Brian Ostermann, the third of four candidates to interview for Eastern’s women’s head basketball coach, wants to bring a family atmosphere to the team.

Ostermann is currently the associate head coach of the women’s basketball team at Texas Christian University. The remaining candidate, Keila Whittington, assistant women’s coach for Oregon, will interview at 11:30 a.m. to noon Friday in the club room of Lantz Arena.

During an open session Thursday, Ostermann said fun for the players is his No. 1 concern and he wants his players to show enthusiasm and effort before execution.

“Hopefully we can get to execution,” Ostermann said. “Lack of effort is never tolerated.”

He said the team would talk very little about winning and that winning would be the result of the things they practiced every day.

“We can’t always control the result,” Ostermann said. “The No. 1 thing is fun, but last time I checked, not winning ain’t fun.”

Ostermann said that while Eastern’s women’s basketball team is good, improvements can be made to make the team great.

He said he wants to work on the defense’s fundamentals and to build a defense that is tough and aggressive but not overly aggressive. Ostermann said he wants to force other teams to take shots and limit them to only one shot. He said he has won with pressing before, he does not believe in it.

Ostermann said he coaches offense with a style that is up-tempo and gives the players a lot of freedom.

Ostermann said he would want to work on free throws and to find a shooter who can be a three-point threat.

He said he wants to recruit players largely from Illinois and Missouri but also thinks there is a strong connection to Indiana.

“I think I’m a great recruiter,” Ostermann said. “Rich, poor, black, white, north, south, different countries, it doesn’t matter.”

He said he wanted to develop a strong program for many years and to build not just a championship team but a legacy team.

“We need to get to a place where we believe we are going to win a championship,” Ostermann said. “Then from there we are going to a place of knowing we are going to win.”

His team at Texas Christian reached the first round of the NCAA Division I tournament in 2009 and 2010 and the first round of the women’s National Invitation Tournament in 2011.

Ostermann has coached several men’s teams, serving as head coach at Missouri West Plains from 2004 to 2008 and Colby Community College from 1999 to 2004. He has also been an assistant coach of both men’s and women’s teams. He said making the switch from men’s to women’s basketball was a great move for him and was a great coaching opportunity.

He said that while there are differences in coaching men and women, he wants any team he coaches, regardless of age or gender, to form a sense of family and togetherness that cannot always be explained.

“The key to success is who you’re surrounded by,” Ostermann said. “People on your team all have to be on the same page.”

Seth Schroeder can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].