Hearing Baylor associate HC Alvin Brooks III, whose father was director of basketball ops at Kentucky under Billy Gillispie, could be a name to watch for Mark Pope’s staff. Brooks would be a big-time get for UK.
— Kyle Tucker (@KyleTucker_ATH) April 22, 2024
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Baylor associate HC Alvin Brooks III
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Rumor is, if he goes, he could potentially be trying to convince VJ Edgecombe to go with him.
Is it just the allure of being at Kentucky? Pope already has his top 2 assistants and Kentucky allegedly paid more than top dollar for them. Brooks would basically almost be stepping down an assistant position to the #3 chair there and I always thought he was the #2 behind Jakus and with Jakus gone he'd move to #1 here but maybe I was wrong.Mitch Henessey said:
Rumor is, if he goes, he could potentially be trying to convince VJ Edgecombe to go with him.
I wouldn't brag about being on Billy Gillespie's staff.
Well, we have John's replacement it'll be announced in two weeks. I have the insider.
lol
Let's just say he was Jacoby Walters coach. And I was a part of the program he was at for two years
I've always gotten the sense Brooks is more our recruiting guy than an Xs and Os guy, not sure if you sit second chair being a recruiting guy, not to knock him in anyway.Big12Fan2024 said:Is it just the allure of being at Kentucky? Pope already has his top 2 assistants and Kentucky allegedly paid more than top dollar for them. Brooks would basically almost be stepping down an assistant position to the #3 chair there and I always thought he was the #2 behind Jakus and with Jakus gone he'd move to #1 here but maybe I was wrong.Mitch Henessey said:
Rumor is, if he goes, he could potentially be trying to convince VJ Edgecombe to go with him.
Which means this would still be a demotion. I'm more surprised he's not looking for a HC job at this point with his recruiting skills.
Ashley publicly name dropped him as a prediction back when Drew was deciding if he'd go to Kentucky. It's not really a secret we're targeting Bill ArmstrongCalrocks94 said:
Let's just say he was Jacoby Walters coach. And I was a part of the program he was at for two years
Never said it was a secret, I attended link year back in 13-14 before they had basketball and then went back and managed their basketball team in 18-19
No hate, you were just being cryptic about it lol. That's awesome.Calrocks94 said:
Never said it was a secret, I attended link year back in 13-14 before they had basketball and then went back and managed their basketball team in 18-19
Is Link the one at Kanakuk in Branson?
Yes
Yikes looks like Brooks might be gone. He just posted a photo on a plane in Lexington coming back. I guess if that is Scott really has to overhaul his whole staff
I'd be very curious if this is him being money whipped or Drew saying hey you should go. While his recruiting has been elite, I feel like this gives us the opportunity to go hire a defensive stud on the staff.
NEWS: Top Baylor assistant Alvin Brooks III is leaving the Bears to join Mark Pope's staff at Kentucky, sources tell @CBSSports. He spent the past eight years under Scott Drew and will be associate HC @ UK. Brooks is highly respected in the profession. It's a major coup for Pope.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2024
He gone. Thanks for everything, ABIII.
Mitch Henessey said:NEWS: Top Baylor assistant Alvin Brooks III is leaving the Bears to join Mark Pope's staff at Kentucky, sources tell @CBSSports. He spent the past eight years under Scott Drew and will be associate HC @ UK. Brooks is highly respected in the profession. It's a major coup for Pope.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2024
He gone. Thanks for everything, ABIII.
So serious question. Is it a major coup, or is it a promotion he wasn't going to get for the second time in a row at Baylor? By all accounts he should have gotten the second chair promotion already and he didn't. I know they acted like he and Jakus were co-associate head coach, but Jakus clearly was the second in charge. I feel like they would have already announced his "promotion" to the only associate head coach if he wasn't going to keep that co title.
Maybe it's just cope but I feel like this is partially Drew taking an opportunity to overhaul his staff.
I do appreciate everything AB did for the program and wish him the best. I did not, however, appreciate his teenager-type social media posts yesterday - including the VJ-related post. He sure was giddy on his way to Lexington. Out of respect for CSD and the program, he shouldn't try to lure VJ away. IMOMitch Henessey said:NEWS: Top Baylor assistant Alvin Brooks III is leaving the Bears to join Mark Pope's staff at Kentucky, sources tell @CBSSports. He spent the past eight years under Scott Drew and will be associate HC @ UK. Brooks is highly respected in the profession. It's a major coup for Pope.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2024
He gone. Thanks for everything, ABIII.
LitigiOSO
B.A. '92, J.D. '95
B.A. '92, J.D. '95
IvanBear said:Mitch Henessey said:NEWS: Top Baylor assistant Alvin Brooks III is leaving the Bears to join Mark Pope's staff at Kentucky, sources tell @CBSSports. He spent the past eight years under Scott Drew and will be associate HC @ UK. Brooks is highly respected in the profession. It's a major coup for Pope.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2024
He gone. Thanks for everything, ABIII.
