Brooks is rebuilding a Utah State program from the ground up, and now has to face the Buckeyes.
For two hours on Friday, friends turn into foes when Ohio State women’s basketball faces the Utah State Aggies at the Daytona Beach Classic. It’s the first time in program history the two teams face off, and there’s good reason for the matchup with former Buckeyes assistant coach Wesley Brooks starring in his first head coaching role with the Mountain West side —even if Brooks doesn’t want it.
“I knew there’s possibility that we could play, but I didn’t necessarily want to play them,” said Brooks. “So I kind of asked that we didn’t.”
Well, the tournament organizers didn’t listen. Friday, Brooks and head coach Kevin McGuff go from co-workers to opponents, at least for a little bit.
Brooks joined the Buckeyes ahead of the 2021-22 season, as the Scarlet and Gray went through a bit of an overhaul on the bench. Following self-imposed sanctions for wrongdoing from past assistant coaches, McGuff’s program lost both players and coaches and the Utah State head coach was part of that Ohio State revival.
The former Michigan Wolverine assistant coach for four seasons took the three-hour drive south to call the other side of The Rivalry home. In his time with the Scarlet and Gray, the Buckeyes won two Big Ten regular season championships and made it to the second round of the NCAA Tournament each year, including a 2023 run to the Elite Eight.
Now, Brooks is on the other side of it, a growing branch of the Muffet McGraw coaching tree that McGuff himself became part of for six years as an assistant with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
In the 22 years of running programs since that stop with Xavier, Washington and now Ohio State, McGuff’s amassed head coaching experience many don’t reach in the job. However, his advice to his former assistant turned head coach wasn’t complicated.
“Keep it simple at first, hire the best staff you can possibly hire, get to know your players,” said McGuff. “Start to establish an identity and a culture that’s going to lead to winning.”
At Utah State, Brooks walked into a situation where the Aggies were ranked 344 out of 366 programs. He walked into a situation that was less than ideal.
Basketball fans might remember Utah State from 2024’s conference tournament time. Specifically, when head coach Kayla Ard stepped up to the press conference table following a loss in the first round of the Mountain West tournament and announced “I just got fired.”
Not an ideal way to relieve a coach of their position.
Less than a month later, Utah State announced the Brooks hiring and the coach walked into what’s a total program rebuild.
“Had to hit the ground running, trying to get as many kids as we can,” Said Brooks. “We got when we got here there were only 6 kids on the roster, so we brought in 10. We had 15 scholarship players plus a walk on.”
Of the returning players, Brooks retained Cheyenne Stubbs, who he sees as a future pro guard. There’s also Jamisyn Heaton, a guard Brooks added from Division II, averaging 12.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
They’re part of a group that Brooks is hoping to turn into a side that resembles the Buckeyes. That means pressing opponents, causing turnovers and going for those steals that turn into easy fast break points. The equivalent of a pick-six on the football side of things.
Brooks has Stubbs as a Jacy Sheldon-style of player who will run the press, and take shots on offense.
The key difference between the offensive sets of the Aggies and the Buckeyes Brooks’ focus on the three-point shot. Last season, the Marshall Thundering Herd averaging nearly 32 three-point attempts per game. Brooks is taking that shooting focus to Utah State, even talking with Marshall turned Tennessee head coach Kim Caldwell.
“So Marshall led the country last year with 31 threes we’re gonna try and shatter that we’re gonna try and take 40 a game,” said Brooks. “And so if we do that, if we if we’re able to accomplish that, I think we’re gonna have a pretty good year because we can hit them.”
In six games, the Aggies average 34 per game, which is good for third most in the country behind the No. 1 overall team throwing up shots from beyond the arc in Caldwell’s Volunteers, attempting 38.2 per game.
It’s been a rough go to start the season at Utah State. The Aggies are 1-5 but show signs of improvement. In Utah State’s last game before heading to the Daytona Beach Classic to face Ohio State and Stetson, Utah State narrowly fell to Omaha 79-77, in overtime, showing that the Aggies are fighting for their coach.
A fight they’ll bring to Ohio State on Friday, even if playing a Power Four school like the Buckeyes isn’t what Brooks hoped for his young team just trying to establish their identity. That doesn’t mean the Scarlet and Gray are going to take it easy.
“We’ll play the game and we’ll obviously put everything we have into winning that game,” said McGuff. “And then afterwards we’ll go back to being friends.”
Hear more from Utah State head coach Wesley Brooks on the latest episode of the “Land-Grant WBB Podcast,” featuring Brooks’ full interview with Land-Grant where he talks more about the Buckeyes, new freshmen recruits and more.