Houston Christian University Men's Basketball

Associate Head Coach Evan Lavery is in his second season as the lead assistant at Houston Christian University. Lavery helps lead in all aspects of the program while also coordinating the Husky defense. Lavery helped orchestrate substantial improvement in the Husky program in year one in Houston. Picked to finish last (12th) in the 2024-25 Southland Conference pre-season poll, HCU finished tied for seventh place while doubling the win total from the previous season from six wins to 12. The Huskies tallied nine Southland victories which were the most conference wins in a season in eight years. Lavery spent the last six seasons with Emporia State University (KS). As Head Coach Craig Doty’s right hand man, he helped elevate the Hornets on to the national scene. In six seasons, Lavery was instrumental in the recruitment and development of 14 All-MIAA selections, three All-MIAA defensive team members, three All-Region selections, and one All-American. The 2022-23 season featured a 23-win season, which was the highest in the 32-year NCAA Division II era of Emporia State Men’s Basketball. The Hornets also earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007. Emporia State knocked off #17 Northern State 72-51 in Maryville, MO. The Hornet defense held Northern State 28 points under their season average. This performance marked the first NCAA Tournament win in program history. The Hornets earned back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in over 30 years. The 2021-22 season set the tone for future Hornet success. Led by Second-Team All-American Tray Buchanan, the Hornets recorded 20 wins for the first time since 2007 and recorded the most program conference wins (15) in school history. ESU received votes in the national poll for the second consecutive season. Prior to the 2020-21 season, he was named “50 Most Impactful Assistant Coaches in NCAA Division II” by Silver Waves Media. After arriving in Emporia, Lavery guided the Hornets to finishing third in the MIAA in field goal defense twice (2019-20, 2022-23) and second in field goal defense in 2020-21 while allowing only 71.4 points per game, which was good for second in the MIAA. Additionally, during the 2020-21 campaign, Emporia State earned votes in the NCAA Division II national poll for the first time in 13 years. The Hornets consistently received votes throughout the 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24 seasons, reaching as high as #16 in the NABC Poll in 2022-23 and 2023-24. The 2023-24 Hornets finished an injury-plagued season at 19-12, which allowed ESU to average over 20 wins over the last three seasons. Prior to Emporia State, Lavery helped build and maintain Rock Valley College into an NJCAA national powerhouse. During his five years on staff, the Golden Eagles owned a 144-27 (.842) record, made three trips to the NJCAA DIII National Tournament, and won two NJCAA National Championships. From 2013-16, he served as an assistant coach under Craig Doty. Lavery spent his last two seasons (2016-18) at RVC as the head coach, compiling a 50-15 (.769) record. During those five years, the Golden Eagles produced 11 All-Region IV players, 11 All-Conference Players, 4 NJCAA All-Americans, and 2 NJCAA National Players of the Year. Lavery’s 2017-18 team posted 27 wins - the 4th highest single-season total in the 53-year history of the program. The 2017-18 season also marked the fifth consecutive year where Rock Valley College men's basketball finished the season with at least 23 wins. The Golden Eagles also spent all 12 national polls ranked in the NJCAA DIII Top 10, the fourth consecutive season the Golden Eagles spent the entire year nationally ranked from start to finish, climbing as high as #2 overall. In 2016-17, despite RVC losing seven players to graduation, including two All-Americans and four starters, Lavery signed eight recruits and developed players who were role players as freshman into feature players as sophomores. Lavery would lead the Golden Eagles to a 23-9 (.719) record in his first season as head coach which is the highest first year win total for any head coach in the 52 year history of Rock Valley men's basketball. Lavery joined RVC following a one-year stint as an Assistant Men's Basketball Coach at NCAA Division III Rockford University (IL). Lavery holds degrees from Kishwaukee College (AS), Central Methodist University (BS), and Fort Hays State University (MS).

