Mike Brandt enters his 11th season as head of the USC Aiken women's basketball program in the 2012-13 season on the heels of two years of huge successes for the Pacers.

Under the guidance of Brandt the USC Aiken women’s basketball program has become one of the better programs in the extremely tough Peach Belt Conference and one of the best in the state.  The Pacers have won 54 games in the past two years, which is good for most in South Carolina during the time period.

Under Brandt, USC Aiken has won a school-record 15 or more games in each of the last six seasons. The Pacers have claimed 20 or more victories in five of the last six seasons. The record tying 27 wins in the 2011-12 season led the Pacers to heights never previously achieved at USC Aiken, and they led to a final ranking of 12th in the nation after spending time in the top-10 and being ranked in the top-25 all season.

The Convocation Center, home to USC Aiken basketball since 2007-08, once again proved to be a tough place for opponents to earn a victory as the Pacers went a perfect 12-0 in the regular season at home in 2011-12. They improved their record inside the friendly confines of the facility to 55-12 during the regular season over the last five years.

During the 2011-12 season, Brandt led the Pacers to their first Peach Belt Conference Tournament title in school history by defeating the previous year's national champion, Clayton State, 52-47.  That victory helped USC Aiken earn the right to host the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Southeast Regional.

The Pacers earned a victory in the NCAA Tournament for the second straight year, this year as the No. 1 seed and Regional host, by defeating Catawba, 71-69.  The Pacers would bow out in the Regional Semifinals to PBC conference foe Lander 61-55; Lander would go on to win the Southeast Regional and advance to the Elite Eight in San Antonio. 

Multiple Pacers would earn postseason accolades led by Hannah DeGraffinreed and Kayla Harris earning honors on the court, while four Pacers, Mia Antoine, Brittany Bowen, Porsha Martin, and Daniela Tarailo, would be selected to the PBC All-Academic Team for their work in the classroom.  Both DeGraffinreed and Harris earned First-Team All-PBC honors for the regular season and the PBC All-Tournament Team, with DeGraffinreed being the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player. Harris was named an Honorable Mention All-American selection.

The success of the 2011-12 season built upon the special season the year before, as the 2010-11 season saw the Pacers have unprecedented success.

Brandt became USC Aiken’s all-time wins leader during the 2010-11 season. He begins the upcoming year with 194 wins as the head mentor of USC Aiken women’s basketball. Brandt also eclipsed the 400 career win plateau in the 2010-11 campaign. He now has 448 victories as a head coach.

The record-setting year concluded with USC Aiken having won a school-record 27 games. The Pacers also won their first ever NCAA Tournament game and claimed a share of the Peach Belt Conference East Division title. The Pacers closed out the year having won 22 of their last 26 games.

They were ranked 13^th in the final poll of the 2010-11 season.

USC Aiken defeated the No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 ranked teams for the first time in program history over the course of the season and the Pacers were the only team to defeat eventual national champion Clayton State.

Making its fourth appearance (2002, 2005, 2009 and 2011) in an NCAA Regional, USC Aiken – the third seed in the regional – claimed win No. 1 in the NCAA Tournament with a thrilling 69-66 win over Tusculum in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Quarterfinals on Friday, March 11.

Lander would conclude USC Aiken’s magical season one day later in the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Semifinals. The loss left the Pacers with a school-record 27-6 record overall.

USC Aiken had two players earn All-Conference accolades with Hannah DeGraffinreed and Kayla Harris chosen All-PBC. DeGraffinreed was chosen to the league’s second team, while Kayla Harris was a third selection. Kayla Harris was also tabbed as the PBC Freshman of the Year.

DeGraffinreed along with teammate Triahna Harris were selected to the Peach Belt Conference All-Tournament team.

Kayla Harris completed her impressive freshman campaign by being named to the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional All-Tournament team. Kayla Harris became the first USC Aiken women's basketball player in program history to garner region All-Tournament accolades.

