CHASING HAPPINESS
2/15/2022 3:59:00 PM | General, Men's Basketball
Alvin Brooks III Has Been a Part of 3 National Championships
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
As the son of a man who's been a basketball coach for the last 40 years, Alvin Brooks III wanted no part of the "family business."
"I tried everything in my power to not coach," he said, "because I had seen what my dad went through as an assistant coach and a head coach. I had seen the time he put into it. After losses, we would be at the University of Houston until 3 in the morning, him watching every single play. And I had school the next day."
That's not the life Alvin wanted. He earned a degree in finance at Idaho State and planned to "chase millions."
Instead, he made $10,000 a year as an assistant basketball coach at Arkansas-Fort Smith, where his duties included opening the campus fitness center at 4 a.m.
"We lived in the same apartment with the players, so we had to walk them to class, we had to monitor study hall, and then we had to work at the fitness center at 4 in the morning," said Alvin, now in his 18th year as a coach and sixth as an assistant under Scott Drew at Baylor. "There would be couples waiting. And if you were late at 4:01, they would report you."
After winning back-to-back NJCAA national championships at Fort Smith and Midland College in 2006 and '07, Alvin got to cut down the nets and hoist another trophy last year when Baylor won its first national championship in program history.
"I remember showing the guys the pictures of me holding the trophies from 2006, 2007. And I said, 'Look, I've never left the arena without holding a trophy and taking a picture with it. And I'm not planning on starting tonight,''' he said.
"They all busted out laughing, but I told them, 'Y'all get me here, I don't lose these games.' Just making a joke. Then, it actually happened, and I'm taking a picture with the trophy, and I thought, 'Wow, God, I don't know if I deserve this, but I definitely love the fact that I'm a part of it.'''
Since Alvin III was all of 2 years old when his dad, Alvin Brooks Jr., finished playing and became an assistant at Lamar in 1981, "that's all I remember," he said. His dad is in his first season as the head coach at Lamar University after spending a total of 23 years at Houston.
"Him being a young coach just starting, and recruiting is the lifeblood of a program, he was gone a lot," Alvin III said. "We didn't have the same technology we do now, and him calling the house phone just wasn't the same. He didn't even think about it until I wrote an article to my sons. When he read it, he was apologetic. And I told him, 'There's no need to be, you were doing what you had to do to help our family.' He just didn't realize how much he was gone."
On those late nights at Houston, where his dad was the head coach from 1993-98, Alvin III would shoot some in the gym, "but you can only do that for so long."
"After that, I would sit in his office and just wait," he said. "I would look at the game film, but I wasn't into it."
A point guard at Katy Taylor High School, Alvin III wasn't getting much recruiting attention, because "everybody thought I was going (to Houston) with him."
And that was the plan until Houston fired his dad following the 1998 season. Alvin III was going to be joined by his close friend, Rashard Lewis, who was the No. 1-ranked player in the country, and a "couple more friends that were ranked, we were all going to go."
Instead, the 6-foot-10 Lewis declared for the NBA Draft and played 16 years in the league with the Seattle Sonics, Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards and Miami Heat.
"The day my dad was fired, Rashard came out and said, 'I won't attend the University of Houston,''' Alvin III said. "And a couple more guys from Houston that were ranked said they weren't going, either. So, it's kind of the what if. If he had had one more year, what would have happened? But, it gave all of us a chance to blossom."
After playing two years at Midland College, Alvin III signed with Idaho State and was so miserable that he called his dad after three weeks and said he was transferring.
"My dad said, 'Nope, you made the decision, you've got to stick it out,''' Alvin III said.
"I remember vividly telling him that I was going to do my two years, and then I'm out," he said. "And then God said, 'Nope.' I got hurt and had to redshirt, so I was there an extra year. I ended up actually staying 3 ½ years and got my master's degree (in athletics administration)."
Coaching first piqued his interest when he visited Lewis for a month in Seattle and went to a Sonics practice with head coach Nate McMillan and assistant coach Dwane Casey.
"That's when it hit me, 'I could do this. All they're doing is coaching basketball,''' he said.
When Alvin III called his dad that night and told him he wanted to coach, Alvin Jr. replied, "Call me back in two weeks and let me know if you really want to coach," hoping to actually discourage his son from going into such a demanding, high-pressure profession.
Even though he was an assistant with Billy Clyde Gillespie at Texas A&M at the time, Alvin Jr. told his son he needed to start at the junior college level, knowing he would have to do everything.
Fully expecting him to complain after the first month, Alvin III instead said, "I'm happy."
