New Alabama Basketball assistant Bryan Hodgson’s transformational life

New Alabama basketball assistant coach, Bryan Hodgson has a message for recruits. His personal story is about a rough early childhood and the love that saved him.

In a still-young college basketball coaching career, new Alabama basketball assistant, Bryan Hodgson has garnered attention. As part of Nate Oats’ Buffalo staff going back to the 2015-16 season, Hodgson quickly gained a reputation as a strong recruiter.

Hodgson is very good at building relationships with recruits and players. He relies on his own story of adversity, overcome by love, to build trust. His message to recruits is about much more than basketball. It is about hope, discipline and following your passion in life.

Bryan Hodgson’s parents are not his biological parents. Born to a 15-year old mother, social services placed Bryan in foster care at the age of 18 months. He credits his biological mom with trying but she could not provide a safe environment for him.

This excellent reporting, done by Scott Kindberg of The Post-Journal explains why Hodgson was placed in foster care. Bryan retold his story,

"(My biological mom) “had a program where teenage mothers could bring their child to school with them and still get their diploma. Well, one day, I was sick … she left me home with her boyfriend at the time… he was not a good guy.”So when Bryan became fussy that day and went on an extended crying jag, the boyfriend’s response was to “pick me up at 1 years old and set me on a burning wood stove in my diaper. I had third-degree burns all the way down the upper part of my legs.”"

The foster couple who took Bryan in were Larry and Rebecca Hodgson. Eighteen months later they adopted Bryan. Rebecca described the day Bryan was brought to her,

"He came to our house wrapped in a blanket, burned and in slippers. That’s all he had."

Rebecca was an orphan and a foster child growing up. Over a thirteen year period, she and her husband took in 112 kids. Along with Bryan, two other foster children were adopted by the Hodgsons. All the others eventually returned to their biological families.

Hodgson’s path to Division 1 assistant basketball coach has also been improbable. He played basketball at the community college level and hoped to do so at SUNY Fredonia. Instead, he became a student manager with a head coach willing to teach him about coaching.

From that bit of experience, he worked his way back to his community college as an assistant coach. He latched on to an assistant position at Midland (TX) CC; the first season as a volunteer coach. He met Nate Oats when Nate was an assistant to Bobby Hurley at Buffalo. When Hurley left for Arizona State, Oats was promoted and hired Hodgson. Bryan shared his thoughts on his college coaching opportunities,

"I was fortunate to get this job at 26. I learned from my parents to follow what you’re passionate about, don’t let anyone get in your way and tell you that you can’t do it."

Bryan Hodgson has quite a story to share with the young men being recruited to play Alabama basketball. What makes it so powerful, even life-affirming is Bryan is not pitching players an abstraction. He is sharing a compelling life story of hope, discipline and love while showing young men how they can replicate it.

As we Alabama basketball fans get to know Nate Oats and his staff better, it is hard to not be enthused. Greg Byrne is to be commended on this hire.