By Rick Peterson

TopSports.news

Hayden has tapped Topekan Trey Brown, who coached Cair Paravel Latin last season, to take over the Wildcats' boys basketball program.

Trey Brown, who coached at Cair Paravel Latin this past season, has been named head boys basketball coach at Hayden. [File photo/TSN]

 

The 24-year-old Brown replaces Dwayne Paul, who recently resigned after two seasons at Hayden to accept the head coaching position at Free State.

"Hayden has had so many great coaches and great players and the list goes on and on,'' Brown told TopSports.news. "They have such a great tradition and I felt like it was an opportunity that I had to at least try for and see what happened.

"It's a great community and a school that plays in a great league and plays great teams and gets to play in a great atmosphere. My goal was always to have the opportunity to coach in the Centennial League. I think it's one of the best leagues in Kansas if not the best, so I felt like this was a great opportunity for me to get to coach at a school that has no much tradition and a school where you can compete at a very high level.''

Brown was an All-State point guard for Shawnee Heights, helping lead the T-Birds to the Class 5A state championship in 2017, and went on to play collegiately at Missouri Western and MidAmerica Nazarene.

Brown averaged 13.4 points as a senior and surpassed more than 1,000 career points for MidAmerica Nazarene, where he earned his criminal justice degree in 2022.

 "We are looking forward to having coach Brown lead our young men and continue the strong tradition of our basketball program,'' Hayden principal James Sandstrom said.

Paul led Hayden to a fourth-place state finish in 2022 before the Wildcats went 11-11 last season, losing to Atchison in a sub-state final.

Brown led a young Cair Paravel team to a 9-13 record this past season.