Valparaiso employs Zags’ Powell as hoops coach

12:05 PM ET Pete ThamelESPN Valparaiso has hired Gonzaga assistant coach Roger Powell

Jr. as its men’s basketball coach, the school revealed Friday.Powell has invested the past 4 years as an assistant coach at Gonzaga, assisting develop the program’s track record as one

of the best in college basketball. The Zags have gone 121-13 over the past 4 seasons and reached the national title game in 2021. Powell is an Illinois native who starred for the Illini before a professional profession that included a stint

with the Utah Jazz and playing overseas in 5 countries.Editor’s Picks There’s a full-circle element to Powell’s hire, as he began his career as an assistant coach at Valparaiso from 2011 to 2016. That stint came under previous coach Bryce Drew and included the school’s most recent NCAA competition bids in 2013 and 2015.

“My household and I are very blessed to have the opportunity to come back to Valparaiso University where my training career began,” Powell stated in a statement. “Now as the head males’s basketball coach, I have some incomplete organization to address. It’s time to get to work, so let’s go Beacons!”

Powell opted for Drew to Vanderbilt in 2016 and invested three seasons there as associate head coach prior to joining Mark Few in Spokane.

“Coach Powell’s experience at one of the country’s most effective programs paired with his familiarity with our institution will serve him well in his new function,” athletic director Charles Small said in the statement.The Valparaiso

program, which has nine NCAA tournament bids in its history, has had a hard time to discover its footing given that joining the Missouri Valley Conference in 2017. In 6 seasons in The Valley, Valparaiso has yet to complete above.500 in league play.The school dismissed coach Matt Lottich after a run of 3 consecutive losing seasons, as he finished his period with a 108-117 record in seven seasons.