Brett Rau enters his second year as Toledo’s Director of Player Development. He previously has served as a men’s basketball graduate assistant at the University of Akron and as a Player Development Intern for the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks.
Rau helped Toledo post its fourth straight 20-win season last year and become only the second MAC program ever to win four consecutive outright league titles. The only previous MAC member was Cincinnati in the early 1950s.
Rau helped the Zips to a 39-15 overall record during his two-year stint, highlighted by capturing the 2019-20 Mid-American Conference title. He also assisted in the development of 2019-20 MAC Player of the Year Loren Cristian Jackson as well as All-MAC players Tyler Cheese and Xeyrius Williams.
With the Mavericks, Rau collaborated with coaches in helping facilitate practices, individual workouts and game-day activities. He also contributed to Dallas’ analytic efforts by assisting with film breakdown. Some of the players Rau worked closely every day were Dirk Nowitzki, JJ Barea, Deandre Jordan, Harrison Barnes, Dennis Smith Jr., Kristaps Porzingis, and Luka Doncic.
As a player, Rau played his final two seasons of his collegiate career for Missouri of the Southeastern Conference. He helped Mizzou reach the NCAA Tournament in 2018 for the first time in four seasons. He was selected to the SEC Men’s Basketball Leadership Council to represent Mizzou and the conference.
Prior to joining the Tigers, Rau spent two years at Elgin Community College where he led the program to its first conference title in 19 seasons. He was named Skyway Conference Player of the Year, First Team All-Region, and Second Team All-America.
A native of Elgin, Ill., Rau earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Missouri in Sport Management in 2018 and his Master of Science degree in Education from Akron in 2021.
