Who Is Bryan Hodgson?
Hodgson grew up in a small town in Western New York, Olean — which is home to St. Bonaventure. Hodgson played collegiately at Jamestown (NY) Community College for two seasons. After graduating from Fredonia State, Hodgson began his college coaching career at Jamestown CC before moving to Midland College (TX) as an assistant coach. He then joined Nate Oats’ Staff at Buffalo before moving to Alabama with Oats.
Hodgson got his first head coaching job in 2023 with the Arkansas State Red Wolves. Hodgson went 45-28 in two seasons with the Red Wolves, winning the 2025 Sun Belt Conference title and leading them to two postseason berths (NIT and CBI). He is 70-37 overall, including 3-4 in the postseason.
Hodgson has developed a reputation as a high-tempo coach who excels at recruiting and developing programs. The 38-year-old, who garnered American Conference Coach of the Year honors, preaches pace and operating in space. He is also very good at developing players.
Offensively, Hodgson preaches relentless pace, whether after making or missing. Since Hodgson encourages lots of shots, his teams prioritize sets over specific styles, using four- or five-out alignments. His goal is to get the ball into the paint and then kick it out to shooters.
With an emphasis on uptempo, Hodgson focuses on creating chaos defensively. As a result, his defense focuses on creating turnovers and switching everything. In terms of other defensive minutiae, his teams use a committee approach with rebounding and his bigs “wall-up” rather than chasing blocks.
