Utah Valley Men’s Basketball has featured several top coaches throughout the years, most notably Mark Pope, who is now the head coach at Kentucky, and Mark Madsen, who now mans the head-coaching spot at Cal. But none have equaled the success current Coach Todd Phillips with regards to success during their respective first two seasons.

Phillips enters his third season coaching the Wolverines with a 41-25 combined record, the most wins ever by a UVU coach in the program’s history as a Division one program. Last season Phillips led UVU to a 25-9 overall record and a 15-1 mark in WAC Conference play which led to the program’s third-ever invite to the NIT postseason tournament with the goal of improving upon that success this coming year.

The Wolverines tip off their 2025-26 season Tuesday night when hosting West Coast Baptist at UCCU Center hoping to improve on last season’s success.

“We want to win the WAC, which is the goal every year, and we want to get back to the WAC championship game and win it this time, and then go on and play in the NCAA tournament,” Phillips said. “Everyone is always looking to do that, and sure, it’s what every program says, but this is definitely a year where we feel like we need to make that strong push.”

The Wolverines will have to make do with some notable subtractions from the roster, but Phillips feels he has enough returning, on top of some key additions, to provide a lot of wins this coming season.

“I think we have a really good group and we’ll have to figure some things out, and players will have to figure out their roles, but I like our group,” Phillips said. “I think we have good size, and then some athletic guys, and then guys who like to play with each other. So we’re excited for the year and ready to get going.”

Leading the way will be returning guard Trevan Leonhardt, who is entering his junior year after starring for Davis High School at the prep level. The 6-foot-4 point guard led the team with 178 total assists last season while averaging 5.8 points per game.

“It was his first year starting last year and he led the league in assists-to-turnover ratio,” Phillips said of his starting point guard. “He’s just really fun to play with because he’s always finding guys for shots, and we feel we’ve brought in even more shooting to go well with what he does out there on the court. He’s also worked to elevate his game in getting to the basket to score a bit more for us. So we’re excited for him and he’s the catalyst for our team.”

Other key returners include 6-7 sophomore guard Jackson Holcombe, who prepped at Timpanogos, Noah Taitz, a 6-4 senior guard who transferred to UVU from Loyola Marymount a season ago, and 6-9 senior forward Hayden Welling, who played for Corner Canyon, among others.

“All of those guys were crucial for us last year and they’ve all improved well over the summer,” Phillips said. “So they really fit well together, and the job now is to fit some of the exciting players with them and go from there. That’s always a challenge, but I like how we’re looking so far.”

One of the top additions is UCF transfer Tyler Hendricks, who is a 6-6 junior swingman whom Phillips expects a lot from this coming season.

“I think Tyler Hendricks will be one of the best players in the league,” Phillips assessed. “His strength is he does everything. He can guard, he can rebound, he can drive and he can shoot it. He’s also a good passer and he has kind of a quiet low-key kind of demeanor and just goes about his business.”

Other key additions include 6-8 sophomore Isaac Davis, who played for Utah State last season, and 6-4 sophomore guard Braden Housley, who also played for the Aggies last season. Isaac Hawkins a 6-10 junior transfer from Southern Idaho will be asked to replace a lot of what Osiris Grady provided a season ago.

Turning over rosters has become a regular feature in this day and age of college basketball, and providing key additions to replace notable personnel losses largely determines a team’s overall success from season to season. Fortunately Phillips is used to the process, having coached at the junior college level prior to accepting his current post at UVU, and he’s subsequently been able to cultivate some promising initial success.

“You have to keep at it constantly on the recruiting trail, knock doors, and then also work hard to just keep the players you have from year to year,” Phillips said. “It’s not easy, but that’s what you have to shake out every year. You have to find kids that can play well in your system, that like being here at UVU, but I love the process, I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do here at UVU, so far, and we’re working to reach even higher goals as we go on.”