So serious question. Is it a major coup, or is it a promotion he wasn't going to get for the second time in a row at Baylor? By all accounts he should have gotten the second chair promotion already and he didn't. I know they acted like he and Jakus were co-associate head coach, but Jakus clearly was the second in charge. I feel like they would have already announced his "promotion" to the only associate head coach if he wasn't going to keep that co title.
Maybe it's just cope but I feel like this is partially Drew taking an opportunity to overhaul his staff.
Overhaul indeed
Bill Peterson-gone
John Jakus-gone
Alvin Brooks iii-gone
Interesting times
What did he do other than post some accolades on instagram VJ got recently?LitigiOSO said:I do appreciate everything AB did for the program and wish him the best. I did not, however, appreciate his teenager-type social media posts yesterday - including the VJ-related post. He sure was giddy on his way to Lexington. Out of respect for CSD and the program, he shouldn't try to lure VJ away. IMOMitch Henessey said:NEWS: Top Baylor assistant Alvin Brooks III is leaving the Bears to join Mark Pope's staff at Kentucky, sources tell @CBSSports. He spent the past eight years under Scott Drew and will be associate HC @ UK. Brooks is highly respected in the profession. It's a major coup for Pope.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2024
He gone. Thanks for everything, ABIII.
In general a lot of his posting is cringe he's recruiting 15-18 year-olds after all...
Brooks took over the Baylor defense when Tang left….
Enough said, good luck at Kentucky
Enough said, good luck at Kentucky
Not on Twitter, can you post context? I have been really interested to see what the move means for recruiting. As I posted other places, him taking VJ over to Kentucky would be a low blow, but more I have read seems less likely.
Bear living in the woods of Bend Oregon
Gonna miss him around here but interested to see what Scott does with his staff big-time higher the guy from link it looks like Scott might be looking for two more coaches, my guess
It was a balancing act. Great recruiter but struggled on the defensive end. Significant loss overall but chance to totally reset the defense.
Yeah I'm not that broken up about him leaving. I appreciate everything he's brought to the table, but as not the biggest fan of all the 5 stars I think this is a philosophical switch somewhat about team construction and the need to upgrade defense. If Brooks was better at X's and O's he'd be a head coach by now.
That being said the Link guy is a big game recruiter as well so I don't expect to see a drop off. Jakus is for sure the bigger loss, but one we obviously expected.
That being said the Link guy is a big game recruiter as well so I don't expect to see a drop off. Jakus is for sure the bigger loss, but one we obviously expected.
I guess there are two extremes from which you can view this news:
In the harshest light, we simply don't have the resources Kentucky does. Never have, never will. Whatever concessions were made to keep Scott Drew in Waco likely tapped out the donor base's ability to stretch to retain Brooks at a level that would even approximate the stack of cash UK threw at him.
Hopefully he left on good terms, but the apparent glee about going to Lexington, combined with his less-than-stellar body language on the sidelines and in timeout huddles this past season makes me think he might be happy to be gone. If that's the case, I doubt we'll ever hear anything negative out of Drew about it, however.
In the most generous to Baylor view, Coach Drew has always had a few designated roles on his coaching staff, at least after the first few years when everyone was a recruiting junkie:
1) HC-in-waiting type
2) Player development specialist
3) Young, hotshot recruiter
At first, everyone filled the "hotshot recruiter" role (Morefield, Matt Driscoll, Tang, even Coach Drew himself). Eventually, they started to specialize, and it seems like Driscoll was the first HC-in-waiting, and thus, the first guy to get hired elsewhere. McCasland and Mills spent time in both the player development and right-hand man roles during their time here.
Tang started as the hotshot, moved into player development (see his improvement as a defensive coach, and how good KSU has been on defense since he took over), and eventually progressed in his X's and O's chops to be the HC-in-waiting. I think that became the ideal model, and it seems like the one we tried to fit Brooks into.
Not to discredit his actual basketball chops, but it seems like he was a guy who never really progressed beyond the "hotshot recruiter" role, but he was here for 8 years, and was very good at it, so he progressed to a defacto "HC-in-waiting" payscale without actually having the requisite skills for the role.
This might be a mutual decision. Coach Drew saying, "go get paid, get some great outside experience, and stretch yourself," and Brooks acknowledging that he has some growth to do that is better accomplished with a change in scenery. Or, maybe he's more like a Rick Stansbury type, who is really good as a recruiter - good enough to get multiple HC roles over the course of his career - but never a good technician.
If this more generous interpretation is true, we're likely retooling all the roles (see Peterson leaving the program as well, leaving the recruiter, development, and right-hand roles all vacant at once). Bill Armstrong from Link Academy can step in as the hungry young recruiter (at a lower pay scale), maybe Tweety Carter moves into the player development role, and we hire an experienced X's and O's guy to fill the Associate HC role.
This is all my conjecture, and as is the case with most of life, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle of these extremes.
In the harshest light, we simply don't have the resources Kentucky does. Never have, never will. Whatever concessions were made to keep Scott Drew in Waco likely tapped out the donor base's ability to stretch to retain Brooks at a level that would even approximate the stack of cash UK threw at him.
