By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Trey Brown wasn't looking to leave Hayden after coaching the Wildcats to a Class 3A state tournament berth this past season in his only year at the school.
Trey Brown, who announced his resignation as Hayden's coach on Monday, has accepted a position as an assistant coach at MidAmerica Nazarene University, where he was a standout point guard. [Photo by Kyle Grunert/Special to TSN]
But when the opportunity arose for the former MidAmerica Nazarene standout point guard to return to his alma mater as an assistant coach, Brown knew he needed to jump at it.
"I wasn't planning on anything and it kind of just happened out of the blue,'' Brown told TopSports.news. "It happened really fast but they had some turnover with their staff this year and had an opening and coach (Adam) Hepker reached out and said they might have an opening for me.
"We kind of talked about it and I took a lot of time to think about it and went through the whole process there and talked with my family and thought it was the best situation for me.''
Hepker, also a MidAmerica grad, returned to MNU as an assistant Brown's senior season and has been the Pioneers head coach the past two years after longtime coach Rocky Lamar retired.
"I thought it was a great opportunity to learn under him because he has just done a phenomenal job in following in coach Lamar's footsteps, which is no easy task at all, but he hasn't skipped a beat and I have the utmost respect for coach Hep and just the way he carries himself and what he's all about,'' Brown said.
"And obviously it's a bonus to get to go back home to a place where I got to play and a place that really changed my life on the court but more importantly off the court. It's home and it just felt like an opportunity that I couldn't pass up.''
The 25-year-old Brown helped lead Shawnee Heights to the Class 5A state championship in 2017 and the All-Stater began his college playing career at Missouri Western before transferring to MidAmerica Nazarene.
Brown averaged 13.4 points as a senior and scored more than 1,000 career points for MidAmerica, where he earned his criminal justice degree in 2022.
Brown's first coaching job was at Cair Paravel Latin, which he led to a 9-13 record in the 2022-2023 season before he accepted the Hayden position. The Wildcats posted an 8-16 record this past season, but posted three straight sub-state wins to earn a trip to the 3A state tournament.
Hayden dropped a 56-42 decision to top seed Beloit in the first round.
Even though Brown began his coaching career at the high school level he said the idea of coaching in college intrigued him.
"I think it was always in the back of my mind for further down the line,'' Brown said. "I didn't really plan on going anywhere now, and like I told the (Hayden) guys the other night, I definitely didn't think I'd get this chance to do this so early in my coaching career.
"But life is crazy and God works in mysterious ways, so I was presented with a great opportunity and thought long and hard about it and felt it was too good of an opportunity to pass up.''
