Jeff Wulbrun is a patient coach. For parts of four decades, the longtime assistant helped build Division I programs across the college basketball landscape.
From assembling West Coast powers to coaching up NCAA Tournament-bound mid-majors, Wulbrun was a fixture in the sport as a part of coaching staffs at Stanford, UAB, Illinois State, Virginia Tech and California.
Last season, the man who bided his time finally got his chance in the head chair. In taking the Denver job, Wulbrun truly believed he’d found the perfect program for him.
“A lot of time is spent talking about fit for recruits, but fit for a coach is the same thing,” he said. “DU is a good fit for me as a head coach, the values, academic standards and expectations.”
The Denver coach weaved together a solid debut season a year ago, lifting a sagging Pioneers program to as many Summit League wins (7) as it had over the previous three seasons. Now, a handful of weeks into year two, DU looks to be taking another step under the coach who patiently waited for his time to lead his own program.
After a clean, three-game sweep at the Big Easy Classic, the Pios are off to their best start (6-1) since the 2011-12 season.
It’s been a product of Wulbrun’s vision.
“I don’t want to coach a different team every year, in many ways college basketball has turned into that,” Wulbrun said. “I know to a certain extent that’s the environment we’re in in college basketball, but we have very strategically tried to build a foundation of younger players in our program, and use the [transfer] portal to address our needs and deficiencies.”
Step one took flight as youth flooded into the program in 2021-22. Then-freshmen Tevin Smith, Coban Porter and Tuoko Tainamo all played key roles immediately, which Wulbrun called a great development opportunity for the trio.
Smith – a preseason all-league second team pick – and Tainamo have continued to be vital cogs in the team’s fast start this year. Smith has continued his development as a physical presence in the backcourt and was on scoring hot streak before picking up an injury against The Citadel, while Tainamo has nearly averaged a double-double (9.3 ppg, 8.0 rpg).
Wulbrun and his staff turned to the portal to add to that homegrown foundation. In particular, the second-year coach said he felt the team needed rebounding, length and athleticism, and the Pios found that in abundance with the addition of Coppin State transfer Tyree Corbett. The forward dominated the MEAC a year ago, and had a mammoth effort against The Citadel (30 points, 12 rebounds) to punctuate a productive start to the year.
DU also added a proven scorer in lead guard Tommy Bruner (12.9 ppg) and experienced forward in Lukas Kisunas (9.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg), who Wulbrun recruited and coached at Stanford.
That group may have planted the seeds for its winning start across the Atlantic.
DU went to France for a 10-day trip in August, going to Paris, Nice and Lyon in what Wulbrun called a trip of a lifetime. Several of the Pios’ international players got to see the family, the team got the invaluable extra price time allowed on foreign trips and, in the end, melded together in a way it may not have otherwise.
“The chemistry, the camaraderie that develops on a trip like that, I’ve done it before and each time you come back and say that was the most important ingredient to the trip,” Wulbrun said. “There’s a lot more team-oriented things. Without the trip we would’ve spent more time on individual development, so as we started in the Fall I thought we were much farther along than we were a year ago.”
Individually, Smith would seem the de facto leader, as he has continued to be a versatile matchup problem for opposing backcourts. He’s getting to the free throw line over six times per game this year, nearly twice as much as he did as a freshman, and his free throw rate – along with Corbett’s – currently ranks within the top 75 in the country. That development doesn’t come as a surprise for Wulbrun. Ask him about the sophomore’s best quality and the answer is easy.
“He is so coachable,” Wulbrun said. “He is so receptive to learning, so receptive to new ideas and suggestions and never has a bad day, everyday comes to practice and greets you with a huge smile. He does a great job setting the tone and pace for our basketball team.”
But beyond Smith, the Pios have started to carve out an identity as a team with plenty of players that can step into a leading role on a given night. Both Corbett and Bruner have also been able to take the scoring baton, and DU just got a 27-point outing from freshman Justin Mullins – who Wulbrun says is the best athlete on the team – in the win over New Orleans.
Overall, the frontcourt additions – Corbett, Kisunas, Mullins – have helped address the interior production and athleticism that Wulbrun wanted to add to his young core. The Pios have been allowing teams to get offensive rebounds against them at a lower rate than a year ago, and are grabbing a greater percentage of their own misses. They’ve also been able to generate plenty of high percentage looks. They’re currently in the top 25 in the country in two-point field goal percentage, while also making a living at the free throw line throughout their hot start.
A year ago, DU did not win its sixth game until after the New Year. That the team is over a month ahead of schedule this year in terms of victories is certainly a big step forward.
“As we look back on our first year, I think we returned the program to respectability, for lack of a better term,” Wulbrun said. “I think that everything from our recruiting to our tactical plan and, most importantly, our building a strong culture and foundation will lead to future success.”
There are stiffer non-conference tests ahead – like road games at Sacramento State and, it goes without saying, UCLA – but Wulbrun’s plan is coming together in his second year.
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