Mike Brandt enters his ninth season as the USC Aiken Women’s Basketball Coach in the 2010-11 season.

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.

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

Brandt and the University of South Carolina 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 (Dayton, Ohio/Ohio University) was named to the PBC Women’s All-Conference Team as a second team selection.

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 improved their record inside the friendly confines of the facility to 31-11 during the regular season over the last three years.

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.

Brandt enters the 2010-11 season having won 393 games as a head coach.

Adding his high school coaching and men’s college assistant games, Brandt has been on the winning side of the scoreboard over 500 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 21 years of college coaching, his teams have reached the magical “20-wins” 11 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 twenty-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. As confirmation, Brandt’s Pacers enter the upcoming year owning a 68-3 record over the last four years when leading with five minutes to go in regulation.

Challenging games are not a threat to Brandt either, as his teams at USCA are 11-17 overall against ranked opposition. The Pacers have won eight of their last 17 against ranked foes. Included are victories over the number one and number seven ranked teams in all Division II.

A two game sweep over Division I competition in the 2007-08 season proves that Brandt and the Pacers are not afraid to accept any challenge. Overall, USC Aiken is 3-4 against Division I competition under Brandt, including 3-2 over the last three seasons.

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 (19) and daughter Amaura Lyn America Brandt (16).

Gina is a teacher at Augusta Christian School where Jaiden and Amaura were honor students and very active in sports. Jaiden just recently graduated in May of 2009 and is currently attending USC Aiken.

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

Cindy Hilbrich completed her third season as assistant women’s basketball coach at USC Aiken in 2009-10.

The Pacers have picked up 15 or more wins in all three of her seasons with the program, including back-to-back 20-win seasons in 2007-08 and 2008-09.

Last year, 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.

In the 2008-09 season, Hilbrich help guide the Pacers to their second NCAA Division II Tournament appearance and their third consecutive 20-win season overall. The Pacers were ranked as high as seventh nationally.

In Hilbrich’s first season on the sidelines in 2007-08, the Pacers finished with a 20-8 overall record. With a 13-7 mark in Peach Belt Conference play, the Pacers claimed a share of their third conference title.

The Pacers finished the season with the best overall winning percentage among Peach Belt teams. The squad was ranked as high as 21st nationally and received votes all season. The 20 wins included two against Division I foes and two others against ranked squads.

Hilbrich came to the Pacers after spending the 2006-07 season as an assistant coach on the Mount Olive College staff, an NCAA Division II institution in North Carolina. She helped lead the Trojans to a 15-13 record in the competitive Conference Carolinas (formerly the CVAC).

Prior to her time at Mount Olive, Hilbrich was a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in 2005-06.

She has also been a coach in the high school ranks, serving as the junior varsity head coach and varsity assistant coach at Johnson Creek High School in Wisconsin from November 2003 to August 2005.

Hilbrich is a 2002 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where she played both basketball and softball (1998-2002). As a member of the Wisconsin-Whitewater basketball team, Hilbrich is ranked in the top 20 all time in games played, steals and average steals per game.

While attending Burlington Central High School, Hilbrich was a stand out player on both the basketball and softball teams.

Hilbrich left Burlington Central as the all-time leading scorer in women’s basketball with 1,034 points. She also left as the all time leader in three-point field goals made in a game, season and career. On March 8, 2003, she was honored with an induction into the Burlington Central High School Hall of Fame.

At USC Aiken, Hilbrich coordinates recruiting, oversees the Pacers academic program and assists in on the court coaching.