Austin Brooks is an American basketball coach and former player from Evansville, Indiana. A standout at Evansville Day School who later played college basketball at Southern Illinois University, Brooks returned to Southwestern Indiana and built a successful high school coaching career. He has served as head boys basketball coach at Evansville Day School, Boonville High School and F.J. Reitz High School.

Brooks has won sectional championships as a head coach at both Evansville Day School and Reitz and has become a prominent figure in the Evansville-area basketball community.

Playing Career

Brooks played high school basketball at Evansville Day School, where he emerged as one of the city’s leading scorers.

As a senior during the 2000–01 season, Brooks averaged 23.8 points per game and scored 573 points, placing him among Indiana’s top scorers that season.

After graduating from Day School, Brooks continued his basketball career at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

Southern Illinois University

Brooks played for the Southern Illinois Salukis during one of the strongest periods in the history of the men’s basketball program.

He played under coaches Matt Painter and Chris Lowery, as well as assistant coach Rodney Watson. During Brooks’ time with the program, Southern Illinois made three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.

Brooks later graduated from Southern Illinois in 2008.

Coaching Career

Following his playing career, Brooks moved into coaching. His early coaching experience included time at McCluer South-Berkeley High School in the St. Louis area before eventually returning to Evansville.

Evansville Day School

Brooks returned to his alma mater and became head coach of the Evansville Day School boys basketball program.

He spent three seasons leading the Eagles and helped produce one of the most successful seasons in the school’s basketball history.

In 2019, Brooks guided Day School to an IHSAA Class A sectional championship, only the second boys basketball sectional title in school history at the time.

His tenure also connected Brooks with another notable Evansville Day School basketball figure, Jeremy Willis. Willis, a former Evansville city career scoring-record holder, served as an assistant on Brooks’ staff at Day School and would later follow him to Boonville.

Boonville High School

After his success at Day School, Brooks became head boys basketball coach at Boonville High School.

Brooks coached the Pioneers for three seasons. During his tenure, Boonville advanced to a sectional championship game for the first time in more than a decade.

Willis continued as an assistant under Brooks at Boonville. When Brooks left for Reitz in 2022, Willis was selected to succeed him as Boonville’s head coach. Willis later credited Brooks’ energy and ability to make players believe in themselves as important lessons he took from their six years coaching together.

Reitz High School

In April 2022, Brooks was named the boys varsity basketball head coach at F.J. Reitz High School, succeeding longtime coach Michael Adams.

Adams had spent more than three decades with the Reitz program, making Brooks’ hiring the beginning of a new era for one of Evansville’s traditional basketball programs.

Brooks made an immediate impact.

During his first season at Reitz in 2022–23, the Panthers finished 19–7 and tied for second in the Southern Indiana Athletic Conference with a 7–2 conference record.

Reitz defeated Castle, Central and Jasper during the postseason to capture the 2023 Class 4A sectional championship, giving Brooks a sectional title in his first season as the Panthers’ head coach.

The Panthers advanced to the regional before their season ended against Jennings County.

Brooks has continued to lead the Reitz boys basketball program and remained the Panthers’ head coach through the 2025–26 season.

Evansville Basketball

Brooks’ career connects several important pieces of modern Evansville basketball history.

He first made his name as a high-scoring player at the relatively small Evansville Day School before becoming part of an NCAA Tournament program at Southern Illinois. He eventually returned to his hometown and became a successful coach at the same school where his own basketball career began.

From there, his coaching career expanded across Southwestern Indiana through Boonville before bringing him back into Evansville as head coach at Reitz.

His relationship with Jeremy Willis provides another connection between generations of Day School basketball. The two were standout Day School players from overlapping eras before Willis later became an assistant on Brooks’ coaching staffs at Day School and Boonville.

Through his playing career and coaching stops at Day School, Boonville and Reitz, Brooks has spent much of his basketball life connected to the sport in Evansville and Southwestern Indiana.