The accolades for the Pacers were not just confined to the court as Deandra Schirmer was named to the Capital One District Three Women’s Basketball Academic All-District Third Team in the college division for her efforts in the classroom.

Schirmer along with teammates Triahna Harris and Daniela Tarailo were also chosen to the Peach Belt Conference All-Academic team.

Brandt and the USC Aiken women’s basketball team finished the 2009-10 season with a 15-13 record. The Pacers closed out the 2009-10 season by winning nine of their last 12 games.

USC Aiken’s Peach Belt Conference record of 10-8 earned the Pacers the No. 3 seed in the PBC East Division.

The Pacers season ended in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Marvin Vanover Peach Belt Conference Women’s Basketball Championship with a 75-64 loss to nationally-ranked No. 17 Francis Marion.

Senior forward Catherine Cain was named to the PBC Women’s All-Conference Team as a second team selection.

In 2008-09, USC Aiken advanced all the way to the PBC Tournament championship game. The Pacers dropped their bid for their first PBC Tournament championship, but they were awarded for a strong 2008-09 season with a trip to the their third ever NCAA Division II Tournament.

USC Aiken eventually bowed out in the first round of the tournament to regional finalist and PBC rival Francis Marion. Despite the loss in the first round of USC Aiken’s second trip to the Division II Tournament under Brandt, the Pacers’ 2008-09 season was one of the brightest in school history.

The coaching veteran reached the century mark of 100 NCAA Division II wins with a 77-67 home win over UNC Pembroke on February 18, 2008.

Adding his high school coaching and men’s college assistant games, Brandt has been on the winning side of the scoreboard over 500 times.

Brandt will be the first to admit he loves to win games – but he will also emphasize – there is more to it than winning games.

He prides his coaching in helping young people develop themselves in all walks of life. It is evident in his coaching that he tries to instill the basic life fundamentals of hard work, honesty, academic integrity, discipline, and strong personal character. Those qualities have proven to be a winner for both USCA and the mentor.

Both seem to be a nice fit, as each one compliments the other. USCA and Mike Brandt emphasize many of the same traits in their philosophy and teachings.

In coaching circles, Brandt is regarded as one of the leading coaches that will teach his team to run the Flex Offense. The Flex is a disciplined and continuity offense that most teams fear trying to defend.

Many of the ‘locals’ enjoy watching the flow of the offense and can see the play developing prior to witnessing a great back-cut for a lay-up or a wide open three-point shot for a shooter. There are many options for players as they run the offense and it is usually easy to spot the players that have experienced success executing that playing style.

On the defensive side of the court, Brandt stresses aggressive person to person defense.

He also will mix up the pressure with a soft zone press and even incorporate a half court trap at times. Because of his strategy of “mixing things up,” his teams have consistently ranked at the top of the scoring defense category.

In Brandt’s 22 years of college coaching, his teams have reached the magical “20-wins” 13 times. Only two of those years have they finished below .500.

Prior to coming to Aiken, S.C., Brandt coached for 13 years in his hometown of Sterling, Colo. at Northeastern Junior College. While there, Brandt finished with a string of six twenty-win seasons, climaxed by a trip to the NJCAA National Basketball Championships.

His 2001-02 Plainswomen team finished 9th in the country – losing in overtime in the opening round to the eventual National Champions.

Preparation is a key to coaching, and the Pacer guru tends to get his teams to consistently improve and finish strong as both the game and season goes on.  As confirmation, Brandt’s Pacers enter the upcoming year owning a 95-4 record over the last four years when leading with five minutes to go in regulation.

Challenging games are not a threat to Brandt either, as his teams at USC Aiken are 17-23 overall against ranked opposition. The Pacers have won 14 of their last 27 against ranked foes.

A two game sweep over Division I competition in the 2007-08 season proves that Brandt and the Pacers are not afraid to accept any challenge. Overall, USC Aiken is 4-4 against Division I competition under Brandt, including 4-2 over the last three seasons. In the 2010-11 season, USC Aiken downed College of Charleston, 81-48, in Charleston, S.C.

