With a calm demeanor off the court and a fiery disposition on the sidelines, men's basketball coach Charlie Bruns [1980-2004] was a fixture on the UAA bench for nearly a quarter century and 700 games.
Showing a unique commitment to the Seawolf program, Bruns worked for 13 years as an assistant - including his first 10 as a volunteer - under three different head coaches. Three seasons after being promoted to the top assistant's role, Bruns took over as head coach early in the 1993-94 season and promptly led the Seawolves to 21 wins, the Pacific West Conference title and an NCAA berth.
Bruns would win his first of three Pac West Coach of the Year awards that season, beginning a journey that would end with a program-record 186 victories. All told, in his 24 years with the program the New York native was a part of 692 games, 442 wins and 11 NCAA Tournaments.
During his head coaching tenure, UAA produced five Pac West Players of the Year and memorable Carrs/Safeway Great Alaska Shootout victories over such programs as Wake Forest, Notre Dame and Rhode Island.
Bruns came to UAA after coaching Kotzebue High School to two small-schools state titles in 1977 and 1978, in addition to eight years at Turlock (Calif.) High School, where he coached five sports.
The former New York state 100-yard dash champion earned his bachelor's in health and physical education in 1968 from Eastern Washington University, where he also played football. He and his wife Colleen currently live in the Seattle area.
