Kentucky men's basketball adds four support staff members

The Joe Craft Center just expanded by four staff members in the men’s basketball offices, the Kentucky program announced Friday. Two graduate assistants will join John Calipari‘s bench while assistant video coordinator and assistant strength and conditioning coach positions have also been filled.

Who will round out Kentucky’s support staff for the 2023-24 season?

One familiar face is sticking around with the Wildcats in Kevin Gallagher, who served as a student manager from 2018-21 before joining the staff as a graduate assistant in the video department each of the past two seasons. He’ll now take over as assistant video coordinator, where he will be tasked with assisting the staff with opponent scouting, day-to-day self-scouting projects and creating recruiting videos for visits. Gallagher is a two-time graduate of the University of Kentucky with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2020 and a master’s in sport leadership in 2023.

The program will also be adding a trio of former high-level athletes to fill the other positions. Keenan Gumbs, a former Division III basketball All-American at Schreiner University and Liberty University standout, has been hired as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. The former guard helped the Flames win a conference championship and upset Mississippi State in the NCAA Tournament in 2019 before playing professionally overseas. He will work alongside Brady Welch as an integral part of the day-to-day fitness and performance of student-athletes. Earning an exercise science degree from Schreiner and a master’s in human performance from Liberty, he is a certified strength and conditioning specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Speaking of athletes, former Bucknell standout Zach Thomas will join the staff as a graduate assistant. He is a four-time conference regular-season champion and two-time member of an NCAA Tournament team, scoring more than 1,500 career points. Thomas was a teammate of former Kentucky forward Nate Sestina while playing for the Bison for three seasons. Following his time at Bucknell, he played five seasons of professional basketball overseas in Belgium, Italy, Ukraine, Poland, Finland, Sweden and Cyprus. He will contribute to the Wildcats’ on-court development and assist with projects in conjunction with the video coordinators while pursuing an MBA from Kentucky.

And then to round out the staff, a very familiar name to Big Blue Nation — last name, at least. Darin Minniefield, son of former Kentucky legend Dirk Minniefield, will also join the program as a graduate assistant for the upcoming season. He will assist the program in player development on the court and provide support to the video coordinators while pursuing a degree in sport leadership from UK. A four-year starter for Our Lady of the Lake University and a second-team all-conference performer in his own right, Minniefield’s father was also an All-SEC performer and 1,000-point scorer for the Wildcats from 1980-83. The newest staff member brings recruiting ties to Lexington working with the John Lucas Player Development program and coaching with the Houston Defenders grassroots program.

Four high-quality additions for Coach Cal and the Wildcats ahead of the 2023-24 basketball season.