Bedford boys basketball culture turnaround leads to best record in a decade

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In his third year as head coach at his alma mater, Jordan Bollin has Bedford boys varsity basketball headed towards its best season in over a decade. After finishing last season 3-17, the Kicking Mules have 11 wins in their first 14 games, the most since they began 2012 with a record of 13-1.

Bollin graduated from Bedford in 2006. Following graduation, Bollin was an assistant for Bedford and Blissfield until he became head coach at Dundee in 2015. Five seasons and 67 wins later, Bedford made Bollin an offer he couldn’t resist.

“I was pretty happy at Dundee, but the thought of being able to come back and build my own program is what eventually won me over,” Bollin said.

Once Bollin knew he would be given the keys to the program, the only thing left was to bring his staff. Bollin hoped most of his staff would come with him, and it turned out all of them did.

Bollin played under current Bedford varsity girls head coach Bill Ryan. Now that Bollin is at the helm of the boys program, he’s trying to implement the same mindset and culture Ryan instills in his teams.

“It was all about toughness,” Bollin said. “That’s something I think we embodied as a program back then. We were really gritty and just played with a physicality and a toughness that he instilled in us, and that’s something that his teams still have. We try to carry that through our program today.”

Bollin’s first season at Bedford was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the first time he saw his team was over a zoom meeting. His team worked on learning the system last season, and now they’re bearing the fruits of their labor.

“The first year almost felt like it was a wash because we only played 15 games and had like 30 practices,” Bollin said. “ Last year, we had a full season of leg work to get in the plays. We really just focused on ourselves, and tried to improve and make sure we do everything the right way, and this year we’ve hit the ground running.”

Senior center Andrew Hollinger has been through it all at Bedford. Despite his team’s lack of wins prior to this season, the 6-foot-7 Hollinger has found a way to stand out amongst the top big-men in southeast Michigan.

Aside from being a walking double-double, Hollinger has been efficient from the stripe. On Jan. 10 against Skyline, Hollinger set a school record going 16-for-16 from the free throw line.

Hollinger said the energy around this year’s team is different than in previous years.

“We are all more confident than we were in the past, and we know that we can win games,” Hollinger said. “With eight seniors, we know that it’s our last go at this, and we are trying to enjoy that as much as possible.”

There’s a dichotomy in this year’s team; although eight seniors returned, freshman Carsen Behnke has started every game at point guard. Behnke was the varsity teams’ manager last season despite the fact he was in eighth grade.

Behnke is part of the first class of students coming up through Bollin’s basketball program at Bedford. Behnke said the early exposure to the program’s system was crucial to get him where he needed to be.

“The program has (the) middle school level learn some of the high school plays, but I was so nervous once I heard all of the plays we had to learn,” Behnke said. “I think it helped me learn what each player was doing in each play early so that way I knew what I was doing when I came to be a freshman.”

At last year’s banquet, Bollin told the parents he thought the season was an overwhelming success despite losing 17 games. He won’t think about wins and losses when it’s time to look back on this season either.

“I felt like last year we really set the bar for what we wanted to be as a program with our team and our culture,” Bollin said. “ I feel like this year, no matter what happens at the end of it, it’s going to be a successful season because I know that Bedford basketball is moving in the right direction.”