"Oh, man, you've got the (coaching) bug for real. You've got it," Alvin Jr. said.
After winning NJCAA national championships with Jeremy Cox at Arkansas-Fort Smith and Midland with former Baylor player and current UNT head coach Grant McCasland, Alvin III got his first Division I job with Jim Les at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill.
Much like Idaho State, Alvin III was "out of his comfort zone" at first.
"I remember walking into the Joy of the Game Gym in Chicago. I looked around and I didn't know one person," he said. "Being in Texas for three years, I could walk into any gym and knew either the AAU coaches, high school coaches, even the other college coaches. But there, I didn't see one person I knew."
Rodell Davis, an assistant now at Chicago State who was at Drake at the time, reached out to him – "I guess I had that look on my face," he said – and showed Alvin III the ropes.
"He came up to me and told me who's who. That was the beginning of me having the chance to build new relationships," he said. "He didn't have to do that. He didn't know me, I didn't know him. And we're even conference rivals. During the pandemic, he came on during one of our 'Being Ready' calls, and I had a chance to thank him in front of everybody, because I've never forgotten that."
Part of two NCAA Tournament teams in four years with Bruce Weber at Kansas State after a two-year stint at Sam Houston State, Alvin III had the chance to return to his home state six years ago and had offers from both TCU and Baylor.
"I remember telling Coach Weber, even before we came to visit Baylor, that we were going to TCU," he said. "But then, when I came home, I had this knot in my stomach, like I could not eat. I remember looking at my wife and telling her that i shouldn't feel this way after making a big decision like this.
"I felt like God put that knot in my stomach to allow me to become a Baylor Bear, to be honest. Because if it was up to me, I would have been at TCU. But, God said, that's not what His plan is. He put a knot in my stomach. And when we came to visit Baylor, my wife and I felt like we were at home."
An amazing ride at Baylor that's included three other postseason appearances culminated with last year's 28-2 finish and the 86-70 win over top-ranked Gonzaga in the NCAA championship game in Indianapolis. Along the way, he also picked up his first head-to-head win over his dad when the Bears defeated Houston, 78-59, in the national semifinals.
"I've grown a ton as a coach since the first time I stepped foot on campus," Alvin III said. "Coach Drew and just the culture and the process we have, I'm able to learn a lot from him. I've also been able to learn a lot from Coach (Jerome) Tang and even Coach (Paul) Mills and Coach (Tim) Maloney. And now, obviously, with the staff we have with Coach (John) Jakus, Coach (Bill) Peterson), Coach (Jared) Nuness, Coach Ty (Beard), Coach AD (Aditya Malhotra) and Coach Jason (Smith). Even the GAs and the managers, I think everybody is able to learn from one another."
Alvin III was already considered a "hard-working, well-respected assistant coach," Drew said, but "it's been a joy to see him blossom" over the last five-plus years.
"A lot of times, when you get to a place, that first year you're just trying to learn. The second year, you're starting to get it. And by that third year, you're really clicking," Drew said. "He's been somebody the last couple years that has really come into his own and provided a lot of wisdom and insight that's been a big part of our success."
Squeezed in just before his first day at K-State, Alvin III married fellow Houston native Tiffany Wafer on August 4, 2012, and drove to Manhattan, Kan., the next day.
"That was a long drive," he said. "We laugh about it now, but she cried the whole way. That was her first time away from home. We stayed in Oklahoma City, woke up the next day, and she cried the rest of the way."
"Our honeymoon was actually a foreign trip to Brazil with the team," Alvin III said. "She still says that's not a honeymoon."
The couple has two sons, Alvin IV, who's 7 years old; and 6-year-old Austin.
"Obviously, when you have someone that depends on everything that you do, it changes your mindset a lot," he said. "AJ was 2 years old when we got here, and he was diagnosed with severe autism. I think at the time, I didn't understand it as much, just because he's 2 years old. Austin is also on the autism spectrum, but he's not as severe.
"I just feel like God had us here . . . Baylor has a place to help kids with autism, and then they have different programs in town that help. AJ is 7 years old and non-verbal at the moment. I have faith in him becoming verbal, I just need to raise my faith even more."
As much as his ultimate goal is to become a head coach one day, because of his boys, "I wouldn't go just anywhere to be a coach," he said.
"If they don't have the resources to help our boys, then I don't care how much money they can offer, it's not worth it," said Alvin III, who is 42. "I'm at the age now, and have a family with my wife and two boys, to where it's about the right place and not just chasing something. Like I chased the millions for six months (in a job with a financial company), now I'm chasing happiness and hopefully impacting people."
