I mentioned both of these moves at Northern Kentucky in the Daily Dirt back on 8/4. They are now official as Isaac Wodajo and TJ Kaufmann’s bio’s have been posted on the Northern Kentucky website. Here they are:
Wodajo joined the Norse staff after a year’s stint as the Head Coach at Division I JUCO, Wabash Valley College. Wodajo’s team ended the season with wins in seven of their last nine games, which included a victory over No. 10 nationally-ranked Vincennes University, en route to a 17-13 record overall in 2022-23.Prior to his time leading the Warrior program, Wodajo was an assistant coach for three seasons at Wabash Valley, where the team achieved 70 total wins in four seasons at the JUCO level (three full seasons and one shortened COVID season). During his tenure, he recruited and coached eight NCAA Division I signees and assisted in the development of nine players who were selected as All-Region and All-Conference student-athletes. As an assistant, Wodajo served as the program’s offensive coordinator and lead scout for every opponent.
Before Wabash Valley College, Wodajo worked as a graduate assistant for two seasons at the University of Texas under head coach Shaka Smart and associate head coach Darrin Horn. During his first year in Austin, the Longhorns went 19-15 and earned the No. 10 seed in the South Region of the 2018 NCAA Tournament. Texas followed it up with an even stronger year in 2019, as the Longhorns went 21-16 overall which included winning the 2019 NIT Tournament Championship at Madison Square Garden. Over those two seasons, Texas produced two NBA lottery picks in Mo Bamba (No. 6 in 2018, Orlando Magic) and Jaxson Hayes (No. 8 in 2019, New Orleans Pelicans).
Wodajo’s coaching career began at Milwaukee Riverside University High School, where he returned following college graduation after he competed for three years with the varsity basketball program. Riverside earned a City Conference and Regional Championship in his lone season as the varsity assistant coach, as the squad finished 19-7 overall. The team included eventual 2022 ACC Player of the Year, Alondes Williams (Wake Forest), along with three other NCAA DI signees.
Wodajo earned his Master of Education from the University of Texas at Austin and his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
Kaufmann has been promoted to Director of Basketball Operations and Student-Athlete Development. He joined the Northern Kentucky men’s basketball staff in the summer of 2021 as a graduate assistant.
Kaufmann currently serves as the Swiss army knife behind the scenes for the NKU basketball program. He provides the coaching staff support in a variety of capacities to go with helping the running of practices, travel accommodations for the team and providing support for recruiting. He is also in charge of NKU’s video department and serves as the head for the Norse’s manager program.
The Norse have made it to the Horizon League Championship game in each of his first two seasons with the program. Northern Kentucky won the Horizon League Championship in 2022-23 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in school history.
Prior to NKU, Kaufmann was an assistant coach at Cornell College for the 2020-21 season and he also served as the head coach for the Iowa Barnstormers AAU program for two years (17U team in 2021 and 16U team in 2020).
A 2020 graduate of Coe College, Kaufmann played basketball for the Kohwaks program all four years of his college career. He was voted by his peers as Teammate of the Year three times (2018, 2019 and 2020).
During Kaufmann’s senior year in 2020, the team went 17-10 and finished in second place in the conference standings. During his senior campaign, Kaufmann served as team captain and was also a member of Coe College’s Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