Numerous players of his have achieved All-American, All-Region, and All-Conference awards on the court.

He also has had over 100 players earn academic honors as well, including national academic honors.

Brandt attended Sterling High School (Sterling, Colo.) and participated in basketball, baseball and tennis. He finished his high school career as the all-time leader in scoring, assists, steals, free throw percentage and consecutive free throws.

As point guard at Northeastern (Colo.) Junior College, Brandt helped set a school record winning 21 out of 22 of the last regular season games.

After his two-year stint, Brandt stayed with the Sterling ties and attended Sterling College in Sterling, Kan. Brandt completed his playing career as being named a District X All-Star. Upon completion of his playing career, he began coaching in high school while earning his master’s degree in Education

Brandt and his wife Gina are the proud parents of son Jaiden Lee Patriot Brandt and daughter Amaura Lyn America Brandt.

Gina is a professor at Augusta State University. Jaiden, a senior, is currently attending Augusta State, while Amaura will be a freshman at USC Aiken where she will play basketball for her father on the Pacers squad.

The parents also promote well-rounded children as both Jaiden (piano, voice) and Amaura (violin, piano) are also vested in the arts.

University of South Carolina Aiken head women's basketball coach Mike Brandt announced the appointment of Jennifer Brock as assistant women's basketball coach on Tuesday, June 21, 2011.

The Pacers enjoyed another extremely successful and record-setting year in Brock's first season with the program as the2012-13 season will mark her second with USC Aiken.  Brock spent the previous four years serving on the West Texas A&M coaching staff.

At the time of Brock joining the program, Brandt noted, " I am very excited to have Jennifer on board. She comes from a nationally competitive program, and knows what it takes to win at this level as both a coach and a player. Her experiences as a coach in the Elite Eight were a great selling point for her selection. By being there and experiencing it, one would think our players will have to believe it when she says something like: 'That's not good enough!' She will be coming in with much enthusiasm and a winning attitude."

Since the commencement of the 2008-09 season, Brock has served as West Texas A&M's second assistant. She spent the 2007-08 season as a graduate assistant coach.

During her four years on the bench with West Texas A&M, the Buffs acquired a record of 101-26. West Texas A&M was 26-5 in 2007-08, 28-6 in 2008-09, 30-4 in 2009-10 and 17-11 in 2010-11.

The Buffs also won the South Division crown in the Lone Star Conference in three of the last four seasons. West Texas A&M won the Lone Star Conference Tournament in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

The Buffs were the top seed in the South Central region in the NCAA Tournament in 2008, 2009 and 2010. In 2009, the Buffs advanced to the Elite Eight after winning the South Central region.

Prior to joining the West Texas A&M coaching staff, Brock was a standout for the Buffs on the hardwood with West Texas A&M going 101-25 in her career as a student-athlete. The Buffs obtained the Lone Star South Division championship three times during her playing career, while also winning one Lone Star Conference Tournament Championship. West Texas A&M advanced to the semifinals of the South Central region three times in her career.

A point guard, Brock concluded her career as a two-time Lone Star Conference Academic Honor Roll selection. She was also a two-time Lone Star Honorable Mention selection.

Brock compiled an average of 7.8 points per game (954 total), 3.4 rebounds per game (422 total) and a .733 free throw percentage in addition to 554 assists and 218 steals in her career.

Brock is in West Texas A&M's record books in a number of categories, including first in assists in a season (222 in 2005-06), second in assist average in a season (6.9 in 2005-06), third in career assists (554). She is also third in career free throws made (410) and career free throws attempted (559) for sixth place in career free throw percentage (.733). Additionally, Brock is ninth in free throws made in a season (125 in the 2005-06), fourth in career games played (124), sixth in career steals (218), sixth in assists in a game (14 on Feb. 11, 2006) and 17th in career points (954, 2002-07).

Brock graduated from West Texas A&M with her Master's in Sports and Exercise Science in May of 2008. She picked up her Bachelor's of Arts degree in English from West Texas A&M in May of 2006.