Arizona announced the hiring of assistant coach Brandon Chappell from Texas on Monday. Chappell spent the last three seasons on the Texas staff, primarily under Rodney Terry. After Texas head coach Chris Beard was suspended nine games into the 2022-23 season, Terry was named the interim head coach.
Chappell began his coaching career as an assistant at Division II Armstrong State. This will be the second stint for Chappell coaching in Arizona. Chappell was a graduate assistant at Northern Arizona during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. Following his tenure at NAU, Chappell was an assistant coach at Division II Arkansas-Fort Smith in 2016-17.
Chappell returned to his alma mater, Lamar, as an assistant coach from 2017-21 in his first full-time job at a Division I school under Tic Price. After four years at Lamar, Chappell was hired by UNLV and spent the 2021-2022 season with the Rebels before being hired by Texas.
Chappell played at Lamar from 2004 through 2007, with the first two of those seasons under legendary head coach Billy Tubbs. Tubbs was the coach for Oklahoma when they beat Arizona in the 1988 Final Four. Chappell averaged 7.0 points per game, 1.7 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game in his collegiate career.
After his collegiate career ended, Chappell spent five seasons playing in the Pro-A German Basketball League. During his tenure as an assistant coach with Texas, Chappell is credited as the primary recruiter for Texas signing four players that included four-star prospects, power forward Nicolas Codie and center John Clark.
Chappell ironically leaves Texas after Terry was fired and replaced by former Arizona head coach Sean Miller. Arizona and head coach Tommy Lloyd hired Chappell to replace Steve Robinson, who recently retired. Texas signed the 43rd-ranked 2022 class and 17th-ranked 2024 class in the two full cycles with Chappell on staff.