Carroll College didn't have to look anywhere else to find the perfect replacement for retired men's head basketball coach Gary Turcott.

The best choice was already on their staff.

Former associate head coach Brandon Veltri accepted the role on Thursday during a press conference in the Carroll P.E. Center gymnasium, leading the Saints into a new era after 19 years under Turcott's instruction. Turcott announced his retirement on April 2.

"I am very, very proud to be able to hire Brandon Veltri. He's proven that he can be a head coach at this level, he's worked under who I think is one of the finest coaches in the country in Gary Turcott," said Carroll athletic director Bruce Parker. "He's a hard worker, he's very loyal to Carroll College and I think he could be here for a long time.

"He's got a lot of enthusiasm, and I think the transition for our players, our staff and the campus and the Helena community will be an easy one."

While the 30-year-old Veltri will certainly bring youth and energy to the position, he guaranteed that not much will change for the Saints, who saw unprecedented success in Turcott's tenure and in the six years that Veltri was on staff.

"I think that's something we're all sensitive to during this process, the transition from coach Turcott to whoever the new coach was going to be," Veltri said before the crowd of 40 or so family, friends and media members. "I understand where these players are, I understand what we're capable of doing.

"It's not a rebuilding program here. The foundation is already in place."

In his tenure, Veltri has been the program's recruiting coordinator and overseen the team's in-season scouting while coordinating scheduling and travel.

His on-court duties included working with the Saints post players and in-game defensive adjustments. With his help, the Saints have garnered 14 All-Frontier Conference picks the past six seasons as well as eight All-America honorees.

Since his arrival, the Saints have compiled an impressive 140-49 overall record and won three Frontier Conference titles. He helped the Saints to a pair of "Elite Eight" appearances and a berth in the NAIA's "Fab Four" in 2005. Carroll has won 20 games or more in each of the past five seasons, including a school record 28 wins in 2005 that was surpassed by the 30 wins the following season.

Much of Carroll's success is thanks to the "blocker-mover" offense that Turcott and former assistant -- now women's head basketball coach -- Shawn Nelson developed years ago, as well as a stifling man-to-man defense.

Veltri said that he has no intention of changing those schemes strategies that have helped the Saints to so much success.

He'll also keep three core values he learned from Turcott; the first of which is to never cut corners.

"He always prepared for each contest the very same," Veltri said. "He would never underestimate an opponent, and never be intimidated by an opponent."

Veltri said that Turcott would rewrite every plan five or six times until it was extremely simple to teach.

The second value was to always be humble; give credit to the players when the team wins, and take blame for when it loses.

"You're always one game away from being an embarassment in the business," Veltri said.

And finally, to surround yourself with good people and treat them well.

Veltri has undoubtedly been the recipient of such respect. His journey to Carroll College began in his high school days when he and twin brother Brock Veltri were searching for a small college where they could play basketball at.

When Veltri's high school basketball coach in the Salt Lake valley called Turcott to ask if he was interested, the Saints' coach told him there wasn't room but they could try Mark Amaral, a former Carroll assistant coach who had taken up head coaching duties at Peninsula College in Port Angeles, Wash.

"There were small schools we were looking at playing for," Veltri said. "We were both 6-5 post players that couldn't jump.

"We knew what our limitations were. We were fortunate to play those two years at Port Angeles."

After leaving Peninsula, the Veltri brothers both returned to their home state to graduate from the University of Utah. Brock went to graduate school at Idaho State right Utah and Brandon followed suit a year later.

In 2004, Turcott went looking for a new assistant coach after Shawn Nelson took over the women's program, and a phone call to Amaral gave him a name to contact: Brock Veltri.

"Six years ago Coach Turcott made a phone call to a very hard-working, self-motivated, talented basketball coach and offered him the assistant position here at Carroll College," Brandon Veltri said. "Fortunately, he turned the position down and gave Coach Turcott my phone number instead."

Veltri accepted the position and spent the first few years avoiding a cramped cubicle to join Turcott in his office, drawing up plays on a dry erase board and examining the other teams' strategies.

In his first year, Veltri and Turcott also put together a plan.

"He said that if I came to Carroll College, and if I put in the time and effort that he would help me to become a head coach," Veltri said. "Today that goal has become a reality."

Jeff Windmueller: 447-4065 or jeff.windmueller

@helenair.com