Rising coaching star Brandon Rosenthal has been promoted to Assistant Coach by Bobby Hurley, filling out the final spot on the Sun Devil Men's Basketball coaching staff. Rosenthal has served as the Director of Scouting and Player Development for the past three seasons. He has over a decade of experience thriving in a variety of roles at both the collegiate and professional level.
"This is a natural progression for a guy who has NBA experience as a coach," Hurley mentioned. "He's worked here with me for several years and I really trust his knowledge of the game. He adds a lot of value in practice helping us be prepared on Gameday."
As the Director of Scouting and Player Development, Rosenthal was essential to the success of the program, providing support in a variety of areas. In his scouting role, Rosenthal was in charge of breaking down opposing personnel and assisting with creating gameplans. On the player development side, Rosenthal worked closely with several players who have made a considerable jump since arriving in Tempe.
A signature of Head Coach Bobby Hurley's teams has been their performances in close games. This hasn't changed since Rosenthal joined the staff in 2019, with Arizona State consistently proving to be one of the most prepared teams in late-game situations. In Rosenthal's three seasons, ASU is an incredible 24-13 in games decided by two possessions or less (six points).
The impact of Rosenthal and the coaching staff was no more apparent than at the end of last season, when the Sun Devils won seven of their last eight games in the regular season. Rosenthal also had a big hand in preparing Arizona State for their matchup with No. 3 UCLA at Desert Financial Arena, a game the Sun Devils won 87-84 in triple overtime.
The 2020-21 season was heavily affected by COVID-19, but this did not stop Sun Devil Men's Basketball from accomplishing some impressive feats. Rosenthal's second season in Tempe saw ASU win a Pac-12 Tournament game for only the sixth time in program history and the first instance in which they did it in back-to-back tournaments.
In his first season with Sun Devil Men's Basketball, Rosenthal contributed to an impressive regular season effort. Arizona State went 20-11, including an 11-7 conference record, clinching the No. 3 seed in the Pac-12 Tournament. Sparked by a midseason seven-game winning streak, the 2019-20 team was a lock for a NCAA Tournament bid before it was canceled due to COVID-19.
A Sun Devil has been named to one of the Pac-12 All-Conference Teams (two First Team) in each of the past three seasons, a testament to Rosenthal's work with player development. In 2021, guard Josh Christopher became the first Sun Devil to be selected in the NBA Draft since 2013. Christopher had a standout freshman season with Rosenthal's help, leading to him being taken by the Houston Rockets with the 24th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft. He was the Sun Devil taken in the first round since James Harden in 2009. Christopher came out of Arizona State ready for the next level, immediately making an impact in Houston as a Rookie.
Prior to his time with Arizona State, Rosenthal spent three seasons with the Phoenix Suns organization where he served in various roles including video scouting and player development. He spent his first season in the organization as an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns’ G-League affiliate the Northern Arizona Suns.
During the 2018-2019 season Rosenthal worked under the direction of Igor Kokoskov, one of the NBA’s most well-respected coaching minds. He was responsible for opponent scouting, helping organize and initiating the scouting process and creating self-scouts to evaluate the team’s schemes and player development. Rosenthal also worked closely with many of the team’s young players including; Kelly Oubre, Shaq Harrison, Danuel House, and Ray Spalding, helping them develop on and off the court.
At the start of the 2017-2018 season Rosenthal was promoted to the Suns’ staff, where he assisted Suns Interim Head Coach, Jay Triano. Rosenthal worked closely with other members of the staff on the programming, design, and implementations of the Suns’ player development program. He also was responsible for scouting all 29 of the Suns’ opponents’ personnel and assisting with game planning. He created a defensive accountability system designed to help assist with improving the team’s defensive system and evaluation of their individual and team performance.
During the 2016-2017 season, Rosenthal coached with Ty Ellis and the Northern Arizona Suns during their inaugural season. The team was highly regarded as one of the best defensive teams in the G-League and recognized for their development of several NBA’s players.
Known for his attention to detail and tireless work ethic, Rosenthal earned a strong reputation for helping develop players. He oversaw the development of the team’s young trio of point guards, Askia Booker, Josh Gray, and Shaq Harrison. Shaq Harrison and Josh Gray went undrafted during the 2016 NBA draft. In fact, Josh Gray was acquired by the team through a local tryout. After the season, all three players were invited to participate in the 2017 NBA Summer League. The following season, Gray and Harrison earned their first NBA call ups, joining Rosenthal in Phoenix with the Suns.
Currently, Gray and Harrison are solidifying themselves as NBA players. Gray with the New Orleans Pelicans and Harrison with the Chicago Bulls. Booker has established himself as one of the top guards in the ACB, the top Spanish basketball league. Rosenthal also spent time working with former Suns players Dragan Bender, Alan Williams, Tyler Ulis, Isaiah Canaan, Derrick Jones Jr., and NBA call-ups Johnny O’Bryant III and Xavier Silas.
Prior to joining the Phoenix Suns organization, Rosenthal spent the 2015-16 season with the Houston Rockets as a basketball operations video assistant under Head Coach Kevin McHale and Interim Head Coach JB Bickerstaff. While with the Rockets and Sun Devil alum James Harden, the Rockets advanced to the 2016 NBA playoffs. Rosenthal helped initiate the first shooting analytics database in the NBA. The data collected helped assist the staff and players with developing specific shooting routines for each player. He also worked closely with the staff on opponent scouts and skill development.
Before joining the Rockets, Rosenthal spent three years at Santa Clara University with Head Coach Kerry Keating. He began as the team’s video-coordinator, transitioning into Director of Basketball Operations and as serving as the team’s interim assistant coach.
While at Santa Clara Rosenthal had a plethora of responsibilities. He oversaw the team’s scouting process, producing opponent and self-scouts. He helped manage the team’s technology, administrative duties for academics, scheduling, game day operations, travel, budget, marketing, fundraising, community-alumni relations, and volunteer opportunities. Rosenthal would also assist with designing the program’s new 1.3-million-dollar locker room and transitioning from an Adidas to Nike program. He also served as the camp director, overseeing an average of nine camps each summer.
Santa Clara would go onto win the College Basketball Invitational in 2013. During that span Rosenthal worked with Kevin Foster and Jared Brownridge, two of the West Coast Conference’s all-time great scorers and currently first and second respectively in three pointers made in conference history.
Rosenthal has also served as a graduate assistant with Andre Cook at St. Edwards University (2010-12), and assisted with Rod Baker and the Rochester RazorSharks of the Premier Basketball League. In his lone season with the team, the RazorSharks would advance to the league finals.
Rosenthal played and served as an undergraduate assistant at St. John Fisher College for one of the all-time winningest Division III coaches Rob Kornaker. The team compiled an 82-34 record (2006-10), winning multiple Empire 8 league titles and earning four postseason trips, including two appearances in the NCAA Division III tournament.
As one of the youngest invites at the time, Rosenthal was one of 55 assistant coaches nationally to be invited to Villa 7 Consortium at Virginia Commonwealth in 2011. It served as an educational symposium and networking opportunity for some of the nation’s elite assistant coaches.
Rosenthal earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Sport Management from St. John Fisher College in 2010 and a Masters of Arts in Teaching Degree from St. Edwards University in 2012.
The Tucson, Ariz. native and Catalina Foothills graduate is also the co-owner of Rising Coaches, an organization created for coaches by coaches which offers collaborative assistance, networking and avenues for career growth. The organization’s online platform, conferences and clinics are attended by thousands of coaches each year.
He and his wife Haley were married in Temecula, California in July of 2019.