Tanner Announces 2026-27 Coaching Staff
7/17/2026 10:48:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Abilene Christian men's basketball head coach Brette Tanner has announced the Wildcats' coaching staff for the 2026-27 season.
Tanner has added Darren Best, a leading talent developer in Australia, and Marlon McCoy, who has experience at the youth, high school and Power 4 college levels.
Former ACU point guard Reggie Miller, and Elliott De Wit were both previously announced as assistant coaches. Assistant Danny Young returns for his second year at ACU.
Darren Best
- Joins ACU after more than 10 years of coaching across Australia, Europe, Asia and the United States
- Worked in Australia for Basketball Queensland, Basketball Tasmania and Basketball Victoria in High Performance Development programs
- Won multiple Australian National Championships as a high performance head coach for the Victorian Metropolitan men's program
- Served as an assistant coach with Australian Junior National Teams, winning multiple gold medals, including the prestigious Albert Schweitzer Tournament in Germany along with FIBA Oceania Championships
- Represented Basketball Victoria as head coach at multiple international tournaments across China, Japan and Taiwan, winning two gold medals and one bronze medal
- Served as basketball development manager at Casey Basketball Association, helping grow the association into one of the largest in Australia while leading programs that earned multiple Program of the Year awards
- Spent the past year as an assistant coach with West Memphis Public Schools in Arkansas
- Was a 4 year U.S. college scholarship player before starting his professional playing career.
"I'm excited to have Darren join our program," said Tanner. "He is a proven winner at the international level and can really help us offensively. Australia has been a place that has been so good to us in recruiting and I have no doubt Coach Best with only strengthen that relationship."
Marlon McCoy
- Was a graduate assistant for one year each at Florida State (2024-25) and Arizona State (2025-26) where he focused on scouting, player workouts, film analysis, academic coordination and day-to-day operations and scheduling
- Served as offensive coordinator with Drive Nation, a Nike EYBL (Elite Youth Basketball League) program from 2020-25
- Spent four seasons as an assistant coach and teacher at Richardson High School in the Metroplex
"Marlon is a quality young coach that has had the good fortune to be around some great coaches at all levels," Tanner said. "I am excited to have him join Reggie in helping build our player development program. He also gives us a guy with some strong connections in the state of Texas."
Tanner enters his 6th season as ACU's head coach, and his 14th overall with the program, in the 2026-27 season.
Last season, Tanner's defensive prowess led to point guard Rich Smith earning the title of WAC Defensive Player of the Year. Smith finished with 60 steals, the 5th most in ACU's Division I single-season era. He became ACU's first player to win a superlative conference award since 2017. Bradyn Hubbard was also named to the All-WAC 1st Team after shattering the program's Division I single-season scoring record with 520 points.
The Wildcats advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2025-26 WAC tournament.
Tanner was the Wildcats' associate head coach for eight years (2013-21) and was promoted to head coach following the Wildcats' incredible victory over Texas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