Baylor Bear Insider
As the son of a man who's been a basketball coach for the last 40 years, Alvin Brooks III wanted no part of the "family business."
"I tried everything in my power to not coach," he said, "because I had seen what my dad went through as an assistant coach and a head coach. I had seen the time he put into it. After losses, we would be at the University of Houston until 3 in the morning, him watching every single play. And I had school the next day."
That's not the life Alvin wanted. He earned a degree in finance at Idaho State and planned to "chase millions."
Instead, he made $10,000 a year as an assistant basketball coach at Arkansas-Fort Smith, where his duties included opening the campus fitness center at 4 a.m.
"We lived in the same apartment with the players, so we had to walk them to class, we had to monitor study hall, and then we had to work at the fitness center at 4 in the morning," said Alvin, now in his 18th year as a coach and sixth as an assistant under Scott Drew at Baylor. "There would be couples waiting. And if you were late at 4:01, they would report you."
After winning back-to-back NJCAA national championships at Fort Smith and Midland College in 2006 and '07, Alvin got to cut down the nets and hoist another trophy last year when Baylor won its first national championship in program history.
"I remember showing the guys the pictures of me holding the trophies from 2006, 2007. And I said, 'Look, I've never left the arena without holding a trophy and taking a picture with it. And I'm not planning on starting tonight,''' he said.
"They all busted out laughing, but I told them, 'Y'all get me here, I don't lose these games.' Just making a joke. Then, it actually happened, and I'm taking a picture with the trophy, and I thought, 'Wow, God, I don't know if I deserve this, but I definitely love the fact that I'm a part of it.'''
Since Alvin III was all of 2 years old when his dad, Alvin Brooks Jr., finished playing and became an assistant at Lamar in 1981, "that's all I remember," he said. His dad is in his first season as the head coach at Lamar University after spending a total of 23 years at Houston.
"Him being a young coach just starting, and recruiting is the lifeblood of a program, he was gone a lot," Alvin III said. "We didn't have the same technology we do now, and him calling the house phone just wasn't the same. He didn't even think about it until I wrote an article to my sons. When he read it, he was apologetic. And I told him, 'There's no need to be, you were doing what you had to do to help our family.' He just didn't realize how much he was gone."
On those late nights at Houston, where his dad was the head coach from 1993-98, Alvin III would shoot some in the gym, "but you can only do that for so long."
"After that, I would sit in his office and just wait," he said. "I would look at the game film, but I wasn't into it."
A point guard at Katy Taylor High School, Alvin III wasn't getting much recruiting attention, because "everybody thought I was going (to Houston) with him." And that was the plan until Houston fired his dad following the 1998 season. Alvin III was going to be joined by his close friend, Rashard Lewis, who was the No. 1-ranked player in the country, and a "couple more friends that were ranked, we were all going to go."
Instead, the 6-foot-10 Lewis declared for the NBA Draft and played 16 years in the league with the Seattle Sonics, Orlando Magic, Washington Wizards and Miami Heat.
"The day my dad was fired, Rashard came out and said, 'I won't attend the University of Houston,''' Alvin III said. "And a couple more guys from Houston that were ranked said they weren't going, either. So, it's kind of the what if. If he had had one more year, what would have happened? But, it gave all of us a chance to blossom."
After playing two years at Midland College, Alvin III signed with Idaho State and was so miserable that he called his dad after three weeks and said he was transferring.
"My dad said, 'Nope, you made the decision, you've got to stick it out,''' Alvin III said.
"I remember vividly telling him that I was going to do my two years, and then I'm out," he said. "And then God said, 'Nope.' I got hurt and had to redshirt, so I was there an extra year. I ended up actually staying 3 ½ years and got my master's degree (in athletics administration)."
Coaching first piqued his interest when he visited Lewis for a month in Seattle and went to a Sonics practice with head coach Nate McMillan and assistant coach Dwane Casey.
"That's when it hit me, 'I could do this. All they're doing is coaching basketball,''' he said.
When Alvin III called his dad that night and told him he wanted to coach, Alvin Jr. replied, "Call me back in two weeks and let me know if you really want to coach," hoping to actually discourage his son from going into such a demanding, high-pressure profession.
Even though he was an assistant with Billy Clyde Gillespie at Texas A&M at the time, Alvin Jr. told his son he needed to start at the junior college level, knowing he would have to do everything.
Fully expecting him to complain after the first month, Alvin III instead said, "I'm happy."
"Oh, man, you've got the (coaching) bug for real. You've got it," Alvin Jr. said.
