Brian Cruz Joins the Lincoln Women’s Basketball Coaching Staff

By: LU Sports

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Brian Cruz, a 2022-23 Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year nominee, has joined the Lincoln women’s basketball team as an assistant coach. Head coach Andrea Mize announced the hiring on Wednesday (May 17).

“I am excited to have Brian here with us,” Mize said. “We have known each other for some time now, and I have loved watching him take his leap into college basketball. He has proven that he can help build a program, and he is a tremendous recruiter as well as a tireless players’ coach.” 

As the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Warner University in Lake Wales, Fla., Cruz helped the Royals win 15 games, their most in the past nine years, and seven Sun Conference victories, the most for WU in six seasons. In his two seasons with the Royals, Cruz helped the team increase its win total each year, and he coached two players who were selected as the Sun Conference Freshmen of the Year. In both 2021-22 and 2022-23, Cruz coached two players who earned all-league honors.

Before entering the college ranks, Cruz was the head girls’ basketball coach at Cape Coral High School, where he led the program to an 80-29 record from 2017-2021. In his first year as the head coach, Cruz was selected as the Florida Athletic Coaches Association Class 7A Coach of the Year as well as the Lee County Athletic Conference Coach of the Year after leading the Seahawks to an LCAC championship. Cruz also guided the Seahawks to a pair of district titles and, in 2019-20, led the program to the state Elite Eight.

Cruz, who graduated from Western Governors University in 2011, has 12 years of coaching experience. In addition to his time on the staffs at Warner University and Cape Coral High, Cruz also was an assistant boys’ basketball coach at both Mariner High and Cape Coral.