Terry Johnson is now in his third season as an assistant coach for the Huskies. He serves as recruiting coordinator while helping lead the administrative side of the program. Johnson’s work on the staff helped the Huskies show substantial improvement during the 2024-25 season. Picked to finish last (12th) in the Southland Conference pre-season poll, HCU finished tied for seventh place while doubling the win total from the previous season from six wins to 12. The Huskies tallied nine Southland victories which were the most conference wins in a season in eight years. Johnson came to HCU after spending two seasons at California State-Northridge, where he served under his father and longtime college coach, Trent Johnson. He is currently one of just three coaches with over eight or more years of experience in the Southland Conference. Johnson served at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi from 2014-21 where he was an assistant coach for five seasons and Director of Operations for two.   Johnson helped TAMUCC to appearances in the SLC Tournament title game in 2016 and again in 2017 when the Islanders advanced to the championship game of the CIT postseason tournament.   The Islanders went on a strong three-season run from 2014-17. In 14-15, the Islanders finished 21-13 with a berth in the CIT where they defeated Florida Gulf Coast University. The next season, TAMUCC went 25-8 overall and 15-3 in SLC play to finish second in the league and establish a program-high for wins in a single season. The Islanders advanced to the SLC Championship game and again to the CIT.   In 2016-17, Johnson coached six All-Conference players as the Islanders ended the campaign with a 24-12 record and a second straight second place finish in the regular season as well as a second straight trip to the Southland Championship game. Prior to his time in Corpus Christi, Johnson had coaching stints at University of St. Thomas, as well as his alma mater, California State-Stanislaus.   At St. Thomas, he helped lead the Celts to a runner-up finish in the Red River Athletic Conference Tournament and a berth in the NAIA National Tournament, where they fell to eventual runner-up Emmanuel College.   Johnson spent two years at Stanislaus from 2009-11 as an assistant to the late Larry Reynolds. He began his college playing career at Moorpark College where he spent a gray-shirt year before playing two seasons. The Raiders averaged 21 wins per season and qualified for the California Junior College Tourament all three years Johnson was there.   Johnson spent the remaining two years of his college career at Stanislaus, where he helped the Warriors to a win over Santa Clara in his first season. He ended his time with the Warriors ranked in the top 10 in blocked shots before graduating with a degree in Kinesiology.

Adam Cytlak is in his second season as an assistant coach at Houston Christian University. Now entering his third season working with head coach Craig Doty across both the D2 and D1 levels, Cytlak is active in all facets of the program including coordinating the Husky offense. Cytlak helped the program move the needle in year one in Houston. Picked to finish last (12th) in the 2024-25 Southland Conference pre-season poll, HCU finished tied for seventh place while doubling the win total from the previous season from six wins to 12. The Huskies tallied nine Southland victories which were the most conference wins in a season in eight years. Prior to his arrival at HCU, Cytlak was an assistant for one season at Emporia State University in Kansas. Cytlak aided the Hornets to a #15 ranking in the 2023-24 NABC Division II National Poll after ESU started the season with a 9-1 record. The Hornets would finish 19-12 including 14-3 on their home court of White Auditorium. Cytlak spent five seasons as the lead assistant coach at his alma mater Ohio Dominican University in Columbus, Ohio. While with the Panthers, Cytlak was in charge of player development, scouting, and recruiting. He helped coach the 2020-21 G-MAC Freshman of the Year Zach Szul. He also helped produce four all-conference players. Cytlak played four years at Ohio Dominican under head coach Dan Evans. He was a three-year captain and four-year starter at ODU, helping the Panthers capture their first and only G-MAC Tournament title in 2017-18, their inaugural season in the conference.  

Caden Brannan is in his second season at Houston Christian University and his first as Assistant Coach. As Director of Operations in year one at HCU, Brannan helped the Husky program move the needle in Houston. Picked to finish last (12th) in the 2024-25 Southland Conference pre-season poll, HCU finished tied for seventh place while doubling the win total from the previous season from six wins to 12. The Huskies tallied nine Southland victories which were the most conference wins in a season in eight years. Brannan is in fifth season on head coach Craig Doty’s staff working his way from an undergraduate student assistant at the Division II level to a Division I assistant. His rise includes positions of student assistant, graduate assistant, director of operations, and assistant coach. In Brannan’s three seasons at Emporia State, the Hornets averaged over 20 wins per season going 62-30 overall. In each of Brannan’s three seasons at ESU, the Hornets appeared in the NABC Division II national polls while being ranked in the top 25 for six weeks in 2022-23 and as high as #15 in 2023-24.  While at ESU, the program broke the school-record for MIAA conference wins in a season with 15 in 2021-22 and then matched the mark again in 2022-23 while breaking ESU's NCAA-era program record for wins in a season with 23.  The 2022-23 Hornets team made the NCAA Division II Regional while defeating #2 ranked Northern State in the first round for ESU’s first NCAA tournament win in the program’s history.