MINNEAPOLIS — New Gophers men's basketball coach Richard Pitino made three additions to his staff Thursday.
The University of Minnesota announced that Pitino has hired Steve Goodson as the Director of Basketball Operations, Shaun Brown as the strength and conditioning coach and Josh Adel as the video coordinator.
Goodson is the one carryover from former coach Tubby Smith's staff. He served as the special assistant to the head coach during Smith's six-year tenure at Minnesota. He also was a special assistant to Smith during the 2006-07 season at Kentucky before Smith took the Gophers job.
Adel was on Pitino's staff at Florida International last year, which was the 30-year-old Pitino's lone season of head coaching experience. Adel also spent five seasons working for the Florida Gators, where Pitino was an assistant.
Brown joins the Gophers staff after overseeing the strength and conditioning program at Southern Cal the last three years. He has also worked for the University of Virginia and had a two-year stint in the NBA as the Toronto Raptors' head strength coach.
"I have a history with each one of these guys so they are coming into this situation with knowledge of what is expected of them," Pitino said in a statement. "They know that they will be playing an integral role as we try and take this program to the next level."
Pitino was hired in early April to replace Smith, who was fired following the 2012-13 season. Pitino has already hired assistant coaches Kimani Young and Ben Johnson to his staff.
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