Brandon Chambers and his #36 ranked defense earns nod on Top-100 Assistants List

NC State assistant coach Brandon Chambers just got a nice nod from the coaching community, where he was named on the Silver Waves Media’s 2026 100 Most Impactful High Major Assistants list.

Making an impact 📈 @chambershoops pic.twitter.com/vdsYHRB9Db

— NC State Men’s Basketball (@PackMensBball) January 12, 2026

That’s a big deal. Chambers joined Will Wade’s staff back in March 2025, and in his first full season at NC State, he’s already carving out a key role and being recognized nationally.

Chambers is in charge of the defense and NC State’s adjusted defensive efficiency (the most complete stat to rank defenses) this season is 99.8, which is good for 36th in the nation.

When was the last time NC State had a defensive efficiency rating this good? Well, never. At least not since the stat started being collected in 2008.

The best year prior to this one, was 2010, when they ranked 45th. Now, you might not even remember that team very well, because while they were strong defensively, they were pretty bad on offense. Think Farnold Degand, CJ Williams, Johnny Thomas, Josh Davis, Dennis Horner, Deshawn Painter, Jordan Vandenburg. Ah, the dark days!

Anyways, back to Chambers. Him getting this kind of recognition shows he’s being looked at as one of college basketball’s up-and-coming stars. And this seems to be a trend with Wade’s staff. Patrick Stacy, is a heralded up-and-comer in the GM/analytics space. Vernon Hamilton and Adam Howard are both young guys who are seen as future head coaches as well. One day, we’ll look back at this staff and be pretty amazed at the pieces we had.

Chambers’ path started at VCU, where he was a student manager during that crazy 2011 Final Four run by the Rams. That’s where he first crossed paths with Will Wade as Wade was an assistant under Shaka Smart at the time.

After graduating from VCU with a business administration degree in 2011, Chambers headed to Misericordia for his master’s and his first real coaching gig as an assistant from 2011-13. Right out of the gate, the team went 21-7, won the Middle Atlantic Conference title, and made the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance. Not a bad start.

He spent 2013-15 at Marymount University, helping flip the program—the team went from seven wins the year before he arrived to 16 in his first season and then a school-record 19-7 in his second. He even did a year at Paul VI High School in 2015-16 before jumping to the big show.

At Nevada from 2016-19, he was director of basketball operations under Eric Musselman, where they won three straight Mountain West regular-season titles, one tournament title, three straight NCAA bids, including a Sweet 16 in 2018, and tied the school record with 29 wins in 2018-19.

Chambers linked back up with Wade at LSU in 2021-22 as special assistant to the head coach. That squad won 22 games, made the NCAA Tournament, ranked No. 20 in NET, and was known for their lockdown defense (sixth nationally in defensive efficiency with a program-record 373 steals.)

He had two stints at Texas Southern (2019-21 and 2022-23), winning two SWAC Tournament titles and helping the program notch its second-ever NCAA Tournament win in the First Four.

Then came the reunion with Wade at McNeese from 2023-25. The Cowboys went 58-11 over those two seasons—the most wins in school history in any two-year stretch.

They won back-to-back Southland regular-season and tournament titles, made two straight NCAA Tournaments, and pulled off a huge first-round upset in 2025 as a No. 12 seed over No. 5 Clemson (69-67) to reach the Round of 32.

Now at NC State, Chambers is focused on the defensive side of things, bringing that same intensity and attention to detail. He’s also had a hand in putting together the non-conference schedule, apparently lining up tough tests like the ACC/SEC Challenge game against Auburn and the home-and-home with VCU.

Off the floor, Chambers carries a personal story that drives him hard. He lost his dad to ALS while he was in high school, and he’s turned that into fuel through Team Challenge ALS. It’s part of what makes him so good at developing players—he’s been part of NCAA Tournament teams in a ton of his Division I seasons and has helped multiple guys reach the NBA level.

He’s no stranger to recognition either: he was on the 2020 Under Armour 30-Under-30 Team and made Silver Waves’ list of 50 Impactful Low Major Assistants that same year.

For Pack fans, having Chambers is bigger than they may know. This is a guy who knows Wade’s system well and brings that defensive edge. This staff is building something important, and Brandon Chambers is right in the thick of it.

Make sure you give a big ‘congrats’ to Brandon for this achievement!