Northwestern head men’s basketball coach Chris Collins has announced the hire of Chris Lauten as the team’s director of basketball operations.

His duties include assisting in all day-to-day operations of the Wildcat basketball program, including scheduling, team travel, serving as the team’s academic liaison and directing the summer basketball camps.

Lauten comes to Northwestern after working for the NBA Development League in New York, N.Y., since October of 2008. During his time with the NBA D-League, Lauten was responsible for scouting and signing players for the league’s annual draft, for processing player personnel-related transactions, for providing NBA teams with information highlighting the D-League’s top prospects and for managing the basketball operations behind the league’s Showcase, All-Star and Summer League events among other responsibilities. He also served as an NBA Employee Volunteer from 2010-12, where he mentored New York-based middle school students.

Lauten, 28, is a 2008 graduate of Duke University with degrees in sociology and history. He was a five-year letterwinner as a student manager for the school’s men’s basketball program and served as the head senior manager for the Blue Devils for two seasons. Lauten assisted with the logistics behind team practices, meetings and scout sessions, compiled video and statistical reports and was involved with on-court drills and skill work. He also served as a youth basketball camp counselor during the summers

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