Bormann named Cobbers head men's basketball coach

Detroit Lakes graduate Tyler Bormann is making a collegiate homecoming.

Bormann was named head men's basketball coach for the Concordia Cobbers, the college's athletic director Rachel Bergeson announced Thursday, April 2.

"Concordia has always been real special to me," said Bormann, a 2006 Concordia graduate. "It's a place that I have really fond memories as a student-athlete. It's a college based on relationships. For me as coach as I move along in my career, I really value the relationships that I've built."

Bormann spent the previous four seasons as the head boys coach at Moorhead. He guided the Spuds to 21-win campaigns in 2018-19 and 2019-20, marking the first time in school history the boys team won at least 20 games in back-to-back seasons. Bormann said the Spuds program will "forever be in my heart."

"It's special when you get to hire one of your own," Bergeson said.

(Video courtesy Concordia Sports Information):

Bormann takes over for Grant Hemmingsen, who resigned in late February after three seasons. Concordia had a 16-59 record over the past three seasons, including a 3-22 mark this past season. The Cobbers had a 1-19 record in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference in 2019-2020.

Bormann is the 12th head coach in the history of the program, which dates back to 1923.

"The biggest challenge we have moving forward is continuing to build our program on a competitive basis, night in and night out," said Bormann, who is starting his first head college coaching job. "We need to be competitive in the MIAC. We have to give ourselves a chance to win every single night."

Bormann, 36, spent four seasons at Breckenridge (Minn.) High School prior to his time at Moorhead, leading the Cowboys to their first Minnesota state tournament berth in 36 years, and was named the Class 2A, Section 8 coach of the year in 2015. He also spent six seasons in various assistant roles at Augustana (S.D.) University, Lakeland College (Wis.) and the University of Jamestown.

Bormann was a graduate assistant at Augustana for two seasons with head coach Tom Billeter, a former North Dakota State head coach. Bormann was also an assistant coach for coaching legend Bob Torgrimson at Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton for three seasons, while he was still a student at Concordia.

"He has a range of experiences that was both at the college level and a lot of success at the high school level. I think that's one of the things that stood out to us," said Bergeson, who added Bormann was one of four finalists for the Cobbers job. "He's so much more than just a basketball coach. He's a mentor to student-athletes and that was really important to us, too."

Bormann credits his grandfather, Dennis Anderson, another area coaching legend, for piquing his interest in coaching at a young age. Anderson was inducted into the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1997.

"I really grew up around the game. I grew up on bus rides, in the locker room," Bormann said. "He's long been an outstanding mentor to me and someone I've always looked up."

A 2002 Detroit Lakes (Minn.) High School graduate, Bormann was on the cross country team for two seasons and the track team for one spring while at Concordia. After the fall of his sophomore year is when he became an assistant for Torgrimson at D-G-F.

"I knew that was a passion of mine and wanted to get into the coaching profession," Bormann said.

That passion has led Bormann back to Concordia.

"We're selling a program that I think has a lot of value," Bormann said. "We really have to sell the opportunity to come in and be a difference-maker, come in and be part of a group that changes the trajectory of Cobbers basketball. ... I'm looking for young men who want to be in the gym and want to be part of that change."