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Virginia Tech announced the hiring
of Kenny Brooks to lead its women’s
basketball program on March 28 and
the longtime former James Madison
coach found himself relocating for the
first time in his career.
He fashioned a “to-do” list. It
included hiring a staff, meeting his
new players and moving his family
fromHarrisonburg. But the item at the
top of that list is the key to the survival
of any coach, new or veteran—the
acquisition of talent.
Brooks spent much of this past
summer and a chunk of this fall in places
like Northern Virginia, Charlotte,
Atlanta and Nashville in his quest
to find players to help the
Hokies return to the NCAA
Tournament—something they
haven’t done in a decade.
When
asked
which
positions topped his search
list, his reply indicated that
he did not discriminate.
“A little bit of everything,”
Brooks said. “We have five
scholarships available. I
don’t know if we’ll use all
five, but if we can get the
kids that we want … we’re
off to a good start. We have
one commitment, but we’re
also looking to get three
more. We need some post
players. We have some
really good guards, but we
need some post players.
“The reception has been
great. AAU coaches have
been very receptive, and kids
have been very receptive.
We’ve had some success
early on, and we’ve also been
able to get into homes that we
normally probably wouldn’t
have been able to get into.”
Brooks, who took over
for Dennis Wolff, obviously
knows how to acquire talent.
His players captured
six CAA Player of
the
Year
awards,
three Rookie of the
Year honors and two
Defensive Player of the
Year awards.
He also knows how
to coach that talent.
In 14 seasons as the
head coach at JMU,
he guided the Dukes to 11 postseason appearances, including six NCAA
Tournament showings. He also won more than 75 percent of his games
(337-122).
But Brooks inherits a rebuilding situation here at Tech. Though
the Hokies went 18-14 and made the WNIT last season—their first
postseason appearance since 2007—they haven’t recorded a winning
ACC record since the school joined the league for the 2004-05
year.
Progress will be a process—and maybe not a fast
one.
“I want to walk away from this season knowing
that we’ve set the foundation for what we’re
going to become,” Brooks said. “I want to
be able to walk away and say that the kids
understand what the culture is at Virginia Tech.
I want everyone else to say that when they play
Virginia Tech, ‘Man, Virginia Tech plays really,
really hard.’
“It’s like when you have kids and everyone
says that your kids are beautiful. You say,
‘Thank you.’ But when they say your kids are
well behaved, that makes you proud as a parent.
People would talk about our wins at JMU and I
would say, ‘Thank you.’ But when they’d say, ‘Your
kids play so hard,’ that’s when I was most proud.
That’s what I want to get here. I want people to
say, ‘When we play Virginia Tech, it’s
going to be a dogfight.’”
The current situation at Tech,
however, may not be all doom
and gloom. The Hokies’ roster
consists of three seniors, three
juniorsandaredshirtsophomore,
which at least gives the program
some experience. They return
five of their top six scorers from
last season, led by Sidney Cook’s
10.7 points per game. They also
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
2016
SIDNEY
COOK
NEW
ERA
BEGINS
FOR TECH
WOMEN’S
BASKETBALL
Kenny Brooks takes over
after a highly successful
tenure at James Madison
and is looking to change
the fortunes of a women’s
basketball program that
hasn’t been to the NCAA
Tournament in a decade
by
Jimmy Robertson
20
Inside Hokie Sports
Continued on page 22
