STARKVILLE — George Brooks has learned the value of patience since becoming an assistant coach for the Mississippi State men’s basketball team.
In the past five years, the former Bulldog player twice has found himself in limbo, as two MSU head coaches he served under were let go. The first time came when Rick Stansbury stepped down after the 2011-12 season. The second came in April, when Rick Ray was fired after three losing seasons.
Both times Brooks wondered if he would have a job in Starkville, or if he would have to look somewhere else, so he had to exercise patience in unsure times.
“It’s always tough and it’s a trying time,” Brooks said. “You try to stay positive and hope for the best, but the uncertainty’s tough. My wife’s from Mississippi and Bay Springs and it’s tough on her. It’s home for her now and the kids love it.
“You’re looking up at those eyes in your family and they want answers and you don’t have them, so it’s pretty tough.”
The latest uncertainty ended when new MSU coach Ben Howland decided to keep Brooks on staff. Brooks is part of a coaching staff that includes Korey McCray and Ernie Zeigler. McCray spent two seasons under Howland as an assistant coach at UCLA, while Zeigler was an assistant with Howland at Pittsburgh and UCLA.
Jason Ludwig (director of operations), Donovan Castro (graduate assistant), and Michael Moynihan (video coordinator) round out the coaching staff.
Antoine Pettway will start the 2015-16 season on his third coaching staff at Alabama. The former standout for the Crimson Tide was an assistant coach for Mark Gottfried and Anthony Grant before new coach Avery Johnson retained him. Brooks and Pettway are the only two assistants in the Southeastern Conference to be on three coaching staffs at the same school.
“George has a great liking from everybody I meet. Everybody loves George,” said Howland, who has also coached at Northern Arizona. “You’re talking about the fans, other coaches in the state, the AAU people. He’s really done a great job representing Mississippi State and himself.
“He brings a lot to the table. I think he’s a very, very smart guy and very intelligent. I think he’s really added a lot, and I’m really excited about how good he is.”
When Brooks received the call from Ray and Howland, Brooks said it was like Christmas and viewed it as a blessing.
Stansbury hired Brooks in 2010 to replace Robert Kirby, who left to take a similar position at Georgetown. Brooks spent two seasons with MSU’s all-time winningest coach before Stansbury stepped down after 14 seasons. Stansbury, who is about to enter his third season at Texas A&M, recently was promoted to associate head coach under Billy Kennedy.
Brooks played for the Bulldogs from 1992-94, but he transferred to West Georgia before his senior year. He returned to Starkville the following year and served as a student assistant under Richard Williams. He was a part of the 1996 staff that led MSU to its only Final Four appearance.
Williams is still involved with MSU basketball as a radio color commentator, so he has seen Brooks go from one coaching staff to the next. He doesn’t know what it says about Brooks that he is on his third coaching staff at MSU, but he knows Brooks’ roots run deep with the program.
“I think coaches who have retained George, once they’ve visited with him, it doesn’t take them long to figure out his work ethic, how hard he will work, how much he loves the university, the connections he has in Mississippi and Alabama as far as recruiting,” said Williams who won 191 games at MSU.
Brooks’ main responsibilities at MSU are working with forwards, assisting with scouting reports, and recruiting. He was involved in the recruitment of Craig Sword out of G.W. Carver High School in Montgomery, Alabama. Sword has led MSU in scoring in each of his three seasons as a Bulldog. Brooks also was instrumental in the signing of Quinndary Weatherspoon, a 6-foot-4 guard from Velma Jackson High. Weatherspoon is part of an incoming class that includes 6-3 guard Malik Newman, of Callaway High, a McDonald’s All-American and the No. 1 shooting guard in the country, according to ESPN.
Williams said Brooks’ work ethic has helped him build relationships, which is an integral part of recruiting.
“He works at it, that’s number one,” he said. “He spends a lot of time in the recruiting, he thinks about it constantly. We still have conversations frequently about recruiting and who he’s recruiting.
“He’s kind of a down-to-earth guy. There’s nothing pretentious about George. He’s kind of a down-home-Southern guy, and that’s the area he recruits.”
Brooks and Williams talk almost every day and have formed a special relationship in the past 20 years.
Brooks still recalls lessons he learned from Williams while playing for him and coaching under him, and he said he relies on them every day.
“He gives me advice, I run situations by him, and he’s just like a constant mentor I can always reach out to,” Brooks said. “He’s just like a father figure.”
Brooks contacted Williams when Ray and Howland were hired to find comfort and to receive advice about his future.
“We’ve just always been close. I’ve always respected George’s work ethic, respected his love for our university, and how hard he works to establish relationships,” Williams said.
Brooks also appreciates the opportunity Stansbury gave him at the Division I level as well as the guidance he received as a graduate assistant when Stansbury was an assistant coach with the Bulldogs in the mid 1990s.
“Even when I was a young guy, he let me hang around in the office with him,” Brooks said. “He talked to me about different situations and I learned recruiting. Working with him those two years are just invaluable to my career as a recruiter and as a coach.”
Brooks acknowledged he had to go through a transition period after Stansbury left MSU and after Ray wasn’t retained, but he said Howland has helped make his latest adjustment pretty easy.
“They all have different styles and you try to figure out kind of the dos and don’ts early, what they expect,” said Brooks, who also served as an assistant and head coach at Meridian Community College. “Coach Howland’s been great. He’s clear with his expectations of you as an assistant coach. I think everybody knows exactly where he stands on certain things, so it makes it easier to operate that way.”
Ben Wait is a sports writer for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @bcwait
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