‘A player’s coach’ and a ‘grinder’: Here’s the scouting report on WSU’s Isaac Brown
For the first time in 14 years, the Wichita State men’s basketball team will have a new head coach when it opens the season a week from now against Utah State in the Crossover Classic in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Following the resignation of Gregg Marshall on Tuesday morning, Wichita State announced that Isaac Brown, Marshall’s longest-tenured assistant coach who has been with the program since 2014, was promoted to interim coach. He is the program’s first Black head coach.
So what kind of coach is Brown? The Wichita Eagle reached out to a former Shocker player and coaches who have worked with and recruited against him over the past two decades to find out.
“IB is a player’s coach, plain and simple,” said former Shocker Rashard Kelly, who played at WSU from 2014-18. “Guys are comfortable playing for him and listening to him. He’s going to tell you the truth and tell you what you need to be successful. He played the game and he understands how players are and what it takes. Players respect him.
“Players want to run through a brick wall for him and that’s a good thing if that’s how players feel about you. I think that’s going to work in his favor.”
John Pelphrey, the current head coach at Tennessee Tech who hired Brown as an assistant at Arkansas from 2007-10, also saw first-hand Brown’s ability to connect with players.
“He’s just got the ‘it’ factor when it comes to people liking, trusting and respecting him,” Pelphrey said. “When you think about those things — I like him, I trust him, I respect him — where do those things come from? They come from someone giving you the most valuable thing that we have and that’s our time. That’s why I think Isaac is going to succeed.”
That’s an important quality to have for a head coach, maybe even more so in the circumstances Brown is taking control of the program.
John Brady, a former head coach at LSU and Arkansas State, hired Brown as an assistant coach and worked with him for one season in 2010-11. He believes Brown has the right makeup as a coach to succeed in this situation.
“I’ve known Isaac a long time and I remember when he played basketball in high school at Pascagoula and even back then he had a great temperament,” Brady said. “This is a great hire by Wichita State because Isaac is a great recruiter, he knows his X’s and O’s and he knows how to get players to buy in and how to hold them accountable.
“Accountability from the head coach brings credibility and any time you have have credibility with the players, then you have a leg up and have an opportunity to win.”
According to Kelly, who says he has talked with current players on the team, the players are excited to play for Brown this upcoming season. He said Brown’s past as a college player at Louisiana-Monroe and Texas A&M resonates with the current players.
Brown has been leading workouts and practices for WSU since last Monday in Marshall’s absence from the team.
“Some of the younger guys have reached out to me and they’re saying they’re enjoying playing for IB,” Kelly said. “They’re enjoying it and they’re feeling good. It’s not like they didn’t feel like they could be themselves before, but IB gives them a little more ability to express themselves on the court.”
Kelly thinks Brown will retain many of the same sets WSU has been running for the last decade-plus under Marshall. The biggest change, Kelly believes, will be to an increase in tempo by the Shockers. Brown prefers to play fast and let athletes be athletes, according to Kelly, which is the biggest difference from Marshall, who preferred execution from his half-court sets.
According to Ken Pomeroy’s adjusted tempo rankings, WSU finished an average of 214th in the country in adjusted tempo during his 13-season run.
“To be honest, that’s what these players need and that’s what the game is turning to these days,” Kelly said. “Players need the freedom to do something random like take a guy off the dribble and drive to the rim. It might be a little different at first and guys are going to have to be disciplined, but I think the fans are going to like the new style.”
Brown has also earned a reputation as a dogged recruiter for WSU, particularly in the South. Earlier this year, Stadium polled at least 20 coaches in the American Athletic Conference and Brown received the second-most votes as the top assistant in the conference.
Scotty Thurman is a former Arkansas assistant coach who has known Brown for more than a decade and can speak first-hand about Brown’s prowess on the recruiting trail.
“He’s someone I closed a lot of gyms with and opened a lot of gyms with over the years trying to recruit players,” Thurman said. “He’s definitely a grinder. Someone who is going to roll his sleeves up and have a lot of late nights and early mornings. I can attest to that being out there on the road with him and seeing what his work ethic is like.”
Brown’s genuineness is what has helped make him a strong recruiter, like he was at Arkansas for Pelphrey.
“He’s kind, he’s caring, he’s hard-working and he’s tough and resilient,” Pelphrey said. “I think all of those core values and his character are things that parents want their sons to model after when they send them off to college.”
Over the past six seasons, Marshall wasn’t shy about praising Brown for a meticulous game plan that led to a big victory. Brown had a reputation on WSU’s staff as the most well-rounded assistant, one who knew how to excel on the recruiting trail and also put together a winning scouting report.
“A lot of coaches can put together a great scouting report, but not everyone can present it in a way for the players to understand it,” Brady said. “Isaac can do that and that’s what makes him special. He has excellent communication skills. I think he’s going to find out that move about three feet to the right on the bench is a tougher move than it appears, but he has the tools to succeed.”
Brown, 51, is in his 19th season at the Division I level after also serving as an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech (2011-14), Arkansas State (2010-11), Arkansas (2007-10) and South Alabama (2002-07). Brown has never been a head coach at any level — dating as far back as 1997 when he started coaching at his hometown high school and community colleges.
That’s why so many of his former colleagues were ecstatic to see him promoted as head coach.
“Isaac is one of my favorite people and he’s ready to be a head coach,” said Mike White, the current head coach of Florida who hired Brown as an assistant at Louisiana Tech, in a statement to The Eagle. “Although the circumstances aren’t ideal, I’m sure he’s up for the unique task at hand.”
Former WSU assistant coach Steve Forbes, now the head coach at Wake Forest, was on the same bench as Brown for the 2014-15 season.
“I wish Coach Marshall and his family all the best,” Forbes said in a statement to The Eagle. “I know IB will work extremely hard for the Shockers and the fans.”
Thurman said that Brown’s path to being a head coach gives hope to other long-time assistants out there.
“IB is someone who embodies what a head coach should be,” Thurman said. “I think it should be an encouraging message to all of the coaches who aspire to be Division I head coaches some day. He’s someone who paid his dues and worked his way up. To have Wichita State view him as someone who can lead the program says a lot about his credibility.
“I know he’s excited, but he’s not going to take this for granted. It’s not ideal circumstances because of his loyalty to (Marshall), but he’s definitely going to embrace this opportunity and do the best job he can.”
Brown inherits a WSU team that believes it can contend for an NCAA Tournament berth this season. Despite an exodus of transfers and losing all-conference center Jaime Echenique to graduation, WSU’s starting lineup appears to be in good shape with Dexter Dennis, Tyson Etienne, Trey Wade and a fully healthy Morris Udeze all returning, plus the addition of Connecticut graduate transfer Alterique Gilbert at point guard.
WSU is convinced it can out-perform its preseason projection by American Athletic Conference coaches of finishing seventh in the 11-team conference.
Brown was not made available for an interview on Tuesday, but did make a statement in a press release from WSU.
“I know this is a difficult time for our kids, but we will come together as a team and continue to compete,” Brown said. “We have a great group of kids and staff, and we will work hard each day to represent our school and our city.”
This story was originally published November 18, 2020 at 10:01 AM.
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