Brett Ballard only owns one orange tie that he wore to his initial job interview at Baker University. For his introductory press conference, Ballard had to borrow an orange tie from a coworker.

But all of that is about to change now that Ballard has been named the head men’s basketball coach for Baker University.

On Tuesday, University President Pat Long welcomed Ballard to campus with a reception and a press conference at Collins House. He was announced as the head coach over spring break and there are already big names associated with his job.

Ballard knows how to play the game, he played for the Jayhawks for two seasons. For the past seven years, he’s worked under University of Kansas men’s basketball coach Bill Self as the director of basketball operations.

Because he has spent the past seven years working under Self and the KU basketball program, Ballard knows how to recruit and he knows how to win. Baker will be counting on him to produce winning seasons.

Ballard said he wants to win, but his main priority will be getting student-athletes to graduate from Baker with a degree. That’s a lot for a coach to say before the season has even started.

Students will want to play under someone who played under University of North Carolina head coach Roy Williams at Kansas. They’ll want to play under someone who worked with KU coach Bill Self. Ballard will be able to recruit even more talented student-athletes because of this.

Although this is Ballard’s first head coaching job, he is qualified for the job and a good fit for Baker.

At the press conference Tuesday, Ballard expressed how much he was looking forward to becoming a part of the Baker community, much like he was a part of the KU community. It’s the Baker community’s job to make sure that happens.