The Duhawks welcomed Justin Busch '18 back home as the assistant coach for the Loras College men's basketball team prior to the 2022-23 season after a two-year run as the graduate assistant coach at Illinois Wesleyan University.
The 2022-23 season marked Busch’s first season as the Duhawks assistant coach. Busch helped coach a second-place finish in the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) Tournament. Two players from Busch’s first year back at Loras received A-R-C All-Conference honors in Junior Ali Sabet and Sophomore Tyler Bass. The Duhawks ranked first in the ARC in average points per game, 3 pointers made, and free throws made.
Busch helped the Titans to back-to-back College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) championships, yielding multiple All-Conference players, one All-American and one Academic All-American. He was also the team's strength and conditioning and varsity reserve coach. Busch's additional responsibilities included player development and social media management at Illinois Wesleyan. He completed his master's degree in sport psychology from Illinois State University in May.
Busch previously served as an assistant coach for the Duhawks from 2018-2020, helping the team to a 40-15 overall record and the historic run to the 2019 NCAA Division III Sweet 16 in 2019. During his time with the staff, the Duhawks saw multiple All-Conference honorees and the American Rivers Conference (A-R-C) MVP in addition to one All-America award winner. The role as assistant coach came after his time as a four-year member of the program when he served as a team captain his senior year, earned three Academic All-Conference awards and played on the team that went to the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC), now A-R-C, championship game.
Busch is a native of Bartlett, Ill. and earned his bachelor's degree from Loras in 2018 in English with minors in secondary education and business.