“When we hired him six years ago, I felt like we were catching a rising star,” Grant said. “And boy was that true. What he’s done with that program has been nothing short of miraculous. They were really, really down and now they and Green Bay are the bullies on the block in the Horizon League in women’s basketball.”
Bradbury coached the Raiders for six seasons, going 128-73 while leading the program to a school-record 26 victories and its first NCAA tournament appearance in 2013-14.
The following year Bradbury was named the Horizon League Coach of the Year while guiding WSU to a 25-9 record overall and 12-4 in the conference. The Raiders finished runner-up to Green Bay in the HL tournament and accepted the program’s first WNIT berth.
Bradbury will be introduced at a press conference in Albuquerque on Thursday.
“I want to thank him for all of his hard work the last six years,” Grant said. “His wife Christy and their kids Alex and Sena have been part of our Raider family and we’re going to miss them like crazy, but this is a great opportunity.
“It’s a little bit of a bummer, but it’s cool, too,” Grant added. “In some ways it’s like a point of pride for us. You hire the right people and it almost validates how we do things, how we hire, what our culture and environment is like, how conducive it is to being successful, those are all good things. But then you’re faced with doing the same thing again and again and again, which is kind of the lot of a mid major.”
Bradbury replaces Yvonne Sanchez, who was fired last week after going 77-81 in five seasons.
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