KU Basketball Alum Brett Ballard Honored For His Work

June 16, 2010

Ballard Receives Watch from KU Basketball Staff

LAWRENCE, Kan.– –

Kansas basketball alum and former director of basketball operations Brett Ballard will soon take on the job as the head basketball coach at Baker University, however the Kansas basketball staff saw June 16 as the perfect day to surprise him with a watch as a token of appreciation for all his hard work.

The watch that was given to Ballard is an appropriate orange color to match his future new school; yet Ballard will still bleed crimson and blue.

“For them to present me a watch, that was really nice,” Ballard said. “I’ve been very blessed to be at Kansas the last seven years and very fortunate to work for Coach Self especially. So for him to do something nice like that, I know he has been really busy and camps have been really busy, so for him to take the time to do that, that meant a lot.”

Ballard, who graduated from KU in 2003 with a degree in secondary education, is completing his final week working for Kansas Athletics, but the former Jayhawk will not be forgotten and plans to help KU whenever he is needed.

“I’m sad about leaving KU,” Ballard said. “It’s a great place and it’s definitely hard to leave here but I’m also equally excited about joining Baker. It’s a great opportunity for me and I’m excited about that, but certainly it’s tough to leave KU.”

“The good thing is that we’ll still be in Lawrence and I’ll go back and forth,” Ballard said. “So I’ll be around a lot. It won’t be quite the same, but it’ll be nice to be close. I will still be a part of the program and still be one of the biggest Jayhawk fans out there.”

Ballard, a member of the men’s basketball team during the 2001 and 2002 seasons, saw Kansas become the first team in Big 12 history to stay undefeated in the conference play.