Bland Named to 2026 Silver Waves Media Most Impactful Mid Major Assistant Coaches
10/19/2026 10:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The second-year associate head coach earns national recognition ahead of 2026-27 campaign
DENVER – University of Denver men's basketball associate head coach Spenser Bland has been named a recipient of the 2026 Silver Waves Media Most Impactful Major Assistant Coaches, Silver Waves Media announced on Monday.
Bland enters his second year on head coach Tim Bergstraser's Denver staff, and is in his fifth season on Bergstraser's staff between their time at Minnesota State University – Moorhead and Denver. The duo will lead the Pioneers into the program's first season in the West Coast Conference in 2026-27.
"I'm excited that Spenser is being recognized for how good he is in this profession," Bergstraser said. "He has always been a guy that I can trust and rely on. Amongst many pieces in our program, he's an elite offensive coach. He runs our offense and each year we have statistically been very efficient, ranking at a high level. He pours everything into a program to make it successful; elite level recruiter, cares about players and establishes relationships. He is undoubtedly deserving of this award and I'm grateful for a guy like Spenser that he has had my back for the last decade."
In his first season with the program, Bland and the Pioneers won five of their final seven games to finish fourth in the Summit League, the program's best finish in the league in eight years. As the program's offensive coordinator, Denver produced one of its best offensive years in its entire history of top-flight basketball, finishing second in scoring (2,650 points), third in field goals made (927), second in three-pointers made (283), seventh in free-throws made (513) and breaking the school record in free-throw percentage (77.3%). Denver turned out two scoring outputs in the top-5 of Denver's scoring chart against DI opponents in the modern era, scoring 98 against both Oral Roberts and at North Dakota.
Bland helped coach fellow MSUM transfer and 2026-27 WCC All-Preseason Team selection Carson Johnson, who was named the 2025-26 Summit League Men's Basketball Player of the Year, the first conference player of the year for the Pioneers since 2005.
TICKET INFORMATION: Season tickets for the 2026-27 campaign are on sale now, and can be purchased here.
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