'I Definitely Took An Unconventional Way To D1:' TU's Tyler Behrend Returns To Basketball After Navy Service

The Tulsa Golden Hurricane basketball team sits at 4-4 on the season after splitting a pair of games at the Jacksonville Classic last week. Tulsa will host in-state rival Oklahoma State on Wednesday night at the Reynolds Center.

For TU forward Tyler Behrend, the season is about more than basketball—it’s about returning to a dream he once thought was over.

TU forward Tyler Behrend may only be in his first season with the Golden Hurricane, but the 24-year-old already knows a lot about defense. He spent the past five years in the Navy, defending our country.

"The Navy teaches you responsibility. It really taught me accountability and punctuality."

Behrend averaged 19.8 points per game during his senior year at Valley Lutheran High School in Arizona. With no college basketball offers after graduation, he talked to his mom, who was a medial corpsman in the Navy, and he decided to enlist.

"I was basically a kid," says Behrend. "It taught me how to be a man and grow up faster than maybe some would."

With his basketball dreams on the shelf, he began his five-year military commitment aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. But then a growth spurt re-ignited his passion for the sport.

"I kind of figured my basketball career was over. I ended up growing three more inches after high school. After a year of being in the Navy, I realized that I still wanted to play basketball."

Deployments to Guam and Vietnam made it hard to focus on his game. He would go six or seven months without touching a basketball. But when he returned stateside, he was in the gym as much as possible.

"Every day I had time to get in the gym and pickup games, leagues," says Behrend. "In San Diego, there's a base league for the Navy. So I would play with those guys, and try to stay in shape as much as possible."

Things changed in 2021 when he was stationed in Bremerton, Washington, while the USS Roosevelt underwent retrofitting. One of those pickup games led to a season at Olympic Community College. Behrend averaged 14.4 points and 6.8 rebounds, but it wasn't easy balancing military and basketball commitments.

"The coaches really worked with me a lot. They knew I was in the Navy and that was my main priority. Some days I might have to miss practice."

After that junior college season, the TU coaching staff got a tip about an undiscovered 6-10 basketball prospect in the Pacific Northwest.

"One of our assistants, Duffy Conroy, was speaking to a gentleman out west who is connected, knows about a number of players, and we were telling him we were looking for a guy in the front court who we felt could have potential," says Tulsa head coach Eric Konkol. "And he said, "Hey this one is a little bit different. It's a little off the radar. But you might want to take a look at this guy. And it was Tyler."

After watching video of him in pickup games and workouts, Coach Konkol brought Behrend to Tulsa for an official visit. Konkol noticed Behrend's ability pretty quickly.

"He's got some talent. He's got feel," adds Konkol. "He's got to continue to get stronger and he's gained some weight now. But I think he's got a good chance to become a very good player."

Behrend signed with the Golden Hurricane this summer, and his first "welcome to division one basketball" moment came when he slipped on that Tulsa jersey for the first time.

"Looked in the mirror for a solid five minutes just to take it all in. The name on the back of my jersey. This is the first time I've had my last name on the back of a jersey."

As Behrend continues to try to put on weight and work on his inside game, he says he's extremely grateful for this opportunity, even if it's taken longer than he expected.

"It's never too late. There's always time to go for what you want and always room to grow and get better. I definitely hope I inspire people to do the same," he said.