Story Courtesy Jeremy Hartigan, Cornell Senior Associate Director of Athletics for Communications
ongtime Big Red assistant coach Nat Graham has returned to the Cornell staff as associate head coach and is joined by new director of basketball operations Ilan Kinder it was announced today by Jon Jaques ’10, the Robert E. Gallagher ’44 Head Coach of Men’s Basketball. In addition to the new hires, Jaques promoted third-year assistant coach Jalen Hayes and elevated Luke Colwell from Director of Basketball Operations to an assistant coaching role.
“I am thrilled for Nat and Ilan to join the Cornell Athletics community and to announce Jalen and Luke’s well-deserved promotions,” Jaques said. “All four are passionate and creative thinkers who I know will continue to elevate the student-athlete experience of our players.”
Graham previously spent five seasons (2005-10) as an assistant coach at Cornell under Steve Donahue, including four years with Jaques on the roster. Cornell won 111 games over those five years with three Ivy titles and NCAA Tournament appearances. In 2009-10, Cornell finished with a 29-5 mark and advanced to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. The Big Red established school records for wins, points (2,545), three-pointers (326), and blocked shots (127). In 2008-09, Cornell won all 13 home games, a school record, while in 2007-08 the Big Red won a school-best 16 consecutive contests.
Following his time on East Hill, Graham spent four seasons at Boston College with Donahue (2010-14), the final three as associate head coach before returning to his alma mater in 2014. He was reunited with Donahue the following year when he was named head coach at Penn. Graham was named associate head coach at Penn in 2018.
With Graham on staff, Penn has played in five of the six Ivy League Tournaments played to date, one of just three programs to make such a claim (the others are Yale and Princeton). In addition, Penn players have totaled 15 All-Ivy honors in that time including AJ Brodeur being named co-Ivy League Player of the Year in 2019-20 and Jordan Dingle earning Ivy Rookie of the Year honors in 2019-20 and Player of the Year honors from the Ivy League, the Philadelphia Big 5, and the ECAC in 2022-23 when he finished the season ranked second nationally in points per game (23.4).
In his 10 seasons back at Penn, the Quakers won 140 games, including an Ivy regular season and tournament championship in 2017-18. Penn went 24-9 overall and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. The following season, Penn went a perfect 4-0 in Philadelphia Big 5 play, including a win over defending NCAA champion Villanova at The Palestra, and road victories at La Salle and Temple. It was the Quakers’ first unbeaten Big 5 campaign since 2001-02 and just the second since 1973-74. As a player, Graham was a two-year letter winner (1993-95) at Penn and was a member of two undefeated Ivy League championship teams.
“We are extremely fortunate to add a coach of Nat’s caliber and experience to our staff. He is a competitor with an impressive history of recruiting and developing successful Ivy League student-athletes, both at Cornell and other similarly-minded institutions. I’m so excited for our guys to benefit from his mentorship and knowledge, just as I did here.”
Kinder spent the past four years as the head student manager under former coach Mike Magpayo, who coached at Columbia with Jaques and recently took over the program at Fordham. Kinder was entrusted with tasks that touched every part of the program’s operations, from scouting to data and analytics, with responsibilities that included social media content and team travel. He earned his degree in Economics from UC Riverside in June.
“Ilan is an outstanding addition to the program. His work-ethic and experience wearing different hats prepares him well for this role and directly affected the rise of UC-Riverside basketball over the last few years. I’m looking forward to Ilan making his mark on Cornell and developing relationships with our players.”
Both Hayes and Colwell were instrumental in the team’s success in Jaques’ first year in charge of the program and will provide important stability on the staff in year two.
In his two seasons with the Big Red, Hayes has helped the Big Red to a 40-19 overall record (20-8 Ivy), a pair of conference runner-up finishes and a spot in the 2024 postseason NIT. Colwell’s first season with the Big Red resulted in an 18-11 record and runner-up finishes in the conference regular season and postseason tournament.
“I’m very excited for Jalen to have this increased role with us. He is a talented and dedicated coach who is a proven mentor for our guys, both on and off the court. Jalen’s fingerprints are all over the program’s success and our players’ growth during his two-plus seasons with us so far, so I can’t wait him to continue impacting Cornell Basketball.”
“I’m very happy Luke is receiving this well-earned promotion to Assistant Coach. From the minute he stepped on campus last spring, Luke’s spirit and versatility as a young coach was an asset to the program. Again, last year’s success does not happen without the addition of Luke to the staff, so I’m thrilled to see him step into this increased role.”
With both helping develop Big Red student-athletes, Cornell’s offense has been among the most efficient in the country and set school records in assists, 3-pointers made per game and assist:turnover ratio in 2024-25.
