Billy Kennedy explains why joining Wichita State coaching staff was a ‘no-brainer’
Billy Kennedy was still living in College Station, Texas when he received a text message from Wichita State interim coach Isaac Brown on Saturday.
The former head coach with nearly two decades of Division I experience was still living there after parting ways with Texas A&M following the 2018-19 season. He had spent the past 15 months working as an NBA scout for the Brooklyn Nets, but missed being involved in college basketball.
That’s why Kennedy did not hesitate to respond when Brown, who he helped recruit as a player to Texas A&M in 1990, asked on Saturday if he would be interested in joining his staff at WSU.
“It was a no-brainer for me,” Kennedy told The Wichita Eagle. “When you’re away from it and you haven’t been around the guys and the staff, you miss it. I’m just blessed to be able to be a part of a team again, especially a great program like Wichita State, and have the opportunity to help somebody that I care about and respect.”
On Sunday, Kennedy was driving his family from College Station to Wichita to sign a contract and officially join WSU. On Monday, Kennedy was part of his first WSU practice and joined the team on its flight to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where they would soon find out they would have to return home following multiple COVID-19 tests.
Talking to The Eagle after Monday’s practice and before the team’s exit was known, Kennedy said the past 48 hours had been a whirlwind.
“Everything happened so fast, so I’m just trying to take things slow and get to know everybody and learn what they’ve been doing and just really be a sponge to learn as much as possible,” Kennedy said. “I’m still trying to learn the players’ names and I’ve been studying a lot of video.
“I want to get to know them as people first and then the basketball side. I just want to do whatever I can do to help these kids have the best experience possible and help the staff. They’ve been through a difficult few weeks.”
So how did Brown manage to land on short notice an assistant coach with nearly two decades of experience as a Division I head coach?
Kennedy’s relationship with Brown dates back more than three decades when they were both coming up in the AAU basketball circuit — Kennedy as an aspiring coach and Brown as a talent point guard from Pascagoula, Mississippi. Kennedy says he can still remember the first time he met Brown at an AAU camp in North Carolina.
Their bond grew a few years later when Kennedy, then recently hired as a Texas A&M assistant coach, helped recruit Brown to the Aggies. Brown, a 6-1 guard at the time, averaged 12 points per game for the Aggies in the 1990-91 season.
Ever since playing for Kennedy nearly 30 years ago, Brown has kept in touch with Kennedy and has considered him one of his coaching mentors.
“We’ve always maintained a good relationship,” Kennedy said. “It’s not like we talked every week, but I followed his career and I’ve seen him on the road in recruiting over the years and always admired how he handled himself. It’s funny how God works sometimes and brings two guys back together that started something years ago. To come full circle and all these years later to be together again, it’s amazing how things work in this profession.”
Kennedy said he will take a backseat to fellow assistants Lou Gudino and Tyson Waterman, who have been with the team since 2018, as he learns the players’ tenancies and traits. He’s currently undergoing a crash course in all things WSU basketball.
But an area where Kennedy, 57, can immediately help WSU is with his experience as a head coach, something that Brown, Gudino and Waterman don’t have yet. Assistant coaches are involved with in-game adjustments, calling timeouts, making substitutions and calling set plays, but it’s different when you’re the one making the final decision on everything.
“When you move 18 inches away in the chair, the wins and losses start going next to your name,” Kennedy said. “I can appreciate that pressure. But Isaac has done everything to prepare himself for this opportunity and I think he’s ready. After watching them in practice today, the effort was really good. He’s got the heart of these kids and that’s the biggest thing in this game. When your kids will play hard for you and compete, then you have a chance to be successful.”
Kennedy said he’s still learning the ins and outs of the program, but he was impressed after watching the team practice on Monday.
“I think the guard play is going to be the strength of this team,” Kennedy said. “We’ve got some good depth there and they understand the system and they’ve been trained to play in that system. That’s the most positive thing that I can appreciate is they have a good system in place.”
This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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