April 25, 2025
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Jacey Brooks takes over NIU program after run to WNIT title as Buffalo assistant

By Eddie Carifio
Sean Frazier, vice president and director of athletics and recreation at Northern Illinois University, shakes Jacey Brooks’ hand as she is introduced as the new NIU women’s basketball coach Wednesday, April 9, 2025, during a press conference in the Convocation Center at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb.

Sean Frazier, vice president and director of athletics and recreation at Northern Illinois University, shakes Jacey Brooks’ hand as she is introduced as the new NIU women’s basketball coach Wednesday, April 9, 2025, during a press conference in the Convocation Center at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. (Mark Busch)

DeKALB – Jacey Brooks had a very good reason to delay starting her new job.

Announced April 1 as the 11th Northern Illinois University women’s basketball coach in the program’s history, the former Buffalo assistant wasn’t introduced until Wednesday as the Huskies’ new coach.

Brooks and the Bulls were too busy winning the WNIT.

“When I got offered the position by [NIU athletic director] Sean [Frazier] I was in between taking a recruit to breakfast and practice,” Brooks said. “I get this call, and I’m ecstatic. And that was one of my questions for the administration because I wanted to stay on board at Buffalo to see that thing through. So to have that kind of support, it doesn’t always happen that way.”

Brooks was able to stay with Buffalo, coaching the team in both the semifinals and finals after she was formally announced as NIU’s next coach.

Buffalo beat Troy for the title Saturday.

Frazier said it didn’t make sense to take someone off the sidelines from a fellow Mid-American Conference member.

NIU president Lisa Freeman said the university doesn’t tell students they can’t major in something or take a certain class, and she wanted to extend that understanding to Brooks.

“That’s the same philosophy that said Jacey has to finish out the NIT with Buffalo,” Freeman said. “We take her situation seriously and her ambitions and her absolute passion with a chance to realize this championship.”

Brooks replaces Lisa Carlsen, who spent 10 years leading the program. The Huskies went 13-17 last season, 6-12 in the MAC and missed the conference tournament. The Bulls beat the Huskies 84-58 in Buffalo on Feb. 1.

NIU still has nine players on its roster from last year, losing only two to the transfer portal and four to graduation, even with a coaching change.

Brooks said the pieces are in place to return the program to where it was in the 1990s, when the Huskies made five NCAA tournament appearances between 1990 and 1995.

“The kids are getting ready to learn about it, the prominence they had in the 90s with the hall of famers and the coaches,” Brooks said. “We’re capable of doing it here because it’s been done.”

Buffalo reached the WNIT tournament in both of Brooks’ seasons as an assistant, bowing out on the first round in 2024. She spent five years [four seasons due to the COVID-19 pandemic] at SUNY-Cortland as the head coach.

After a 12-14 mark in 2019, the team went 22-7 in 2020 and made the NCAA Division III tournament. The team also won conference titles in 2022 and 2023 and made the NCAA Tournament in both years.

She also was an assistant coach at St. Bonaventure, Canisius and Bowling Green.

Brooks will coach one more year in the MAC before most NIU sports, including women’s basketball, move to the Horizon League starting July 1, 2026.

“I think this is a fantastic time to come in during that transition,” Brooks said. “We all know how competitive the MAC is. Making that change to the Horizon, you know, I enjoy. ... Basketball is the primary sport. So to come in and try to make that transition with the current team we have, that we’re building, I’m excited for that.”

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