Utah State head women’s basketball coach Wesley Brooks announced the addition of assistant coach Joe Haigh (rhymes with ‘vague’) to his staff.
“We’re excited to have a veteran coach like Joe joining our staff,” Brooks said. “He’s led a team to the NCAA Tournament as a head coach and brings over 20 years of coaching experience to our bench. He’s going to help shape our offensive style and pace of play. He’s coached teams that have been in the top-five nationally in pace of play and 3-point shooting as well as steals, which is exactly what we want to be doing.”
Haigh brings a wealth of experience to the Aggie staff, having coached for over 20 years, including seven seasons as the head coach at Saint Francis (PA). Most recently, Haigh spent the 2022-23 season as an assistant coach at Mount St. Mary’s in Emmitsburg, Maryland. There, he helped mentor a pair of players to all-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference honors, while the Mountaineers reached the quarterfinal round of the MAAC Tournament.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to work at Utah State with Wes and look forward to helping him build something special here,” Haigh said.
As the head coach at Saint Francis, Haigh led the Red Flash to the second most wins in program history with 93 victories and a 66-42 (.611) Northeast Conference record from 2012-19, culminating with a trip to the NCAA Tournament after earning NEC regular season and tournament championships in 2017-18. That season, the team posted the most single-season (24) and NEC wins (16) since 2004-05.
In 2016-17, Saint Francis became the first team in both program and NEC history to earn a postseason win as the Red Flash defeated Campbell in the first round of the Women’s Basketball Invitational (WBI).
An innovator in up-tempo play, Haigh guided Saint Francis’ scoring offense to finish ranked 18th nationally in 2017-18, 30th in 2015-16, and eighth in 2013-14. SFU also ranked second in the nation in steals in 2017-18, second in the nation in blocked shots in 2016-17, and top-five in the country in 3-point shooting in three-straight seasons. He recruited and coached 13 NEC All-Conference team selections, as well as one player of the year, two rookies of the year and two defensive players of the year. Three different Red Flash players ranked in the top five in the NCAA in scoring during his tenure (Alli Williams, Alexa Hayward, and Jessica Kovatch).
Before his promotion to the head coaching position, Haigh spent four seasons on the Saint Francis bench as the top assistant coach and recruiting coordinator on Susan Robinson Fruchtl’s staff. During that span, the Red Flash compiled a 47-25 record against NEC opponents, earning two conference titles and qualifying for the NCAA Tournament in 2010 and 2011.
Other coaching stops along the way for Haigh include assistant stints at Siena in 2019-20 and Sacred Heart in 2021-22. Prior to his time at Saint Francis, Haigh served as the director of basketball operations at VCU for two seasons (2006-08). His first coaching position was on the men’s staff at Randolph Macon in Virginia, winning an Old Dominion Athletic Conference title in 2004-05.
Haigh graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1995, earning a bachelor of business administration in accounting. In 2005, he received his masters of science in sport leadership from VCU. Haigh played for Green River Community College in Auburn, Washington.
