UNLV Rebels head coach Kevin Kruger leads practice at Mendenhall Center Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2022.
Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022 | 11:42 a.m.
A little over a week after losing assistant Brandon Chappell to Texas, UNLV head coach Kevin Kruger has found a replacement in Jamaal Williams.
The school officially announced the hire on Wednesday, but Williams has been at UNLV practice this week, handling on-court duties as the team went through full sessions on Monday and Tuesday.
Before joining Kruger’s staff, Williams served as an assistant at Portland State for one year (2021-22) under Jase Coburn. He was also an assistant at a pair of Seattle-area high schools from 2013 to 2021.
Williams’s most notable experience may be his tenure as the head coach of the Seattle Rotary AAU team from 2017 to 2021. The Rotary competed in the Nike EYBL and afforded Williams the opportunity to develop a deep recruiting network.
Those AAU recruiting connections should serve Williams well as he steps into Chappell’s shoes; Chappell had been the lead recruiter for many of UNLV’s prep targets.
Following Tuesday’s practice, Kruger said Williams will be joining the team for its exhibition trip to Canada next week. The Scarlet and Gray will take on three opponents in Vancouver from Aug. 16-19.
Kruger said the trip should help foster cohesion among the coaching staff and the roster, which features eight newcomers.
“We’re excited about it, as a staff and a program,” Kruger said. “To have that ability to be around each other, learn each other, develop and build those relationships so that when November rolls around it doesn’t feel like the first game. So the ability to have a full staff in Canada plays into that.”
Kruger’s staff is now complete after a tumultuous offseason that saw all three of his assistants poached by power-conference programs. Tim Buckley was the first to bail, leaving for an assistant job at South Carolina, and Carlin Hartman followed suit by taking an assistant role at Florida. They were replaced by current assistants Barret Peery and John Cooper. Chappell’s move was a little more surprising given the late timing, but Kruger moved quickly to install Williams.
Williams began his collegiate playing career at New Mexico before transferring to Washington, where he played from 2003-06. The Huskies made two trips to the Sweet 16 during that time.
Mike Grimala can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Mike on Twitter at twitter.com/mikegrimala.