By Jacob Norling
November 12, 2025
 
(SANTA BARBARA, Calif.) Times are changing for the Westmont Men's Basketball program. That change is being spearheaded by Justin Leslie, who was named the 17th head coach in program history back in April. On Friday night in Hawaii, Leslie's first Westmont team will embark upon a journey that their head coach believes has immediate stakes. With great expectations for the future, Leslie possesses an appreciation for how essential the present is.
 
"It's been a whirlwind," said Leslie, in regards to the first seven months and 10 days of his tenure. "The biggest thing has been making sure that I hit the ground running recruiting. We've worked hard on putting a roster together that could, one, compete in the PacWest, but more importantly, fit Westmont."
 
"I think we will see the fruits of that labor over this season."
 
That labor entailed the reconstruction of a Westmont roster that returns just four players from the 2024-25 club. That iteration of Westmont's squad reached the PacWest Tournament in its first year of Division II eligibility. This iteration has a brand new coaching staff and an additional 12 new players who, along with their four returners, will try and carry the team into relevance in the West Region.
 
When it came to building out his first Westmont roster, Leslie maintained a specific standard for the type of young man he would offer a crimson uniform to.
 
"The first general trait we sought out was character," said Leslie. "It was important for me to have guys that I know I don't have to worry about academically or socially. I knew that we were going to have our hands full getting acclimated to everything new ourselves. If we were worried about holding guys' hands in off-the-court issues, it would have limited our ability to teach an entirely new roster how we go about our business.
 
"That goal is something that has proven to be successful this fall. The guys have done a great job of handling their business off the court, so that when we come together we can be locked in on basketball."
 
"I really wanted competitors," continued Leslie. "I wanted guys who really lean into the fight. Sure, you always want to get a little bit taller, a little bit stronger, and a bit more athletic, but where we weren't going to sacrifice was in their competitive spirit. It's hard as a coach to instill grit and toughness into a team. It's a lot easier to recruit those types of characteristics, and then guide them in the right direction once they are part of the program."
 
As far as the roster itself, just one of Westmont's returners has played significant minutes for the program. That would be senior Jarrett Bryant, a two-time recipient of the Golden Eagle Award. Bryant is coming off of a year in which he averaged 10.9 PPG, and 5.5 RPG. Aidan Mandel, a local product from San Marcos High School, also returns under the new head coach, as does senior Caleb Gilbert.
 
Outside of those three, and junior Slayde Lowe, Leslie's remaining dozen are all first-timers at The Mont. Not all of them, however, are new to Leslie himself. A pleasant surprise for a group that is so new to one another is the fact the head coach looks around and sees leadership in just about every direction.
 
"Leadership is something that is shared amongst this group," assured Leslie. "A couple of the returners, and some other upper-classmen, have done a really good job of leading off the court. There's those guys who know the ins and outs of what it means to be a student at Westmont, and then there's also the leadership of the guys I brought with me, who have played for me before, who have been examples of how we do things on the court.
 
"Then there's also guys who are entirely new to Westmont, entirely new to me, who are natural leaders in their own right. Brand new guys like Trey Thompson and Logan Huston have leadership qualities in the same way Jarrett Bryant and Aidan Mandel do as guys who have done this before. Then I can also rely on guys like Braedon Bigott and Davon Smith, who have played for me before. I would say that leadership is spread out well amongst those young men."
 
The group will be revealed in totality on Friday night in Hawaii, where the men will tip-off against Saint Martin's in the first of two they will play at the Hilo Conference Challenge. On Saturday the men will go toe-to-toe with Montana St. Billings, and then the following weekend, the Warriors will take on Simon Fraser and Western Oregon at the Wolves' Conference Challenge.
 
While some may take their pre-conference schedule as an opportunity to experience growing pains, Leslie has stressed early on that this first slate of games holds far-higher stakes than may meet the eye.
 
"You can take this with a grain of salt, but by the end of this weekend you can make an argument that we will know how many teams from each of the three conferences will be selected into the NCAA Regional," said Leslie. "Anytime you are playing games against an in-region opponent, you are not only competing on your own behalf, but on behalf of the entire conference. The better we can do our part to raise the PacWest win-percentage, the better it will serve us throughout the course of this season.
 
"At the Division II level there is a lot of pressure on these early season, non-conference games, in a way that's different to other levels. We can't just go out there, roll the balls out, and think everything will take care of itself in conference play. If you want to be a postseason contender, you have to be good in the month of November."
 
The head coach continued, "For us, it's important to instill that mindset and that understanding. We're not kicking the can down the road. The idea that we're all brand new and that we're not expected to compete well from the start is something we're not going to give in to. I believe we can compete and compete at a high level this year. It's really important that we set the foundation, and not just for this year but subsequent seasons, of doing what it takes from day one to put yourself in position for a postseason opportunity."
 
Westmont's first PacWest contest will take place on December 3 at Concordia, before the Warriors host Menlo on December 6 in Murchison Gym. For Leslie, it will be the first PacWest game he has coached since 2019, which was the last of 12 years he coached at Azusa Pacific before taking the job at Midwestern State.
 
"This team will play nothing like any team I've ever coached here in the PacWest," assured Leslie. "I've shared this before, and I know I'm not unique in this, but COVID was a really transformational time for me as a coach. Basketball coaches don't get the opportunities to take sabbaticals. It was the first time in my career that I was able to essentially hit pause. I watched film, I reflected, and I got on zoom with tons of high-level coaches across the country. I questioned all my assumptions.
 
"From that time, the way my teams play has completely changed. I have a greater understanding of analytics, and how to incorporate that into behaviors on the floor. I am, or at least I'm hoping to be, a better version of myself as a coach as I'm growing and maturing. This is my 19^th year as a head coach, and I like to think I'm just about to hit my prime, so to speak. I still have the same energy I've always had to come in and work hard every day, but at the same time, I've accumulated enough wisdom over the years to realize what battles I have to fight, and which ones you can defer on.
 
"It'll be interesting to come back to places I'm comfortable with, but where a lot of the faces in these places have changed as well. Professionally, I'm invigorated with a challenge that has me excited to come to work every day."
 
Leslie is confident that Westmont Basketball faithful will be proud of what they see this coming season.
 
"This is a gritty, tough bunch," promised Leslie. "X's and O's wise, fans and alumni aren't going to have an idea of what we're doing early on. But you know as a fan immediately when you see a team that is competing and laying it on the line every night. These guys have that contagious positive energy about what they're doing, and there's an obvious shared sense of purpose with this group.
 
"I think what this group has to offer is going to be energizing for our community to see. It is a group that will represent Westmont well, because they're just as wonderful off-the-court as they are on it."
 
The new era officially begins on Friday night at 7:00 p.m. PST/5:00 p.m. HST.