Joey Puddister is familiar with Logan Stutz basketball, having played with the Sudbury Five from 2018 to 2020.

Duane Notice is even more intimately acquainted with the man who led the local basketball franchise to a BSL Basketball Super League championship in 2024-2025, starting 39 of 40 games with the Five, leading the team in minutes played by a wide margin.

So despite the recent announcement regarding the departure of Logan Stutz and the subsequent hiring of Joey Puddister to his first head coaching gig at this level, neither see any reason to stray greatly from what has worked in the past.

"It's clear that Logan has built a pretty awesome foundation here," said Puddister, a 33 year old native of North Bay who played in both the OUA and OCAA and spent a few years thereafter in the professional ranks in Europe before returning to Canada.

"Coming off a championship, I think I would be crazy to tear that down and build it up from nothing. I will try and build upon the foundation that is there and add my flair and see if we can improve."

"We may have a new guy coming in, but we've already laid down a foundation," Duane Notice concurred, a Toronto native who played his NCAA basketball with the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.

That said, the 31 year-old ultra versatile talent is not oblivious to the fact that any change is unlikely to be completely seamless.

"Patience is the biggest thing we have to learn, as players, as coach, everybody," he said. "Things are going to take time, but with change comes evolution and that means growth."

With only two years separating coach and player, the dynamic for the Puddister - Notice combo is something that one sees far more often in the professional ranks than in amateur sport.

"I think one of the big things that Logan has built is having that rapport with the players," acknowledged Puddister. "At the university level, it's a little more about teaching but here, it's more a matter of working together."

"A big part of my identity as a coach is that I do like to be collaborative."

"I think that is one of the reason that we won last year," Notice added. "Logan gave Charlie (Marquardt), myself, Allen (Billinger) those types of opportunities to speak up."

"I love that role."

Puddister noted that between the helping hand that coach Stutz offered in terms of sharing key contact info as well as the network that he has developed over the past decade or so, the challenge of the role of general manager is made a little easier.

It is, after all, not something he expects to tackle single-handedly.

"A lot of the recruitment side is simply word of mouth," said Puddister. "And this franchise has done a great job with that."

The Sudbury Five will begin the defense of their BSL title at home on December 29th hosting the Lake Erie Jackals.