Brianna Brennan plays on the Gannon University women’s basketball team: Courtesy | Brianna Brennan
As an assistant coach, Brianna Brennan wrote the words of Proverbs 11:14 on a sticky note and placed it on her bedside table that read, “for lack of guidance, a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisors.”
She found it again a year later, and saw it as a nudge from God to accept the women’s basketball head coaching position in only her second season at Hillsdale College.
Now, as Brennan prepares for her fifth season with the Chargers and her third season as head coach, the Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan on Oct. 4 named her 2024-25 Coach of the Year.
“Receiving this award is awesome,” Brennan said. “I’m super grateful for it, but even when you receive an award like that, and it’s kind of like, well, I’m not satisfied. We want to keep doing what we’re doing here well, and we want to maintain it too.”
Brennan, who goes by “Coach Brie,” led the Chargers to a 21-9 season last year, exceeding 20 wins for the fifth time in program history. The record included 16 Great Midwest Athletic Conference victories, the most by the women’s basketball team since the 2008-09 season. The team even received its first NCAA tournament bid since the 2017 season.
Basketball has always been a huge part of her life, Brennan said, even though she didn’t originally think it would become her career.
“I started playing basketball when I was really young,” she said. “It was something that my dad and both of my sisters loved. So as all three of us grew up, it was just an important part of our lives.”
After graduating Woodhaven high school, located in a suburb of Detroit, Brennan committed to play basketball at Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, which she said had a great athletic community and coaches, something that she was looking for in a college. But right before her freshman year, the coach she was supposed to play for left the school for a new job.
“I still went there for basketball, and then unfortunately, the coach that they brought in just really started dropping the standards very quickly and wasn’t treating us well,” Brennan said. “After junior year, it wasn’t something that I wanted to be part of anymore, which is devastating, because at that point in time, basketball was way too much of my identity.”
While still at Gannon, she stepped away from basketball and walked onto the volleyball team for her final two years of college, a change that she said helped her realize that there was more to her life than sports since she made such a pivotal change. Post-graduation, Brennan taught first grade for a year before deciding to get her master’s in sports administration and become a graduate assistant at Eastern Illinois University.
“I feel like the Lord was super present during that time getting my master’s, and just helped guide me and set my heart on fire for creating an experience that was better than what I had,” Brennan said.
Through a mutual friend, Brennan found out Hillsdale was hiring an assistant coach. She applied, hoping to get the job since it would bring her closer to home and allow her to coach Division II.
“I think going from Division I as a graduate assistant to Division II, you just have a lot more life and family balance while also competing at a high level, so us being DII here was a big draw for me as well, because it has balance for student athletes, but also balance for us coaches, too,” Brennan said. “I interviewed here, loved it, and was so excited for the opportunity.”
Associate head women’s basketball coach Abbey McNeil attributes the team’s strong community to Brennan’s dedication to the program’s values.
“She implemented our team’s core values of gratitude, love, and respect, which has taught the girls that it means the most when we live these out every day with everyone we encounter,” McNeil said.
McNeil said Brennan is a devoted and loving coach who gives her time and effort to everyone on the team.
“Brie makes every single person she meets feel like the most important person in the world,” McNeil said. “She is such a positive light and loves these girls harder than any other coach could. Her words match her actions with the care she has provided for the girls.”
Junior Annalise Pietrzyk said she loves the team atmosphere that Brennan has cultivated during her few years as head coach.
“I appreciate Coach Brie’s ability to connect with us off the court, but she also holds us accountable on the court,” Pietrzyk said. “We truly believe she has our backs.”
As she steps into her third season as coach, Brennan said she hopes that this award can be a reminder of all the hard work her entire coaching staff has done and will continue to do in the years ahead.
“‘Coach of the Year’ sounds great, but ‘Staff of the Year’ sounds better,” Brennan said. “I just want everyone to know that what we’re doing is going to be consistent, and we’re also going to keep doing it the correct way to maintain that success and all the wins.”
