Siena Heights University is proud to announce the hiring of the school's new men's basketball coach, Joe Pechota. Pechota will lead the Saints after seven seasons as the head coach for Brescia University, an NAIA Division II team in Owensboro, Ky.ADRIAN, Mich. -- Siena Heights University is proud to announce the hiring of the school's new men's basketball coach, Joe Pechota. Pechota will lead the Saints after seven seasons as the head coach for Brescia University, an NAIA Division II team in Owensboro, Ky.

Under Pechota's watch, the Bearcats have appeared in the last two Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference finals. Pechota has also coached six NAIA All-America honorees and three NAIA Scholar-Athletes.

Prior to coaching at Brescia, Pechota was at Indiana-Fort Wayne where he graduated from assistant to associate head coach to interim head coach during his six seasons at IUFW. He was also an assistant at Ferris State for one season and at Alma for three seasons.

Pechota is no stranger to the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference; he graduated from Concordia in 1995 with a Bachelor's degree in Physical Education. In 2001, he earned a Master's degree in Sport Administration from Central Michigan.

"We believe Joe can get our program back to where we want it to be," SHU athletic director Fred Smith said, "based on his recent success at Brescia and his familiarity with the WHAC."

"I'm excited about the opportunity to be back in Michigan and back in a conference I played in," Pechota said of his hiring.

SHU Athletics has had an eventful school year -- two new facilities, three new teams, a new indoor floor and several turnaround seasons -- and Pechota now aims to turn the men's basketball program back into a powerhouse -- not only within the WHAC, but in all of the NAIA.

"I like what I see in the vision of the university and with what's going on with the athletic department," he added. "When I was a player, they (the men's basketball team) were a wrecking ball.

"I'm going to do everything that I need to do to get the program back to that level. It's a process, but I want to make our gym the place to be again."