New Mexico
Report: Richard Pitino to bring New Mexico coaching staff to Xavier
Xavier made it official Tuesday night when it announced the hiring of Richard Pitino as its next head coach.
Xavier’s offseason can start with Pitino forming his staff, and the process is already underway.
According to Geoff Grammer, who covers the Lobos for the Albuquerque Journal, Pitino’s staff at New Mexico have already accepted a move to Xavier.
“Richard Pitino plans to take (and they’ve accepted) the entire coaching staff with him − assistant coaches Isaac Chew, Tarvish Felton, Aaron Katsuma, Davie Pilipovich − with him at Xavier,” Grammer said in a social media post Wednesday, adding that Chew would be a candidate to replace Pitino as New Mexico’s head coach.
Chew just finished his fourth season on Pitino’s staff at New Mexico and was promoted to associate head coach in April 2024. He has previous assistant coaching experience at Murray State, Missouri, Marquette, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M and Grand Canyon, according to his coaching bio.
Felton had a 10-season run at Utah State before serving as the associate head coach at Fresno State for four years. He has been with New Mexico since 2022.
Katsuma spent five seasons at Colorado State (four as director of basketball operations) before joining New Mexico as an assistant for back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances. Katsuma was on Pitino’s staff at Minnesota for four total seasons.
Pilipovich has over 35 years of coaching experience. He was the head coach at Air Force for eight seasons from 2012-2020.
In Austin, Sean Miller was introduced as the next head basketball coach at Texas on Tuesday afternoon. Miller said he’s planning to bring “a number” of staff members at Xavier to Texas, according to David Eckert of the Austin American-Statesman.