Marquette hires Nelson as assistant to round out coaching staff
Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski rounded out his coaching staff Wednesday, announcing the hiring of Brett Nelson as an assistant coach.
Nelson comes to Marquette after spending the 2013-14 season as an assistant coach under James Whitford at Ball State. The former All-American guard at Florida served under current Marquette assistant coach Mark Phelps at Drake from 2011-13.
"Brett's career to this point as a player and a coach speaks for itself," Wojciechowski said. "He has had the opportunity to both play for, and work with, coaching staffs for which I have a tremendous amount of respect. I am extremely excited by his addition to the program and the Marquette family."
Nelson was a three-year starter for the Gators, helping Florida to four NCAA tournament appearances and a berth in the national championship game in 2000. He left Florida as the school's all-time leader in 3-pointers made (274) and 3-pointers attempted (689), second in steals (199), sixth in assists per game (3.16) and 14th in points scored (1,416).
Following a brief professional career overseas, Nelson became the director of basketball operations at Colorado State for the 2005-06 season. He spent the 2006-07 season in the same position under Anthony Grant at Virginia Commonwealth.
Nelson's first assistant coaching job came at Marshall, spending 2007-10 working under head coach Donnie Jones. After Jones was named the head coach at UCF, Nelson joined John Pelphrey's staff at Arkansas for one season before heading to Drake.
Wojciechowski's coaching staff is now complete, as Nelson joins Phelps and Chris Carrawell as assistant coaches. Marquette named former North Carolina State point guard Justin Gainey as director of basketball operations Monday.
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