WSU coach David Riley hires assistants Jerry Brown, Donald Brady from EWU

PULLMAN – Washington State coach David Riley is hiring two assistants from his staff at Eastern Washington.

Jerry Brown and Donald Brady are following Riley to WSU, per a release published Wednesday, giving the Cougars two coaches with connections to the area. Both spent one year with the Eagles, which was last season.

Riley can hire one more assistant, according to NCAA rules, plus coaches to serve in such roles as recruiting director, performance coach and coordinator of operations.

Brown, Riley’s top assistant at EWU, spent the past seven years working in college basketball after finishing a playing career at Fresno State, then a short pro career in Europe. In the years since, Brown has served in director and coaching roles at UTEP, Stanford, San Diego and Denver.

Brown spent the 2022-23 season as an assistant at Denver. He also made stops at San Diego (2019-22), Stanford (2019), UTEP (2018-19) and the NBA’s Detroit Pistons (2017-18). As a student-athlete, Brown played at Fresno State and Santa Clara.

“Jerry is a coach with incredible ties to, and knowledge of, West Coast basketball,” Riley said via release. “His expertise on the court emphasizes fundamentals and player development. Jerry is a great coach and even better person, who embraces the hard-working mentality we pride ourselves on and are continuing to build at WSU.”

Brady, who came up the coaching ranks in Western Washington, served as head coach at Shoreline Community College and Bellevue College, winning conference titles at both before his transition to Division I.

Brady spent five years as the head coach at Bellevue (2018-23), leading the Bulldogs to the NWAC championship game twice and won the 2023 title, earning conference coach of the year honors. Prior, Brady was the head coach at Shoreline Community College for two years, an assistant at Bellevue for five seasons and an assistant at Division III University of the Redlands (California).

“I’m excited to welcome Donald to our staff in Pullman,” Riley said via release. “He is a skilled coach with deep ties with basketball in Washington state and embodies the family culture we are building at WSU. Donald approaches his work with a championship mentality and has won at just about every level of Washington state college basketball.”

In recent days, Riley has also landed three of his former EWU players: sophomore wing LeJuan Watts, and senior centers Ethan Price and Dane Erikstrup. Riley has offers out to two more of his former Eagles players, wing Casey Jones and guard Cedric Coward.

Cougars from last season still in the portal include walk-on center AJ LeBeau, forward AJ Rohosy, forward Spencer Mahoney, wing Kymany Houinsou and guard Joseph Yesufu. All retain the option to return to WSU.