Men’s basketball head coach, Jeff Linder has officially filled all the vacancies on his coaching staff with the Hiring of Ken DeWeese and Vincent McGhee, Jr.

Both DeWeese and McGhee come from the University of Texas at El Paso, where they served under head coach Tim Floyd.

“These two hires tell me that Coach Linder has done his research and understands what moves a program,” Floyd said of his former assistants. “Ken is excited about the opportunity to have a bigger voice on the floor as he continues his pursuit to become a Division I head coach one day. We have enjoyed watching him grow over the last six years. He has done a terrific job for us and we wish he and his wife Natalie the very best in the years to come. I was so impressed with Vinnie’s work ethic, his huge smile and personality, and I have no doubt that he’s going to be a star in this business at some point. Players love him, and I think he understands what a player is and where to go get them.”

KEN DEWEESE
Deweese was elevated to assistant coach in 2011-12 season after serving as UTEP’s Director of Basketball Operations for the 2010-11 campaign.

Deweese has been a part of 122 victories while at UTEP, including 63 in Conference USA play, and three postseason tournaments including the 2015 NIT.

Deweese came to El Paso from Utah Valley University, where he worked as an assistant coach during the 2009-10 season. He spent the previous four years (2005-09) as an assistant coach at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, working for his father Ken Deweese, Sr. The Cru were 18-9 in 2005-06, 22-6 in 2006-07, 26-4 in 2007-08 and 19-8 in 2008-09 for a four-year mark of 85-27.

Deweese was a three-year basketball letterman for the Cru, earning his degree in 2004. He served as a graduate assistant for one year each at Mary Hardin-Baylor and VCU. He earned his graduate degree from VCU in 2009.

His father was an assistant coach at UTEP from 1976-80 under the legendary Don Haskins.

“Ken and Vinnie are coming from a winning program that was being coached by a Hall of Fame type coach in Tim Floyd,” Linder said. “Over the years, Ken seemed to be in every obscure gym that I would be in and did a tremendous job recruiting really good players to UTEP.  To get someone of his caliber and experience to the University of Northern Colorado is really exciting. Vinnie is someone who knows the conference really well as a player when he was named freshman of the year in the Big Sky in 2007 at Sacramento State. What made him great as a player is going to make him great as a coach. He is someone who has had to earn everything through hard work and dedication. His ability to develop players on and off the court is going to be a great asset to the program. nIt shows you the potential of the program when you can attract assistant coaches of the caliber that is on my staff away from great programs such as Weber State and UTEP.”

VINCENT MCGHEE
McGhee most recently served as UTEP’s men’s basketball graduate assistant. He handled player development, player academics, travel, scouting reports and video editing for the Miners.

McGhee is no stranger to the Big Sky Conference, as he played for Sacramento State as a student-athlete on the men’s basketball team. He was tabbed as Big Sky Freshman of the Year and earned All-Conference honorable mention honors with the Hornets. He still ranks in the Top 10 in multiple SSU records including, two all-time career records, three all-time single season records and four Division I career records and four Division I single season records.

The new assistant finished his played career at CSUN (Cal State Northridge). In his first year with the Matadors he was awarded the Newt Meyers Sportsmanship Award, leading the team with 53 three-point field goals on the season.

Ending his career with 1,000 plus collegiate points in Division I basketball, McGhee graduated CSUN with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Pan African-American Studies.

After his collegiate career he also completed a season with the San Francisco Rumble in the ABA league where he averaged 22.7 points per game.

McGhee is active in basketball camps across the nation, working with NBA teams such as the Golden State Warriors and Portland Trailblazers during their summer skills camps.

He is currently finishing his Master’s degree in Leadership Studies at UTEP.

“It has been a whirlwind the last two weeks,” Linder added. “With the staff in place we will look to finish up the 2016 recruiting class, get ready for summer camps, and anxiously await the arrival of our players for a great eight weeks of summer conditioning and workouts.”