When men's basketball coach Brian Meehan decided to leave a winning program at Salem State College to coach a struggling Brandeis team in September 2003, he knew it would be a career-defining challenge. While many of Meehan's peers in the coaching ranks wondered why he would leave a school that he led to the Division III Final Four in 2000 for the cellar-dwellers of the University Athletic Association, Meehan saw the opportunity to rebuild the Judges as a revitalizing opportunity. "When I took the [Brandeis] job, different coaches I know said it would be difficult to win here, but that was just extra motivation," Meehan said. "I wanted to go to a place where I felt I could make a difference, a place that could re-energize me."

After the Judges made their first NCAA tournament for the first time in 29-year run that ended in a 70-67 second-round loss to Rhode Island College Saturday [See Story] it's hard to believe that just four years ago, Meehan took over a squad that went 6-19 with only two conference wins the year before.

His predecessor, former NBA coach Chris Ford, had an uninspiring two-year run at Brandeis despite his impressive resume. Unfamiliar with Division III basketball, Ford agreed at the last minute to coach the Judges for an interim basis before the 2001-2002 season as a favor to former athletic director Jeff Cohen.

Ford's interim status was never removed, and fittingly, the team lost his final nine games as head coach in 2002-2003.

When forward Steve Hill '08 visited Brandeis as a high school senior during Meehan's first year at the helm, he could tell the team was in disarray.

"When I walked into a game here as a senior, I remember thinking, 'Wow, this is terrible,'" Hill said bluntly.

But Meehan ultimately convinced Hill and nine other talented high school seniors to

join his first team of new recruits, a group of elite players in the region that would transform the Judges into one of the finest teams in the conference.

Led by UAA Rookie of the Year Florian Rexhepi '08 and veteran center Bryan Lambert '05, the Judges improved from 7-18 to 14-11 in 2004-2005, their first winning season in a decade. They posted the same record the next season despite losing Lambert, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, to graduation. This season, Meehan's original recruits matured and turned in a 19-6 regular-season campaign and an NCAA tournament berth.

On a Judges squad without any upperclassmen last year, Meehan's recruits were the oldest players on the team in just their second year. Therefore, the coach said he needed to help the team mature at a rapid pace. Creating a tight-knit, friendly community of players and coaches was essential to that process.

"[The players] aren't just here to be basketball players," Meehan said.

"You care about them academically [and] socially. They've got to know that you're not just their coach, but that they can come to you for guidance and mentoring."

But ultimately, it was Meehan's ability to earn the immediate respect of his new players, getting them to play his style of basketball, that ignited the future success of the program.

"[Meehan] works hard to make you respect him right off the bat," assistant coach Colin Tabb said. "He forces guys to do things his way, which makes them see why he's been so successful throughout his career."

While the winning attitude Meehan has instilled in his players led the Judges to the postseason, he is by no means satisfied with the initial hallmark achievement of his Brandeis tenure. Unlike Ford, Meehan is not an interim solution for the program. He's in this for long haul, he said.

"[Making the tournament] is a stepping stone, and we have to build this into a winning tradition," Meehan said.

"The day after the last season ended, our guys were working out in the weight room and getting ready for this season. That attitude is going to continue.