Eastern Washington University Athletics

Shantay Legans on Howard: “The most decorated of the freshman group, Brendan had an incredible high school career, shattering all the records. Brendan understands the game, plays extremely hard, and once he adjusts to the next level of competition, we expect big things from him in the years to come.”

2017-18 Honors: Redshirting. Prior to the start of the season, Howard was selected as the preseason Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year from College Sports Madness.

HS: Graduated from Great Falls High School in 2017. Ending his career with a school-record 2,083 points, he became the first AA player in the state of Montana to exceed the 2,000-point mark (the previous record was 1,930). The two-time Gatorade Player of the Year in Montana continued his high-scoring following the end of the season. He scored 25 points in the first game and 43 in the second to lead Montana to 93-78 and 100-71 wins over Wyoming in a post-season all-star series between the two states in June 2017. Besides being recognized as “Mr. Basketball” in Montana, he also was a two-time Montana Player of the Year on the USA Today All-USA Montana squad. A four-time All-State selection, Howard helped the Bison advance to the state tournament in each of his four years with the school. Howard was a four-time first team AA East All-Conference performer, and his team’s four-time team MVP. He was also an academic All-State selection four seasons, a team captain and a three-year letterwinner in track and field. Howard averaged more than 20 points and 10 rebounds in 97 career games for the Bison, averaging a double-double in each of his four seasons with the team. He passed a pair of collegians on the Great Falls career scoring list -- his brother, Bobby Howard (Montana State), with 1,536 points, and Mike Warhank (Montana) with 1,581. Brendan Howard set the mark with a 20-point performance against Helena on Dec. 21 during his senior campaign. He averaged 24.1 points, 10.5 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game as a senior when he repeated as his state’s Gatorade Player of the Year.  He helped the Bison finish 18-9 overall and advance to the semifinals of the State AA Tournament. As a junior in 2015-16, Howard was also the Gatorade Player of the Year after he averaged 25.1 points and 10.4 rebounds lead class AA in both. He led the Bison to a 13-9 record and the quarterfinals of the State AA Tournament in the 2015-16 season. He had a 3.71 grade point average in high school, and his community service includes volunteering on behalf of a food pantry, the Salvation Army and youth sports programs.
 
Personal: Interested in majoring in exercise science at Eastern. Born April 7, 1998, in Great Falls, Mont. Parents are Bob and Kathleen Howard. Both parents and his brother, Bobby, formerly played at Montana State. Bob was his coach at Great Falls, and played two seasons in Bozeman for MSU. Kathleen is a native of Seattle who holds school records of 1,761 points and 990 rebounds at MSU, and was once an assistant coach for the Bobcats. Bobby Howard went on to score 1,366 points and grab 600 rebounds for MSU. Former Great Falls standout Gale Berry lettered for Eastern in 1988.