Familiar faces

By JEFF WINDMUELLER - Independent Record - 07/17/09

Brandon and Brock Veltri
Carroll College men’s head basketball coach Brandon Veltri, left,poses with identical twin and new associate head coach Brock Veltri in the Carroll P.E. center Thursday. (Lisa Kunkel Independent Record)

Just a couple of months into his role as the men's head basketball coach at Carroll College, Brandon Veltri already has members of the Saints athletic department scratching their heads.

Not because he's made any drastic changes to the program, but because everyone in the Carroll P.E. Center is simply trying to figure out "Which one was that that just walked by?"

On Wednesday, Veltri announced the hiring of identical twin brother Brock Veltri as the new associate head coach and sports information director for the Saints.

Sharing the same looks as his black-haired, 6-foot-5 older brother (by three minutes), Brock also brings much of the same training and experience to the coaching position as his sibling. He's expected to be a strong right-hand man in Brandon's first year at the helm since former head coach Gary Turcott announced his retirement in April.

"My biggest concern taking this job a couple of months ago was 'can I find another assistant that will come in and do a lot of the work that we're getting done at this point?' " Brandon said. "Several coaches that I'm really close with, including Coach Turcott, told me 'you need to find another Brandon Veltri.'

"Ironically enough, we found Brock Veltri."

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Brock has spent the past five seasons as head assistant coach for NCAA Division II Seattle Pacific. He served as SPU's head recruiting coordinator, oversaw in-season scouting of opponents, skill development efforts and was in charge of scheduling and travel for the Falcons.

During Veltri's time, the team had a combined record of 104-43 and qualified for the NCAA tournament each season, reaching the Final Four in 2006.

"Working with him is going to be different from working with an assistant that we have to train," said Brandon, who admits that he and his brother have shared much of the same responsibilities over the last few years. "He and I will be on the same page from Day 1. And that doesn't mean that we're always going to agree on something, but if we do disagree then I know he's going to give me feedback. He's going to be able to come up and offer that other view and I'll respect it."

Having spent nearly every waking minute with each other for the first 21 years of their life, it only fits that the Veltri twins would end up working together once more.

Growing up in the Salt Lake region, the two had the same classes in school since kindergarten, shared a room all the way through college and drove the same junky car that their parents bought for them in high school.

They both played basketball at Peninsula College, a junior college in Port Angeles, Wash., before finishing up their bachelor's degrees at Utah. Brandon then took a year off to work in Hawaii, while Brock finished up graduate work at Idaho State.

One year later, Brandon followed him to Pocatello, Idaho, and used the same U-Haul trailer to unpack Brock's home and move his own furnishings in, sharing his brother's past roommates.

While they've lived in different states, they've remained in close contact ever since.

They both ended up coaching for elite programs in their respective divisions and would share their knowledge of the game, and its business side, with each other.

Despite recruiting for the same caliber of players in the same part of the United States, they never once tried recruiting the same player.

In fact, they helped each other out by pointing out recruits when they knew the other program needed him. Often by happenstance, the Falcons would be looking for a point guard when the Saints had plenty, and vice versa.

Of course, running around the same circles in the world of college basketball, there were moments of misidentity, including one that nearly cost the Saints a highly regarded recruit.

Two years ago, Brandon made a trip to Las Vegas for a basketball tournament where current redshirt freshman Casey Rogers was playing.

After spending a few days watching him play and talking with the point guard from Billings West, Brandon had to make the trek home. The next day, Brock arrived at the tournament.

Rogers spotted the man he thought he knew standing in the corner of a gymnasium and decided to approach him.

"I said 'Hi, coach Veltri, how are you doing?'" Rogers remembered. "He said 'Good' and walked away."

Brock didn't know who the player was and didn't want to break any of the NCAA's strict recruiting rules by talking to him, causing the coach to be short with Rogers.

The dismissive attitude made Rogers think the Saints weren't interested in him anymore and he later called Brandon to see what was wrong.

"I didn't know what to think. They look so similar and I didn't know anything about his twin brother, it caught me so offguard," Rogers said. "He just blew me off so bad, it made sense that he had no idea who I was."

Brandon quickly realized what had happened, explained the situation and assured Rogers that the Saints were still interested in him.

When Brock came to help out with the Carroll basketball camps this summer, Rogers walked up and said "I know you."

"He's a great guy and he and Brandon are so similar," Rogers said. "I'm very excited to have him as an assistant coach.

"I don't know a whole lot about his coaching style, but having two guys that are similar but have different backgrounds is definitely going to help out."

Brandon certainly thinks so.

He and Turcott have been interested in incorporating the "Princeton" offense into their "blocker-mover" style over the past few years, but haven't found a person who knows the intricacies of the offense and how to teach it.

Now the Saints have a coach well versed in the style of play, which SPU has used for years.

Brandon has already turned to him to help find recruits for a particular position and within an hour had a list of 10 his brother compiled in his hand.

And, neither fears that their relationship will strain the dynamics between a head coach and assistant.

"As an assistant coach I think you understand your role - and whether it be him or anybody else - you know you've got a goal and you're always trying to achieve that goal," Brock said. "I'm just excited that he got the opportunity and to be able to come out and work with him is a unique situation and we're just excited to get it going."

All Brock has to do now is adjust to a new life - more like an old one - with his brother.

Both recognized how hard it was separating after college. Ironically, having someone exactly the same made the two individuals unique.

They could walk into a restaurant and immediately have people asking them if they were twins.

"Before we went our separate ways, you just get so used to people noticing you," Brock said.

They rarely had to initiate conversation and always had a friend to talk to. Brandon said it took him time to adjust to going to the grocery store, an activity he loathed to do alone.

Since arriving in Helena, Brock has had to get used to the strange looks he's now getting when walking his wife of six years, Jenny, around town.

"I was with my wife and she definitely got some stink eyes from girls walking around Bert and Ernies," he said.

A single man, Brandon is well known in the community, and while some knew about his older brother, Brett, who also lives in Helena, they didn't know about his twin.

Some approach him as if he's Brandon, and a few forewarned were able to tell who he was immediately.

Either way, he has felt welcomed by those who know his brother and share their respect right away.

"That happens a lot," Brock said. "People, if they know one of us, they get real comfortable with the other one.

"That is, if they like the first."

Jeff Windmueller: 447-4065 or .

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