Preseason Media Day: Shiny and New- Bronkema Introduces Chippewa Men

Photo by: Josie Ransley '25,M'27 - @josieransmedia

Preseason Media Day: Shiny and New- Bronkema Introduces Chippewa Men

10/21/2025 4:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Andy Bronkema Preseason Press Conference Logan McIntire & Phat Phat Brooks Preseason Press Conference 2025-25 MBB Roster 2025-26 MBB Schedule Field of 68 Interview Media Day Photo Gallery

'We have a true team, guys that care about each other, guys that are going to make unselfish plays and I just know they’re going to love cheering for that and it’s a team they’re going to see constant improvement with. I’m very, very confident in that'

By: Andy Sneddon

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- A whole lotta new, and a whole lotta excitement.

Andy Bronkema was named to lead the Central Michigan men's basketball program in April.

On Tuesday, he met the media as his Chippewas prepared to entertain Saginaw Valley State in an exhibition game on Friday, Oct. 24 (7 p.m.) at McGuirk Arena.

Bronkema is quite familiar with introductions. His entire 15-player roster, and his entire coaching staff, comprises newcomers to CMU.

"When you build a roster from scratch, 15 new guys, five assistant coaches, a new head coach, you really get an opportunity to choose pieces that fit together, and I think we did that," said Bronkema, who spent the previous 12 years at Ferris State, where he won a Division II national championship and led the Bulldogs to a combined nine Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships.

"The goal is at the end of the year to be playing the best basketball that you can play," Bronkema said. "That's been our daily approach, and if we ever get lost in a feeling of it being too much, we quickly remind ourselves that we're at a place that we chose to be and that we love and we're going to love more every day."

Among the high-profile transfers on the roster are guards Phat Phat Brooks (Michigan) and Logan McIntire (Kentucky Wesleyan). Brooks is a sophomore, while McIntire is one of six seniors on the roster.

Brooks' brother, Jorden, is a senior on the Chippewa roster. Jorden Brooks is one of three now-CMU players who played for Bronkema at Ferris State.

"I've known Bronks for some years," Phat Phat Brooks said. "Getting to know Bronks, deeper, outside my brother – talking to him it didn't feel like I was actually talking to a coach, but like a person, someone I could trust and he told me he believes in me.

"He gave me the sense that there's not pressure on me; he knows what I can do, he's seen me play before. He told me not to feel pressure coming in, like I can just be me. Me being able to have that trust factor in him is just what drew me in."

Nathan Claerbaut, a 7-foot senior, and guard Jaxson Whitaker are the other two Ferris State transfers.

Nine of the 15 players on the roster are Michigan natives or played their high school ball in Michigan. Five others hail from Indiana or Illinois.

"The strengths are their willingness to learn, to learn the system, and to play together -- guys that are willing to put winning first and put themselves second," Bronkema said. "Guys that understand that we believe in how talented they are and that every bit of the accountability that we hold them to is based on how highly we think of them.

"Everybody on our roster has a skill and a talent to impact winning. It might be on the floor on game day, it might be in practice. We're going to learn more and more about them every day."

There will most certainly be a learning curve in coming from a Division II school to Division I. Not only for Bronkma and many on his staff, but for so many of the players who played at the likes of Ferris State and Wayne State and/or at the community college level.

"Things that impact winning are absolute," Bronkema said. "And that's the relationships, bringing a group together to play as a team, the organization of your practices, the curriculum you lay out throughout the year, how you approach things, your attitude.

"Those things never change. Those are the things we're focused on."

"The thing I look forward to is, Mount Pleasant, the students, the fans seeing a team. We have a true team, guys that care about each other, guys that are going to make unselfish plays and I just know they're going to love cheering for that and it's a team they're going to see constant improvement with. I'm very, very confident in that."