JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. — Brooks Savage has earned his first head coaching job and it will take him back to Johnson City, Tennessee.
CBS Sports Insider Jon Rothstein reported Friday that Savage will be named the new head basketball coach at East Tennessee State University.
Savage is an Irmo graduate who played under legendary coach Tim Whipple. He went on to attend Tennessee where he worked as a student assistant under Bruce Pearl.
A former assistant coach at Presbyterian College and Chattanooga, Savage spent five seasons (2016-2020) at ETSU under head coach Steve Forbes. During his five seasons in Johnson City, Savage was part of a program that went 130-43 and won the Southern Conference Tournament twice.
Brooks would follow Forbes to Wake Forest where he has been an assistant coach for the past three seasons.
On January 19, 2022, Savage served as the acting head coach in Wake Forest's win at Georgia Tech. Forbes missed that game with an illness and Savage ran the show in Atlanta that night.
But with a 1-0 record as an acting head coach, Savage will get a chance to run a team on a full-time basis when he is named the new head coach at ETSU.
Savage will replace Desmond Oliver who went 12-20 in his second season at the Southern Conference school.