How a Winning Culture Led to a Winning Season

The girls’ basketball team at USM had a turn-around season in 2025-26 with the help of new head coach Brian Hendricks and a focus on culture first. 

It was the spring of 2025, and the girls’ basketball program at University School of Milwaukee was struggling. The team had finished the 2024-25 season with a record of 2–21, which was an improvement on the prior year’s season record of 0–17. Finding a coach with the right fit was a challenge, leading to high turnover and low player morale. Aneesha Jayasuriya ’26, who played on the team for all four years of Upper School and was a team captain, didn’t mince words: “It was really rough,” she said.

When Brian Hendricks stepped in that fall as the girls’ varsity head coach for the 2025-26 season, the players noticed a difference immediately. Practices were harder, and expectations were higher. “I was very excited after our first practice,” said Juliana Hernandez ’26, who also played all four years and served as a captain. “I mean, I was dying from all the running. But I knew that we were going to be good. I could just feel it.”

Hendricks believed that building a strong culture was key to improving the team, and that holding players accountable for their actions was key to building a strong culture. If a player was late to practice or violated the dress code during the school day, she had to make 25 free throws, do extra conditioning work, and watch a two-minute sports psychology video. Playing time would be impacted if she didn’t complete the tasks. “I always tell the girls, ‘How you do anything is how you do everything,’” he said. “How you are in a game should be how you are at school, at home, at work, wherever.” Soon, the players were holding each other to high expectations. “When you like the people around you, you’re going to play harder for them,” he added.  

Their hard work paid off when the first game of the season ended in a win. “We went from winning two games in the past two seasons to winning our first game of the season, so we were on a high note immediately,” said Hernandez. The wins stacked up as the season progressed and, at one point, the girls won 12 games in a row. “It almost became natural to start winning games,” said Jayasuriya. “Like, ‘Oh, so this is what it feels like to be in a solid basketball program.’”  

Although winning was nice, the girls would have been proud to finish their basketball career at USM regardless of the team’s performance. They credit the school’s no-cut athletic policy in part for their enthusiastic participation. “I wasn’t the most technically skilled during my four years playing, but I did develop a love for the sport, and it made me want to help everyone around me get better,” said Hernandez. 

“I really like that USM is no cut,” added Jayasuriya. “I have friends who go to schools that do cut players, and they talk about how, as a result, they’re maybe less likely to even try out for a team. I think being no cut actually helped us get better, because people who maybe wouldn’t have considered playing took a chance on it knowing that they’d at least get to be part of the program.”

Hendricks agrees that, although nice, winning games is not what made this season enjoyable for him. “This was the most fun I’ve had coaching in a long time,” he said. I think a lot of it was because the girls were just so great to be around. Even if we lost, like when we lost to Brookfield Academy by 12 points, it was still a great game and you could see the shift. They were like, ‘We can do this, and we are good.’ It was really cool.”

Watch a day in the life of Brian Hendricks.

The team finished the 2025-26 season with a 17-8 record, going 9-7 in conference play and 0-1 in the playoffs. Every player received academic all-state honors.