Baylor men’s basketball head coach Scott Drew announced one staff addition and three promotions on Tuesday. Tweety Carter has been selected as the Bears’ next Director of Player Development, and Jared Nuness has been promoted to Assistant Coach, while Alvin Brooks III and John Jakus have been promoted to Associate Head Coach.
Nuness has been on the Baylor staff for the last 12 seasons, serving as the Special Assistant and Director of Player Development for the past five years. He was previously Director of Player Personnel for five seasons after spending his first two years on staff as Director of Video Operations. Nuness also played five seasons at Valparaiso with Drew was an assistant/associate head coach, including the 1998 run to the Sweet 16, and he was 1997 Gatorade Player of the Year in Minnesota.
“Jared has been an integral member of our staff over the last 12 seasons, and he’s earned this opportunity to become an on-court assistant coach,” Drew said. “He does a great job connecting with our players, and his previous experience has prepared him to take this next step in his career.”
A 2001 graduate of Valparaiso, Nuness has helped the Bears to 10-consecutive postseason berths, including the 2021 National Championship, two Elite Eights, four Sweet 16s and an NIT title. This past season, he helped the defending national champions to another No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament on the heels of a second-straight Big 12 title, despite losing four starters from last year’s title team. BU set a program record with 26 regular-season wins, reaching the 25-win mark for a school-record third-straight season.
Carter returns to Baylor after a 12-year career in professional basketball, most recently playing for Start Lublin of the Polish Basketball League in 2021-22. He began his professional career with the Oklahoma City Thunder’s G-League affiliate, then gained overseas experience in Israel, Latvia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, France, Lithuania, Poland, Greece and Portugal.
“It’s always great when we can bring aboard one of our own, and Tweety was a huge part of laying the foundation for this program,” Drew said. “He brings the experiences of leading us to our first Elite Eight in 2010 and a long professional career, and we’ve seen how he bonds with our teams when he has returned every summer. We’re really excited about adding him to our staff as Director of Player Development.”
The first McDonalds All-American in program history, Carter played 131 games with 89 starts for Drew from 2006-10. He led the Bears to an Elite Eight appearance in his senior season, averaging 15.0 points and a Big 12-leading 5.9 assists per contest.
During his time overseas, Carter had eight seasons averaging double-figure scoring, including a career-best 20.7 points per game with Bnei Hasharon in Israel in 2011-12.
Brooks has been on the Baylor staff for six seasons after joining the Bears as Assistant Coach in April 2016. BU has combined to go 147-50 during his tenure, including a 72-32 record in Big 12 Conference play, 10-3 in NCAA Tournament games and 17-9 against top-10 ranked opponents. The Bears have been ranked No. 1 nationally in four of Brooks’ six seasons on staff, joining Duke, Gonzaga and Kansas as the only teams ranked No. 1 three times since 2016-17. Brooks joined the Bears following four seasons as Assistant Coach at Kansas State.
Jakus has helped lead Baylor to a 120-42 record in his five seasons as an assistant coach, including a 60-26 mark in Big 12 Conference play. He was previously on the Baylor staff as a graduate assistant in 2012-13 and 2013-14, and he spent three seasons as Director of Operations at Gonzaga. In nine seasons as a member of Division I coaching staffs, Jakus has helped teams post a combined 269-77 record, including a 25-7 postseason mark with five Sweet 16 berths, three Elite Eights, two Final Fours and one National Championship.
“Both Alvin and John have played significant roles in how we’ve elevated this program over the last few years,” Drew said. “They both fit our Culture of JOY perfectly. They do a terrific job teaching our players, and they represent us well in everything they do, so I’m really excited about the opportunity to promote them both to Associate Head Coach.”
The 2022-23 coaching staff has been finalized following the departure of previous Associate Head Coach Jerome Tang, who has been named head coach at Kansas State after spending 19 seasons on the Baylor staff. Tang is the fourth former Drew assistant currently serving as a Division I head coach, joining Grant McCasland (North Texas), Paul Mills (Oral Roberts) and Matthew Driscoll (North Florida).