Longwood University Athletics

Tidewater native Brian Graves came back to Farmville as the director of player development in the summer of 2022 after spending three seasons away. He spent a pair of seasons as an assistant coach at North Carolina Central before serving as an assistant at Western Carolina in the 2021-22 season.
 
In his return to Longwood, Graves oversees player development, a staple of the Longwood men’s basketball program under Aldrich. In addition, Graves will work with the guards while serving as a mentor and helping build player relationships in the team.
 
In his first season back with the Lancers, Longwood finished with a 20-12 record. It was the team’s second straight 20-win campaign, which was the first time in team history that the team has posted back-to-back 20-win seasons. Longwood finished second in the Big South standings, the second-best finish in the league in team history.
 
In addition, the Lancers had a pair of All-Big South honorees to make more program history. Guards Isaiah Wilkins (All-Big South First Team) and DeShaun Wade (All-Big South Honorable Mention) both earned all-conference honors for a second straight season.
 
It was the first time the Lancers have had a player, much less two, earn All-Big South honors in back-to-back seasons, and Wilkins was the first player to earn All-Big South First Team honors twice.
 
Longwood boasted one of the top defenses in the Big South. Longwood surrendered 65.7 points per game, good for third in the league. The Lancers also finished 40^th in the nation in turnover margin and forced the second-most turnovers in the league.
 
A decorated collegiate player at Catawba College in North Carolina and a five-year professional both at home and internationally, Graves brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to Longwood, with time as a head coach, associate head coach and assistant coach at the collegiate level. His resume includes nearly a decade of experience on the sidelines, which most recently featured an impactful two-year stint at MEAC powerhouse Hampton, which will become a fellow member of the Big South Conference beginning July 1.
 
At Hampton, Graves helped lead the Pirates to back-to-back top-three conference finishes and postseason bids to the 2017 College Basketball Invitational and 2018 National Invitation Tournament. The Pirates amassed a MEAC record of 23-9 in his two seasons, winning a share of the regular season title in 2017-18 and reaching the MEAC Tournament championship game that same year.
 
Graves' impact at Hampton was as much on the sidelines as it was on the recruiting trail, a trend that has followed him throughout his coaching career. With the Pirates, Graves brought in impact freshman Jermaine Morrow, who was named to the All-MEAC squad in each of his first two seasons at Hampton, including first-team honors after his sophomore campaign in 2017-18. He also brought in MEAC All-Tournament pick Malique Trent-Street, a TCU transfer who finished second on the team in scoring in 2017-18 behind Morrow.
 
Prior to Hampton, Graves got his first shot as a head coach at Bryant & Stratton, leading the NJCAA Division II squad to a 19-11 record in 2015-16. Three of his players went on to sign with four-year universities, including Hampton signee Greg Heckstall, who was Hampton's leading rebounder and fourth-leading scorer last season.
 
That head coaching stint at Bryant & Stratton was the second collegiate stop in Graves' career, following a three-year stretch his at alma mater, Catawba, from 2012-15. As associate head coach of the Indians, Graves recruited numerous impact newcomers, including 2015 South Atlantic Conference Freshman of the Year Jerrin Morrison, All-SAC first-teamer Kijuan Arrington and SAC All-Freshman pick Jameel Taylor. The Indians improved across the board in Graves' three years on staff, jumping from a combined 17-36 record in his first two years to a 14-15 mark in year three and an 11-11 conference record. The 11 conference wins were the program's most since an 11-5 campaign in 2009-10 and only the second 10-win conference season the Indians enjoyed since Graves led the team to three straight as a player from 2004-07.
 
Graves' time on the sidelines at Catawba added to a decorated resume that includes the numerous honors and accolades he earned as a player from 2003-07. Graves starred for the Indians as a point guard, starting all four years, captaining the team twice and earning three All-SAC selections, including first-team honors as a junior and senior. He is the SAC's all-time leader with 600 assists and second in league history with 203 in a single season and 15 in a single game. In 2007, he ranked 10th in NCAA Division II with 6.55 assists per game, which also ranks second on the SAC's single-season list.
 
Following his college playing career, Graves went on to the professional ranks, playing for the Grevenbroich Elephants in Germany in 2007-08 and 2009-10, the Vermont Frost Heaves in the Premier Basketball League in 2009, and the Tru Hope Trailblazers in the Atlantic Coast Professional Basketball League from 2010-11. He captained both Grevenbroich and Tru Hope and earned all-league honors at both stops, including German All-Regionalliga West first team honors in 2010 and All-ACPBL second-team recognition in 2011.
 
Following his playing career, Graves entered the coaching ranks as the junior varsity head coach at Heritage High School from 2010-12, leading the team to the Peninsula District Championship in 2011.
 
Graves, who received his Bachelor of Science in sports management from Catawba in 2007 and his Master of Sports Administration from Hampton this past May, is married to the former Gabriel Johnson. The couple has a son, BJ.
 
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