On Wednesday evening at 6:01 p.m., Jeff Borzello, recruiting Insider for ESPN’s college basketball coverage, tweeted that K-State assistant coach Alvin Brooks III was leaving Manhattan to take a vacant position on Scott Drew’s staff at Baylor University.
CBS’ Jon Rothstein said Brooks will be filling Grant McCasland’s position.
“The decision to leave K-State has been one of most of difficult in my professional life,” Brooks said in a press release. “I have learned so much from (head coach Bruce Weber) about coaching and helping develop young people with integrity. Ultimately, this was too good of an opportunity for us to get closer to our immediate families in Texas.”
The two coaches, Brooks and McCasland, have prior history with each other before their Division I days. Brooks was an assistant coach under McCasland at Midland College in 2006-07. During that year, Midland recorded a 29-8 record and won the Western Junior College Athletic Conference and Region V titles before going on to win the NJCAA Championship.
The 35-year-old Brooks, a native of Houston and a graduate in 2002 from Idaho State University, just completed his fourth season at K-State under Weber. Before taking the job as assistant coach for the Wildcats, he held the same title at Sam Houston State University for two years.
During his time as assistant coach, Brooks has been a crucial part of the recruiting team for K-State.
Brooks helped in the recruiting of Marcus Foster (now at Creighton University), junior forward Wesley Iwundu, senior forward Stephen Hurt and freshman forward Dante Williams, who took a medical redshirt and sat out this season due to an injury.
The Wildcats have compiled a 79-54 record during Brooks’ tenure. The team appeared in the NCAA Tournament two times, losing their first game in the tournament both years, as well as a share of the Big 12 Championship in 2012-13. K-State also climbed into the Associated Press’ top 10 poll at one time during Brooks’ career.
“I appreciate Alvin’s contribution to our program over these past four years,” Weber said in the release. “He has been a valuable member of our staff and has helped build a solid foundation for this program.”
Brooks is the son of Alvin Brooks II, a head basketball coach who has been in the game for over 30 years. Brooks II was the first African-American head coach at the University of Houston. After Houston, he held positions at UTEP, Texas A&M and Kentucky, before returning to Houston as the associate head coach, first for James Dickey, and now for Kelvin Sampson.
Brooks will join a Baylor team that, in 2015-16, posted a 22-12 overall record and a 10-8 record in the Big 12 Conference and finished in fifth place in the final conference standings. The Bears fell to Kansas in the semifinals of the Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City, Missouri, before earning a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament West region where they fell to Yale, 79-75.
Joining Brooks in Waco, Texas, will be his wife Tiffany, and the couple’s sons, Alvin Brooks IV and Austin Brooks.
“Our family will be forever grateful to Coach Weber and the entire K-State Family for making our four years in Manhattan so special,” Brooks said. “I know there are great days ahead for K-State basketball.”
