ETSU women's basketball head coach
Brenda Mock Brown announced on May 7, 2024 the hiring of Honey Brown as an assistant coach to the Buccaneers' coaching staff. Brown joins the Bucs after spending the last four seasons as the head coach at UNC Asheville and prior to that worked with Coach Mock for eight seasons as an assistant/associate head coach for the Bulldogs. Brown wraps her second season with the Bucs at the conclusion of the 2025-26 schedule.
Alongside the SoCon Coach of the Year Brenda Mock Brown, Brown helped lead the Bucs to an 18-13 (10-4 SoCon) in 2025-26 for a fourth consecutive season with 17+ wins for the program. The Bucs clinched a share of the 2025-26 Southern Conference Regular Season Championship for the first time since 1994-95. Notably, ETSU went undefeated on the road in SoCon play (7-0) for the first time in program history and recorded two five-game win streaks to wrap the regular season with wins in 11 of the last 13 outings. The five-game win streaks are the longest for the program in conference play since the 2017-18 season. ETSU's 10-4 record in conference action was the best under Mock Brown's leadership and the best for the program since the 2017-18 season. The double overtime victory at Chattanooga marked the first win for ETSU over the Mocs since the 2021-22 season and was the first multiple overtime victory for the program since 2011 versus Belmont (2OT, W, 90-86). Brown assisted with the development of four All-Conference selections, the SoCon Defensive Player of the Year and three All-Tournament Second Team honorees throughout the season.
"I am beyond excited to join the ETSU women's basketball program," said Brown. "Coach Mock is a proven winner and a coach who really cares about her players and staff. We've built a great relationship over the years and I'm thankful for this opportunity to coach with her again. The players and staff are clearly building a winning culture, and I can't wait to start working with them. Go Bucs!"
Brown guided Asheville to 43 wins over the last four seasons and coached six players to All-Big South honors. One of those players, Nadiria Evans, graduated from Asheville with 1,846 points which is the most of any Bulldog during the Division I era of the program. Furthermore, Brown won at least one conference tournament game in three of her four seasons as head coach of the Bulldogs.
"We are thrilled to welcome one of the best in the business to Johnson City," Coach Mock said. "This is my second time working with Honey after spending eight seasons with her at UNC Asheville. She was a large reason for the success in winning UNC Asheville's first Big South regular season title and two Big South tournament championships. She is a tireless worker and has years of experience as both an assistant and head coach at the Division I level, which will be a huge asset. She will add tremendous value to our staff and our program as well to the athletics community at ETSU. We want the best of coaching and character to provide an elite experience for our student-athletes and we have that in Honey."
During their time together at UNC Asheville, Coach Mock and Brown helped lead the Bulldogs to the most successful years in program history. There was a three-year stretch at UNC Asheville where the Bulldogs won 62 games, won back-to-back Big South Tournament Championships, appeared in a pair of NCAA Tournaments, earned three consecutive postseason berths, and won a school record 26 games during the 2015-16 season. Overall, the duo led Asheville to four straight postseason appearances – two NCAA Tournaments and two WBIs.
Prior to her tenure in Asheville, Brown spent four seasons as an assistant coach at Saint Louis working primarily with their point guards. Before her time with the Billikens, Brown served as the director and head trainer at Performance Training Inc., in Orlando Florida. While there, she managed all aspects of the company including staffing, scheduling, and marketing.
Brown also spent four years as an assistant coach at Ohio University and a season as an assistant at Central Florida. She got her start in coaching as an assistant with Lenoir City High School in Lenoir City, Tennessee. While with LCHS, she helped lead the Panthers to a state tournament appearance in 1998.
A 1994 graduate of Maryville College, she was third in the nation in three-point percentage for Division III her junior year, while serving as a team captain her final two seasons. The Scots made four consecutive appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament during her career at Maryville, including two trips to the round of 16.
