The 2023-24 campaign will be Brette Tanner’s third season as the Wildcats’ head coach after being named the 17th head coach in program history on April 14, 2021.
 
Tanner earned the job after serving as ACU’s associate head coach for the prior eight seasons under Joe Golding.
 
In his first season as the Wildcats’ head coach (2021-22), Tanner put together one of NCAA basketball’s most impressive debut seasons, leading the Wildcats to a 25-11 record. Tanner directed his undersized squad on a run through the Western Athletic Conference Postseason Tournament, knocking off No. 7 seed Utah Valley, No. 3 seed Stephen F. Austin, and No. 2 seed Seattle to reach the finals, where they lost to top-seeded New Mexico State, 66-52.
 
That run – along with impressive regular-season wins over Drexel, Cal State-Bakersfield, and winning streaks of 11 and six games – was enough to propel ACU into a postseason tournament for the fourth straight season as the Wildcats earned an invitation to the College Basketball Invitational. Their run continued, as Tanner’s Wildcats beat No. 11 seed Troy in the first round and then beat No. 3 Ohio in the quarterfinals before falling to No. 2 seed Middle Tennessee State in the semifinals.
 
Tanner – the man behind the Wildcats’ suffocating defenses that led the program to back-to-back Southland Conference titles and a win over Texas in the 2021 NCAA Tournament – put that same style of defense on the floor as the head coach. ACU led the nation in turnovers forced (755), turnovers forced per game (21.0), and turnover margin (+8.4) in 2021-22 and was second in steals (391) and steals per game (10.9).
 
The only coach in ACU men’s basketball history to post a 20-win campaign in his first season as the head coach, Tanner was one of 15 national finalists for the Joe B. Hall Award, presented annually to the top first-year head coach in NCAA Division I college basketball.
 
Tanner was the associate head coach in 2020-21 – the greatest season in ACU men’s basketball history, and arguably ACU team sports history. The Wildcats went 21-4 in the regular season, stormed through the Southland Conference Postseason Tournament, beating Lamar in the semifinals (93-71) and destroying No. 1 seed Nicholls by the score of 79-45 in the championship game to secure the program’s second straight conference tournament championship and bid to the NCAA Tournament.
 
One week after winning the conference title, the Wildcats — playing in the tournament as the No. 14 seed in the East Region – pulled off the greatest team win in ACU Athletics history with a 53-52 win over No. 3 seed Texas in Indianapolis. The game was Tanner’s masterpiece as the architect of ACU’s defense. The Wildcats forced the Longhorns into 23 turnovers, finished with 11 steals, scored 23 points off the turnovers, and didn’t allow a single second-chance point.
 
Under Tanner’s direction, the ACU defense in 2020-21 was at its best, leading the nation in turnovers forced per game (19.93) and turnover margin per game (+6.3) in 2020-21. The defense was also ranked second in steals per game (9.7) and fifth in scoring defense (60.4 points per game). 
 
Before ACU, Tanner was the top assistant at Stephen F. Austin, where he helped the program to an overall mark of 153-65, three regular-season Southland Championships, and three title game appearances from 2006-13. Before that, he served as an assistant coach at South Plains College from 2004-06, following a four-year stretch as head coach at Fort Scott (Kansas) Community College (2000-04).
 
Before becoming the head coach at FSCC, Tanner was the assistant coach for two seasons and worked for current Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard.
 
Before beginning his coaching career, Tanner played for Allen County (Kan.) Community College for two years, earning his associate of science degree. Following his stint at ACCC, he transferred to Emporia State (Kan.) University. He earned his bachelor’s degree while playing for head coach Ron Slaymaker there.
 
Tanner completed his education at Pittsburg State University (Kan.), earning his Master’s in Kinesiology.
 
Tanner and his wife, Lindsey, have two sons, Colby, who currently plays for the Wildcats, and Carson, who is a student assistant for the program.