Trapper Men's Basketball
Coaching Staff
Brian Erickson — Men's Basketball Coach
Brian begins his first season as Interim Head Coach of the Northwest College Trappers. He was the Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach for three seasons (2009-2012). In his three seasons as Assistant Coach he helped the Trappers to an overall record of 64-30. His primary responsibilities were recruiting and student athlete skill/strength development. He also assisted with student athlete academic progress and achievement goals.
Brian grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah where he attended Granger High School. During his Senior season he was selected for the 5A All-State basketball team. He started his collegiate career at Eastern Wyoming and played 2 seasons for former Northwest College Head Coach Andy Ward. While at Eastern he helped lead the Lancers to back-to-back Region IX championships, where they placed 8th at the NJCAA National Basketball Tournament. He was recruited to Eastern to play shooting guard but during his Sophomore season was moved to the point guard position. His next 2 seasons were spent at Montana State University-Northern.
He graduated with his Bachelor’s in Business from Montana State University-Northern. After graduating he moved back to Salt Lake City, Utah and worked as a Project Manager for a Human Resource solutions company (Automatic Data Processing). When he came to Northwest he completed a mentorship for the United States Sports Academy (USSA) and obtained his Master’s in Sport’s Management from USSA. He is married to his High School sweet heart Callee (Fast) and has a 6 year old son, Gunnar, a 4 year old daughter, Coy, and a newborn.
Cody Ball — Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
Cody begins his first season as an assistant coach for the Northwest College Trappers. Ball spent the 2011-12 season as an assistant coach for the Mount Marty College Lancers men’s basketball team.
Cody grew up in Evanston, Wyoming, and was a member of the 2004 Wyoming 4A state championship team. He began his college career at Montana State University-Northern, and was a member of the 2007-08 Frontier Conference regular season co-champions. Ball then transferred to Northwest College to play for the Trappers for the 2008-09 season. He finished his career playing his final two years at Mount Marty College in Yankton, South Dakota. Cody was a co-captain of the first MMC team to ever host a Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament game, and first to ever win a GPAC tournament game.
He graduated from Northwest College with an Associate of Arts in General Studies, and a head coaching certification. Ball then graduated from Mount Marty College with a Bachelor of Arts in English writing, a Bachelor of Arts in English literature, and a minor in psychology. He was named to the NAIA Academic All-American team after his senior season. During his final year of college, Cody worked as a sportswriter for the Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan, and also volunteered at the Yankton Federal Prison Camp as a teaching assistant in a creative writing class taught at the prison camp. Cody is currently an Admissions Representative for Northwest College.
West Hernandez — Assistant Men's Basketball Coach
West is a Powell native and in his fifth year as a Volunteer Assistant Men's Basketball Coach. He graduated from Powell High School in 1998. He was a McDonald's All-American nominee in 1997-1998. He attended Northwest College and played basketball under Hall of Fame Coach, Ken Rochlitz from 1998-2000. He then transferred to the University of Montana Western and was on the basketball and golf team from 2000-2003. West graduated from UMW in 2003 with a Bachelors Degree in Business and Communication and is employed as Admissions Manager at Northwest College. He is married to Katie (Sheridan) and has two children, Landon and Emery.
West primarily assists with game day functions and academic advising.
