COACHING ACCOLADES
- 4 All-WAC Players
- 19 Academic All-WAC Selections
- 2 Postseason Tournament Appearances (2022 CBI Semifinals, 2024 CIT Quarterfinals)
Brette Tanner was named ACU’s 17
th head men’s basketball coach on April 14, 2021.
ACU (2013-2021 assistant coach, 2021-present head coach)
Brette Tanner enters his fifth season as ACU's head men's basketball coach -- and his 13th overall with the program -- in the 2025-26 season.
Tanner was the Wildcats' associate head coach for eight years (2013-2021) under head coach Joe Golding, and was promoted to head coach following ACU’s incredible victory over the Texas Longhorns in the NCAA Tournament.
Tanner has led the Wildcats to a WAC Basketball Tournament championship game, reached the semifinals of the College Basketball Invitational, and coached four players to All-WAC honors. In the classroom, Tanner has coached 19 Academic All-WAC selections.
2024-25: The Wildcats finished the regular season with seven wins in their final nine games to earn the No. 4 seed in the WAC Basketball Tournament – their best seed since joining the league for the 2021-22 season.
Tanner guided Dontrez Williams to the WAC All-Freshman team. Senior Hunter Jack Madden earned the WAC Player of the Week honor for the week of December 2, 2024. Madden was the first Wildcat to earn a weekly conference award since January 2023.
ACU led all of Division I with 10.3 steals per game. The Wildcat defense had 331 steals for the season. They forced just over 17 turnovers a game, resulting in an average of 18 points off their opponents’ mistakes.
2023-24: ACU earned its first regular season victory over a Power 5 opponent with a monstrous 64-59 win at Oklahoma State in season opener. It was the Cowboys' first time to lose a home season opening game since 1957.
The season was also highlighted by an 88-82 ACU win over UTEP in the scheduling alliance between the WAC and Conference USA.
The Wildcats got hot down the stretch with a 7-game winning streak during WAC play leading to a third consecutive appearance in the league's tournament.
ACU took part in the 2024 CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT), defeating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the opening round.
2022-23: The Wildcats opened a renovated Moody Coliseum with a 65-56 win over Jackson State to begin the season, and then won six of their last seven nonconference games.
Once again, ACU picked up steam during WAC play with three straight wins over Utah Tech, Seattle U, and California Baptist.
The Wildcats were the No. 9 seed in the WAC Tournament, losing to No. 8 seed CBU in round one.
2021-22: In his first season as the Wildcats’ head coach, 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.
ASSISTANT COACHING CAREER
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.
PERSONAL
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 played for the Wildcats from 2022-2025, and Carson, who was a student assistant for the program.
