Pepperdine men’s basketball coach Marty Wilson filled an opening on his staff today with the announcement that he has hired former Syracuse and NBA standout Jason Hart as an assistant coach.

Additionally, Wilson announced that recent UC Santa Barbara graduate and basketball player Jon Pastorek will fill the role of graduate assistant/video coordinator next season.

Hart played at Inglewood and Westchester High Schools in the Los Angeles area before heading to Syracuse, where he was an All-Big East first team selection as a senior and became the school’s all-time leader in steals, while finishing second in assists. Hart graduated from Syracuse in 2000 with a degree in sociology.

He was picked in the second round of the 2000 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks, and went on to enjoy a nine-year career in the NBA. He played for Milwaukee, San Antonio, Charlotte, the Los Angeles Clippers, Sacramento, Utah, Denver, New Orleans and Minnesota, and also spent a year playing in Greece.

He retired in December 2010 and began coaching on the AAU circuit. He then took the job at Taft, and in his one season there, he led the Toreadors to a 29-4 record, the Los Angeles City Section Division I title, the second round of the Division I state championships and a perfect 10-0 record in league play.

Hart is taking the assistant coach position that had been handled by director of operations John Impelman since the middle of the 2011-12 season.

Pastorek will fill the role vacated by Matt Levy, who spent two years with the Waves while he worked on a master’s degree. In addition to his basketball duties, Pastorek will be pursuing a master’s in American studies.

Pastorek graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2011 with a degree in business economics. He played two seasons for the Gauchos, both of which resulted in Big West Conference titles and trips to the NCAA Tournament. He was team captain as a senior.

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