‘He’s ready’: How Wichita State career helped Matt Braeuer become a future head coach
Ever since he was a little boy growing up in Belton, Texas, Matt Braeuer knew he wanted to become a basketball coach like his father.
The game has given him some of the most euphoric moments of his life, and some of the most agonizing. Basketball has taken him all over the country and opened doors he never thought possible.
Braeuer, 38, will fulfill a lifelong dream following this season when he becomes a Division I head coach at Stephen F. Austin. But before that transition, he was committed as an assistant to help Texas Tech achieve what he did during his playing career at Wichita State: reach a Sweet 16.
It’s fitting that as Braeuer’s coaching star takes off, he returned to the city where his coaching career began. No. 3 seed Texas Tech (27-8) defeated No. 11 seed Drake (31-4) Saturday at Intrust Bank Arena for a spot in the Sweet 16.
“I’ve never taken these opportunities for granted, to be in the NCAA Tournament, to win championships, to play in the Sweet 16,” Braeuer told The Eagle before Saturday’s game. “All of the things that I’ve been able to do and all of the people that I’ve worked for and the people I’ve played with, I’m just a really small part of it. Certainly no bigger than anyone else. I’ve just been blessed to be put in a lot of really good opportunities with good people and I’ve tried to take advantage of those opportunities.”
As Braeuer has steadily climbed the coaching ranks since serving as a graduate assistant at WSU following his playing career that wrapped up in 2008, he has done so with the work ethic, humility and competitiveness he displayed as a player.
Before Luke Barnwell was a fellow assistant on Texas Tech’s staff, he coached some of the best high school basketball players in the country at Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Aire. He dealt with countless Division I coaches over the years and Braeuer’s character always stood out in the recruiting process.
“I always tried to help him because he’s someone I trusted with our kids,” Barnwell said. “He sees the game the right way and he’s just a great person who knows how to win. He proved that as a player and as a coach. He doesn’t want the attention or the spotlight. It was never about him. He’s a behind-the-scenes guy who just goes to work. We all knew it was just a matter of time (before he became a head coach) and I believe he’s going to be really successful.”
Texas Tech head coach Grant McCasland echoed those sentiments, raving about Braeuer’s “elite feel” for the game.
“Matt has been a vital part of our success in all areas of the program,” McCasland said in a statement following Braeuer’s hire at SFA. “He’s ready for this and there’s no doubt in my mind that he will win and lead their program the right way. Matt has an elite feel for the game of basketball but what separates him is the genuine relationships he builds to help everyone around him get better through humility and hard work.”
Growing up a coach’s son, Braeuer was around the game, inside locker rooms and saw the work required to be successful from his father. But he says his six years at Wichita State were a major influence on him.
He played his first three years for head coach Mark Turgeon, notably delivering an overtime dagger to beat Creighton and playing as the starting point guard for the 2006 WSU team that reached the Sweet 16. His final year was under head coach Gregg Marshall, who then hired him as a graduate assistant the following two seasons.
“It was a great experience because both of them were winning coaches with different coaching styles,” Braeuer said. “You think you know a lot as a player when you’re younger, then you get into coaching and you realize you didn’t know anything. So I learned a lot of lessons from both coach Turgeon and coach Marshall, some good, some bad and you try to figure out where those things fit with your personality and how you want to approach the daily grind of it. There are definitely things that I took from both coaches that are still impactful to me every day.”
After helping restore glory to the program as a player, Braeuer enjoyed the process of watching a young-and-hungry Marshall establish the foundation at WSU that eventually led to unprecedented success.
His two years as a graduate assistant under Marshall were particularly impactful on Braeuer, who has carved out a reputation as a defensive whiz.
“What always sticks with me is how guys played really hard for him,” Braeuer said. “The details, the competitiveness, how we played defense, what it took to win every single day. There’s no place I’ve ever been that’s practiced harder than we did at Wichita State. We may have practiced as hard, but not harder.”
Braeuer likes to deflect any personal credit, but winning has followed him to every program he has been associated with since leaving WSU.
In 2011, he was an assistant at Midland College (under current North Texas head coach Ross Hodge) and the team won 33 games and played for the NJCAA Division I national championship. Turgeon then hired him away to serve as his video coordinator from 2011-13, as the Terrapins won 25 games in his second season.
His first Division I assistant job was at Sam Houston State, where Braeuer helped the Bearkats win 50 games in a two-season span. Up next was an assistant job at College of Charleston, where the Cougars won 51 games in two seasons and won the Colonial Athletic Association regular season and postseason title for the first time in school history. They made their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 19 years.
That’s when McCasland plucked Braeuer and hired him on his staff at North Texas, where the Mean Green won 71% of their games (115-47) from 2018-23, won back-to-back Conference USA championships, won their first March Madness game over Purdue in 2021 and won the NIT championship in 2023. When McCasland took the job at Texas Tech, Braeuer came with him and the Red Raiders look like a national title contender this season.
“What I love about working for Grant is that he’s an elite culture-builder and an elite team-builder,” Braeuer said. “He’s so good at getting guys to buy into the team over themselves and getting guys to care more about winning than individual stats and accolades. Those are things that sound easy, but it’s extremely hard in today’s culture.”
Braeuer was solely focused on helping Texas Tech beat Drake on Saturday, but his return to Wichita has been a sentimental one.
The first person he saw at Intrust Bank Arena on Wednesday when the team arrived was Gretchen Torline, who was his academic advisor at Wichita State during his time with the Shockers.
“The people that I met in Wichita in the six years I lived here were just such great people,” Braeuer said. “Gretchen has been a lifelong friend. Those are the kind of people you never forget because they were supportive when I was a young kid and they’re still supportive as I get older.”
Braeuer’s wife, Katie, is also from Wichita and their pair of 3-year-old twin boys enjoy returning to see their grandparents in the city.
They’re too young to soak in the experience of this week in Wichita, but Braeuer said there will come a day when he tells them all about his time with the Shockers.
“I don’t think they would even recognize me if I showed them a picture of what I looked like in college,” he said with a laugh. “At this point, they just enjoy going to grandma and grandpa’s house. And that’s what is most important to me is being with family and having supportive people around. That’s why I love Wichita.”
This story was originally published March 22, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
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