One assistant officially in, one assistant officially out for Gophers men's basketball coach Richard Pitino on Tuesday. And that busy day comes one week after the first assistant coach departure.
Tuesday's turnover: Ben Johnson, one of Pitino's top assistants, left to take a similar job with Xavier, a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament last month. A few hours earlier, Pitino officially announced the hiring of former Wisconsin-Milwaukee coach Rob Jeter as a new Gophers assistant.
The hiring of Jeter, first reported Monday, fills the chair formerly held by assistant Kimani Young, who last week took a position with Danny Hurley at Connecticut.
Johnson, who joins new coach Travis Steele at Xavier, is a former DeLaSalle star who helped Pitino recruit Minnesota high school talent, including the 2018 class of Daniel Oturu, Jarvis Omersa and Gabe Kalscheur. Young also was a strong recruiter, credited with landing freshman guard Isaiah Washington out of New York City.
Young and Johnson were part of Pitino's original staff when he was hired as Minnesota's coach in 2013. In the spring of 2016, Pitino hired former Tulane head coach Ed Conroy — and Conroy now is the longest tenured assistant.
Johnson, a two-time Gophers captain after transferring from Northwestern, began his coaching career as a grad assistant at Dayton in 2005 before making stops at Northern Iowa and Nebraska.
Jeter, a Nevada-Las Vegas assistant the past two seasons, compiled a 184-170 record as UWM coach from 2005 to 2016, a run that included two NCAA tournament berths, two Horizon League tournament and regular season titles and Horizon League Coach of the Year in 2011.
"We are extremely excited to add Rob to our staff," Pitino said. "He's got a wealth of knowledge and experience that will make our program better. He knows the league and has terrific connections in the Midwest."
