Mike Bradbury, a noted recruiter and a 15-year coaching veteran of the women’s game, has been selected as the women’s head basketball coach at Morehead State. Bradbury has spent the last five seasons as the top assistant coach at Xavier University. He has also had coaching assignments at University of Cincinnati, East Tennessee State, Virginia Commonwealth and his alma mater, Chattanooga. He is the eighth head coach in the 37-year history of the MSU women’s basketball program.
“I am incredibly honored, excited and grateful to President Wayne Andrews and Director of Athletics Brian Hutchinson for giving me this opportunity to lead the Morehead State women’s basketball program,” said Bradbury. “My staff and I will bring a passion for the game and energy to this program, and I can’t wait to get started. I look forward to this opportunity.”
Bradbury has become known as a gifted recruiter, and has landed several top 25 recruiting classes while at Xavier and Cincinnati. He signed the nation’s top-ranked player at Xavier last season. While at UC, he signed three top 25 classes. In each of his last ten seasons as an assistant coach, his teams qualified for postseason play. In all, 12 of the 16 teams he has been involved with have made postseason appearances, and every team has posted a .500 record or better. His total record as a student assistant or assistant coach is 319-167 (.656 winning percentage).
“We are proud to announce Coach Bradbury as our new head coach. He comes from a program at Xavier that has established themselves as a perennial women’s basketball power,” said Hutchinson. “Mike is an outstanding recruiter and has a reputation of being a great basketball technician. He understands and embraces the expectations we share for women’s basketball at MSU, and we are happy to have him as part of the Eagle family.”
Bradbury has spent five seasons at Xavier, and all five have resulted in postseason appearances, including two NCAA tournament berths. In his first season at Xavier, in 2002-03, the Musketeers went 20-10 overall and advanced the NCAA Tournament first round after posting a 12-19 record the season before. In 2006-07, Bradbury helped lead XU to a 26-8 record and another NCAA Tournament berth. In between, his teams made three consecutive WNIT appearances, including a quarterfinal game in 2004-05. In his five seasons, Xavier was 106-50 (.679 winning percentage).
Prior to his time at Xavier, Bradbury was a top assistant coach and the primary recruiter for cross-town school Cincinnati for six years, where he helped the Bearcats to two NCAA Tournament berths and a 127-57 record (.690 winning percentage). His UC career culminated in the 2001-02 team going 27-5 and advancing to the NCAA Tournament second round. He also helped mentor the 1998-99 team to a 22-9 record and a first-round NCAA game. Bradbury’s time at UC resulted in three WNIT appearances as well.
Bradbury went to Cincinnati after one season at VCU and one at East Tennessee State. At ETSU, his 1994-95 team took sixth place in the WNIT and compiled a 21-9 record. His coaching career began at Chattanooga, where he graduated in 1993 with a degree in recreation. He spent the 1991-92 and 1992-93 seasons as a student assistant coach before his first full-time assistant coaching assignment came in 1993-94. The 1991-92 UTC team also advanced to the NCAA Tournament first round.
Bradbury and his wife Christy have a one-year-old son, Alex.