EMPORIA (KSNT)- Emporia State women’s basketball didn’t have to go far to find its next head women’s basketball coach.

On Friday, ESU announced the hiring of Brian Ostermann as its next head coach. Ostermann comes to Emporia from Manhattan, Kansas, where he served at the associate head coach for K-State women’s basketball.

Ostermann brings with him 34 years of college basketball coaching experience, including nine with the Wildcats. He also spent time coaching at TCU and at DII and junior college schools.

I am so grateful that Director of Athletics David Spafford & his team selected me to be their Women’s Basketball Head Coach. It’s an honor & privilege,” Ostermann said in a statement from ESU Athletics. “The opportunity to be a head coach at a school with the rich basketball history that is Emporia State University is something I couldn’t pass up.”

Ostermann is also not new to the MIAA, having previously spent time as a graduate assistant at Northwest Missouri State and an assistant coach at Missouri Western.

“Emporia State has made a terrific hire in Coach O,” K-State head women’s basketball coach Jeff Mittie said in a statement from K-State Athletics. “He has been a successful head coach at every one of his coaching stops and an integral part of our success here at Kansas State and TCU.”

Ostermann will be the eighth head coach of the Lady Hornet basketball program.