HELENA – Long-time Carroll College men’s basketball assistant coach Brandon Veltri has been promoted to the position of Associate Head Coach, announced Athletic Director Bruce Parker on Wednesday.

In acknowledging Veltri for his five years at Carroll, Parker recognized Veltri’s contribution to the Saints’ successful men’s basketball program. “Brandon has done an outstanding job assisting Coach (Gary) Turcott and has been involved in all aspects of the program,” Parker said. “I have been impressed with Brandon’s work on and off the court as well as his abilities in the areas of recruiting and scheduling. He has been fortunate to have Gary Turcott as a mentor in this profession.”

In his five seasons with the Saints’ men’s basketball, Veltri has been the program’s recruiting coordinator, oversees the team’s in-season scouting and heads up scheduling and travel. His on-court duties include work with the Saint post players and in-game defensive adjustments.

Veltri’s biggest supporter has been Turcott, the dean of Frontier basketball coaches who enters his 19th season (356-216) at the helm of the Carroll men’s program. “Brandon has been a huge part of our success over the past five seasons,” Turcott noted. “I have tremendous respect for his coaching abilities as well as all of the other aspects of being a college basketball coach. He has a bright future ahead and will make an outstanding head coach. I’m so pleased that we are able to make this move.”

During Veltri’s tenure at Carroll, the Saints have compiled an impressive 120-42 overall record and won three conference titles in the past four seasons. He helped the Saints to a pair of “Elite Eight” appearances and a berth in the NAIA’s “Fab Four” in 2005. Carroll has won 20 games or more in each of the past four seasons, including a school record 28 wins in 2005 that was surpassed by the 30 wins the following season.

“I am both honored and humbled to be named the associate head coach,” Veltri said. “I have been fortunate to be able to work for and learn from a tremendous basketball coach in Gary Turcott. I’m very proud of all that we have accomplished over the past five years and will work hard to continue the tradition that Coach Turcott has built over the course of his career at Carroll.”

The Saints have also garnered 12 All-Frontier Conference picks the past five seasons as well as six All-America honorees. Carroll has recently completed it’s 2008 recruiting class, signing six high school standouts and two junior college student-athletes. Included in the list are four Montana prep standouts that will play in this summer’s Montana-Wyoming All-Star Game. The four are Montana’s Gatorade ‘Player of the Year” Andy Garland of Missoula Sentinel, Class AA MVP Casey Rogers of Billings West and Class A All-State products Jim Mee of Libby and Daniel Pearson of Billings Central.

Prior to his stint at Carroll, Veltri was a graduate assistant for Coach Doug Oliver and the Idaho State Bengals of the Big Sky Conference. A native of Salt Lake City, he attended Judge Memorial Catholic High School before moving on to Peninsula College in Port Angeles Wash., where he played basketball along side his identical twin brother Brock Veltri (Seattle Pacific University assistant), and Carroll assistant Sol Jones.

Veltri graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mass Communications from the University of Utah in 2001, and earned a Master of Arts in Athletic Administration from Idaho State University in May 2003. In addition to his coaching duties, Veltri also serves as the Director of Sports Information at Carroll.

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