Hopefully he left on good terms, but the apparent glee about going to Lexington, combined with his less-than-stellar body language on the sidelines and in timeout huddles this past season makes me think he might be happy to be gone. If that's the case, I doubt we'll ever hear anything negative out of Drew about it, however.
In the most generous to Baylor view, Coach Drew has always had a few designated roles on his coaching staff, at least after the first few years when everyone was a recruiting junkie:
1) HC-in-waiting type
2) Player development specialist
3) Young, hotshot recruiter
At first, everyone filled the "hotshot recruiter" role (Morefield, Matt Driscoll, Tang, even Coach Drew himself). Eventually, they started to specialize, and it seems like Driscoll was the first HC-in-waiting, and thus, the first guy to get hired elsewhere. McCasland and Mills spent time in both the player development and right-hand man roles during their time here.
Tang started as the hotshot, moved into player development (see his improvement as a defensive coach, and how good KSU has been on defense since he took over), and eventually progressed in his X's and O's chops to be the HC-in-waiting. I think that became the ideal model, and it seems like the one we tried to fit Brooks into.
Not to discredit his actual basketball chops, but it seems like he was a guy who never really progressed beyond the "hotshot recruiter" role, but he was here for 8 years, and was very good at it, so he progressed to a defacto "HC-in-waiting" payscale without actually having the requisite skills for the role.
This might be a mutual decision. Coach Drew saying, "go get paid, get some great outside experience, and stretch yourself," and Brooks acknowledging that he has some growth to do that is better accomplished with a change in scenery. Or, maybe he's more like a Rick Stansbury type, who is really good as a recruiter - good enough to get multiple HC roles over the course of his career - but never a good technician.
If this more generous interpretation is true, we're likely retooling all the roles (see Peterson leaving the program as well, leaving the recruiter, development, and right-hand roles all vacant at once). Bill Armstrong from Link Academy can step in as the hungry young recruiter (at a lower pay scale), maybe Tweety Carter moves into the player development role, and we hire an experienced X's and O's guy to fill the Associate HC role.
This is all my conjecture, and as is the case with most of life, the truth probably lies somewhere in the middle of these extremes.
There's no denying that Armstrong and Brooks have a lot of overlap in skillset although Armstrong is far more experienced and has been around much longer he's been coaching over 20 years almost all of it NCAA basketball.
So not sure if he totally fits the "young" part of the equation but he's a recruiting powerhouse and has some X's and O's chops.
I agree with your general diagnosis though on Brooks, it really does feel like he either saw the writing on the wall or Drew encouraged him to go grow elsewhere. The defense has to change and that's going to fall on his head, it would be awkward to take responsibilities away from him. This avoids that issue.
So not sure if he totally fits the "young" part of the equation but he's a recruiting powerhouse and has some X's and O's chops.
I agree with your general diagnosis though on Brooks, it really does feel like he either saw the writing on the wall or Drew encouraged him to go grow elsewhere. The defense has to change and that's going to fall on his head, it would be awkward to take responsibilities away from him. This avoids that issue.
Exactly how I see it. I agree with Ivan too. Drew isn't going to tell a guy to jet out if he's been around for 8 yrs. But a defensive change is needed. Hopefully they can still hang in there for Aidoo even with this shift.
Next year is an important reset in the program. Need a high level year.
Next year is an important reset in the program. Need a high level year.
Are there any guarantees Coach Drew is looking for a defensive specialist? On all of his interviews he seems to say we are just fine on defense.
Like everyone keeps saying, Drew isn't going to publicly throw one of his coaches under the bus. If he says "our defense is on a multiyear skid and has been awful and needs to change" and Brooks is well know (as he is) as the guy in charge of our defense, then that's basically saying Brooks you suck and it's a mulit year problem.Big12Fan2024 said:
Are there any guarantees Coach Drew is looking for a defensive specialist? On all of his interviews he seems to say we are just fine on defense.
A good manager, coach, and person isn't going to do that. He's going to work behind the scenes work to find the guy a spot where he can excel and that is probably telling him yeah go take that job. Or on the flipside Drew was going to take responsibilities away from him and he was frustrated and this is a nice way to part ways amicably.
LitigiOSO said:I do appreciate everything AB did for the program and wish him the best. I did not, however, appreciate his teenager-type social media posts yesterday - including the VJ-related post. He sure was giddy on his way to Lexington. Out of respect for CSD and the program, he shouldn't try to lure VJ away. IMOMitch Henessey said:NEWS: Top Baylor assistant Alvin Brooks III is leaving the Bears to join Mark Pope's staff at Kentucky, sources tell @CBSSports. He spent the past eight years under Scott Drew and will be associate HC @ UK. Brooks is highly respected in the profession. It's a major coup for Pope.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) April 24, 2024
He gone. Thanks for everything, ABIII.
Is this the cringe you are talking about? I chalked it up to his generation and, more importantly, the generation of his target audience. It's also not all that bad & expresses the giddiness all of us felt about the Roach announcement.
“Incline my heart to your testimonies, and not to selfish gain!”
Psalm 119:36
Psalm 119:36
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