Robert Morris University head men’s basketball coach Andrew Toole announced Thursday that Shane Southwell has been named assistant coach and Matthew Sweet has been tabbed director of basketball administration and video coordinator.
“Both Shane and Matt come from winning basketball programs, and we’re fortunate to have them both on staff at Robert Morris,” Toole said. “I look forward to both of them continuing the winning culture that we’ve established and helping our student-athletes both on and off the court.”
Southwell joins RMU from Kansas State, where he spent last season as the program’s director of student-athlete development after serving two seasons as a graduate student manager. Southwell, a native of Harlem, N.Y., also served as the video coordinator for Team USA at the 2019 U19 World Cup in Heraklion, Greece, under Kansas State head coach Bruce Weber. Team USA earned its seventh goal medal with a perfect 7-0 record.
While a graduate assistant with the Wildcats, Southwell helped KSU post consecutive 25-win seasons for the first time in school history. Kansas State went 25-12 (.676) and advanced to the Elite Eight in 2017-18 and last season finished 25-9 (.735), earning a share of the 2019 Big 12 regular-season championship.
A four-year standout as a student-athlete at Kansas State from 2010-14, Southwell is one of just eight players in school history to help the Wildcats advance to four consecutive NCAA Tournaments. He was a part of 92 victories at Kansas State and finished his career ranked in the top 10 in the record book for games played (126), assists (271) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.62).
As a junior in 2012-13, Southwell was named 2013 All-Big 12 Honorable Mention, averaging 8.4 points per game while shooting 45.2 percent (104-for-230) from the field, including 43.6 percent (48-for-110) from beyond the arc.
Southwell is one of just six players in Kansas State annals to be part of a conference championship as both a player and as a member of the coaching staff, and he graduated in 2014 from KSU with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications studies. Southwell also owns a Master of Science degree in college student personnel and intercollegiate athletics, which he earned in May of 2019.
Sweet, a native of London, Ohio, joins the Colonials from the University of Dayton, where he spent the last two seasons as a graduate assistant with the men’s basketball program. In his role with the Flyers, Sweet served as the video coordinator, breaking down and editing film and preparing scouting reports.
While at Dayton, Sweet also was the assistant camp director for Dayton Basketball Camps in the summers of 2017 and 2018. Sweet earned a Bachelor of Science degree in sport management from Dayton in 2017 as well as a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in 2019.
Sweet spent two seasons as the head manager with the Flyers from 2015-17 and was a student manager for three years. He also spent the summers of 2015 and 2016 as an intern with the Hoop Group, assisting in daily operations of camps ranging from 400 to 800 participants.
Under the tutelage of Toole, the Colonials own an overall record of 168-140 (.545), including a mark of 102-58 (.638) against Northeast Conference foes. Toole had guided Robert Morris to a pair of NEC regular-season championships (2013, 2014), the 2015 NEC Tournament title and five postseason appearances.
Southwell, Sweet Join Robert Morris Staff
