University of South Carolina Aiken Athletics

Mike Brandt enters his 14th season as the head women's basketball coach at USC Aiken.

The all-time wins leader in program history, Brandt owns a 245-147 record as the Pacer head mentor. He is 498-276 in his 26 seasons as a head coach.

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 162 games over the last eight seasons, which is the best in the state of South Carolina at any collegiate level.

Under Brandt, USC Aiken has won a school-record 15 or more games in eight of the last nine seasons. The Pacers have claimed 20 or more victories in six of the last nine seasons.

In the 2014-15 season, Brandt’s team was pretty young with only two seniors. However, the squad finished second in the PBC East Division and earned a berth in the PBC semifinals. Mackenzie Reese topped 1,000 points in her career and earned second-team all-conference honors while Emry Tsitouris was tabbed the PBC Freshman of the Year and picked up third-team accolades.

Despite having one of the youngest teams in Division II, Brandt's team started to click midway through the season, finishing with nine wins in the PBC and earning a berth in the conference tournament during the 2013-14 season. The squad reeled off four wins in its final five regular-season games and nearly knocked off NCAA Sweet 16 foe Armstrong a pair of times.

The team tied the PBC record for fewest turnovers in a conference game with five in the Senior Day win over UNC Pembroke.  

USC Aiken concluded the 2012-13 season with a record of 22-8. The Pacers were ranked as high as a program-best third nationally and would go on to win an NCAA Tournament game for the third straight year.

USC Aiken’s Daniela Tarailo and Brittany Hill were both named All-Peach Belt Conference in the 2012-13 season with Tarailo garnering First-Team laurels. Tarailo would go on to claim Honorable Mention All-America honors as well as All-Region accolades. She was also named Academic All-District.

Four Pacers including Tarailo would be named to the PBC All-Academic Team with Mia Antoine, Hill and Martin earning the honor from the league. Antoine was also chosen as the PBC Elite 15 Award Winner as the women’s basketball student-athlete with the highest grade point average.

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.

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, Antoine, Brittany Bowen, Martin, and Tarailo, would be selected to the PBC All-Academic Team for their work in the classroom.  Both DeGraffinreed and Kayla 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. Brandt also eclipsed the 400 career win plateau in the 2010-11 campaign.

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 13th 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 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.

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 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 600 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 24 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 20-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.  

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 GRU Augusta. Jaiden graduated from GRU Augusta, while Amaura played for USC Aiken for three seasons.

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