After winning NJCAA national championships with Jeremy Cox at Arkansas-Fort Smith and Midland with former Baylor player and current UNT head coach Grant McCasland, Alvin III got his first Division I job with Jim Les at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill.
Much like Idaho State, Alvin III was "out of his comfort zone" at first.
"I remember walking into the Joy of the Game Gym in Chicago. I looked around and I didn't know one person," he said. "Being in Texas for three years, I could walk into any gym and knew either the AAU coaches, high school coaches, even the other college coaches. But there, I didn't see one person I knew."
Rodell Davis, an assistant now at Chicago State who was at Drake at the time, reached out to him – "I guess I had that look on my face," he said – and showed Alvin III the ropes.
"He came up to me and told me who's who. That was the beginning of me having the chance to build new relationships," he said. "He didn't have to do that. He didn't know me, I didn't know him. And we're even conference rivals. During the pandemic, he came on during one of our 'Being Ready' calls, and I had a chance to thank him in front of everybody, because I've never forgotten that."
Part of two NCAA Tournament teams in four years with Bruce Weber at Kansas State after a two-year stint at Sam Houston State, Alvin III had the chance to return to his home state six years ago and had offers from both TCU and Baylor.
"I remember telling Coach Weber, even before we came to visit Baylor, that we were going to TCU," he said. "But then, when I came home, I had this knot in my stomach, like I could not eat. I remember looking at my wife and telling her that i shouldn't feel this way after making a big decision like this.
"I felt like God put that knot in my stomach to allow me to become a Baylor Bear, to be honest. Because if it was up to me, I would have been at TCU. But, God said, that's not what His plan is. He put a knot in my stomach. And when we came to visit Baylor, my wife and I felt like we were at home."
An amazing ride at Baylor that's included three other postseason appearances culminated with last year's 28-2 finish and the 86-70 win over top-ranked Gonzaga in the NCAA championship game in Indianapolis. Along the way, he also picked up his first head-to-head win over his dad when the Bears defeated Houston, 78-59, in the national semifinals.
"I've grown a ton as a coach since the first time I stepped foot on campus," Alvin III said. "Coach Drew and just the culture and the process we have, I'm able to learn a lot from him. I've also been able to learn a lot from Coach (Jerome) Tang and even Coach (Paul) Mills and Coach (Tim) Maloney. And now, obviously, with the staff we have with Coach (John) Jakus, Coach (Bill) Peterson), Coach (Jared) Nuness, Coach Ty (Beard), Coach AD (Aditya Malhotra) and Coach Jason (Smith). Even the GAs and the managers, I think everybody is able to learn from one another."
Alvin III was already considered a "hard-working, well-respected assistant coach," Drew said, but "it's been a joy to see him blossom" over the last five-plus years.
"A lot of times, when you get to a place, that first year you're just trying to learn. The second year, you're starting to get it. And by that third year, you're really clicking," Drew said. "He's been somebody the last couple years that has really come into his own and provided a lot of wisdom and insight that's been a big part of our success."
Squeezed in just before his first day at K-State, Alvin III married fellow Houston native Tiffany Wafer on August 4, 2012, and drove to Manhattan, Kan., the next day.
"That was a long drive," he said. "We laugh about it now, but she cried the whole way. That was her first time away from home. We stayed in Oklahoma City, woke up the next day, and she cried the rest of the way."
"Our honeymoon was actually a foreign trip to Brazil with the team," Alvin III said. "She still says that's not a honeymoon."
The couple has two sons, Alvin IV, who's 7 years old; and 6-year-old Austin.
"Obviously, when you have someone that depends on everything that you do, it changes your mindset a lot," he said. "AJ was 2 years old when we got here, and he was diagnosed with severe autism. I think at the time, I didn't understand it as much, just because he's 2 years old. Austin is also on the autism spectrum, but he's not as severe.
"I just feel like God had us here . . . Baylor has a place to help kids with autism, and then they have different programs in town that help. AJ is 7 years old and non-verbal at the moment. I have faith in him becoming verbal, I just need to raise my faith even more."
As much as his ultimate goal is to become a head coach one day, because of his boys, "I wouldn't go just anywhere to be a coach," he said.
"If they don't have the resources to help our boys, then I don't care how much money they can offer, it's not worth it," said Alvin III, who is 42. "I'm at the age now, and have a family with my wife and two boys, to where it's about the right place and not just chasing something. Like I chased the millions for six months (in a job with a financial company), now I'm chasing happiness and hopefully impacting people."
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