Bergstraser is unfazed.
“That’s just the era of basketball we live in right now… We know what we need to bring in once we really break down our roster, and now we’re just going to do what we believe we’re really good at and go evaluate a ton of players and fill those gaps with our kind of people,” said Bergstraser.
To kick off the all-important Denver recruiting season, MSU Moorhead freshmen Carson Johnson, Corleone Dandridge and Shaun Wysocki have all committed to Denver via Instagram.
Johnson averaged 19.8 points per game for MSU Moorhead in the NSSC last season under Bergstraser, leading the team in both points and minutes. Wysocki averaged 7.6 points per game and Dandridge sat out the season as a redshirt.
“Obviously, anybody out of the NSSC are very high-level basketball players, and I think that anybody who enters the portal from the NSSC is sought out,” Bergstraser said.
Despite Denver’s success in athletics, the basketball program has struggled to live up to the standard, with men’s basketball still waiting on a March Madness appearance.
“It might be the players, coaching, system,” said Bergstraser, “Some people might say, facility-wise, it isn’t as good as it should be. That’s just fine, and that’s why I knew this place was even more of a fit for me, because who I am and where I come from, I just don’t need all the bells and whistles and all that. We’re going to find players that don’t care about that stuff either, and if they do, we’ll tell them to go somewhere else.”
Bergstraser is looking to bring winning ways to the men’s basketball program right away with a revamped, gritty roster.
“We’re going to have the mindset to compete for championships. That’s how I’m wired. I’ve been so fortunate at any place I’ve been to win.” Bergstraser said.
With the basketball season starting again in November, Denver will look to restock its roster and make a push for the program’s first-ever Summit League Championship.
