Men's basketball announces two additions to its staff

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Kentucky men’s basketball head coach Mark Pope announced two additions to the team’s staff Monday, with Nick Robinson as director of operations and Randy Towner as head coach. head of muscular forces.

Robinson comes to Lexington after serving as an assistant coach at BYU from 2019-24, while Towner comes to campus after most recently working in the Milwaukee Bucks organization.

Working alongside Pope at BYU, the Cougars compiled a 110-51 record during Robinson’s time in Provo, Utah, making two NCAA Tournament appearances, including one as a No. 6 seed in March last.

“Nick Robinson has worked in college basketball at every level, from special assistant to the head coach to the head coach himself,” Pope said. “He has had incredible success, worked in every part of the country, has a great track record and an incredible future ahead of him. In addition to being a great coach, he was a great player himself, making one of the most famous shots in Pac-12 history. As a Stanford graduate, he is incredibly intelligent and possesses boundless energy and intensity. Nick is meticulously organized and extremely passionate about building a high-performance program. We are happy to have him on the team.

“What a privilege to join the Kentucky basketball family,” Robinson said. “I am grateful to Mitch Barnhart and Coach Pope for the opportunity to work with incredible people who strive for excellence in all aspects of the program. The best fans in the country, my family and I are excited to represent BBN and our incredible players.

Prior to his arrival in Provo, Robinson was an assistant coach at Seattle from 2017 to 2019 and head coach at Southern Utah from 2012 to 2016. He spent three seasons in the Southeastern Conference at LSU where he held various positions positions including assistant coach, director of basketball operations and executive assistant to the head coach. Before that, Robinson was an assistant coach at William Jewell College in 2008-09 and both an assistant coach and director of operations at his alma mater, Stanford, from 2006-2008.

Robinson played college basketball at Palo Alto from 2001 to 2005, helping the Cardinal to a 92-34 record, Pac-10 regular season and tournament championships and four NCAA Tournament appearances. His legacy includes one of the most famous shots in Stanford program history when he connected on a 35-footer at the buzzer to send the No. 2 Cardinal past No. 12 Arizona in 2004. He graduated from Stanford with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s degree in sociology.

The Wildcats also welcomed Towner, experienced in both the college and professional ranks, to Pope’s inaugural team in Lexington.

“Randy Towner is one of the elite strength and conditioning coaches in all of basketball,” Pope said. “He spent time in the college ranks before joining one of the best coaching staffs in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks. Our guys are lucky to have him here. He has a ton of juice, a wealth of expertise and will embrace what Kentucky basketball is all about.

Towner worked with the Milwaukee Bucks from 2022 to 2024. Before that, he was with several college basketball programs, including UTSA, Utah, UAB and Utah Valley, where he worked alongside Pope during his coaching tenure with the Wolverines.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join Coach Pope’s team again,” Towner said. “We had a great experience working together at Utah Valley and I’m excited to have the chance to work with him again here at Kentucky.” We want to step in and become the best performance staff in the country and help this program win a national championship. We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we are ready to take on the challenge.

Towner earned his bachelor’s degree in exercise and sports science from Utah in 2016. He then earned a master’s degree in sports conditioning and performance from Southern Utah in 2021.

He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NCSA) and a specialist in functional conditioning movement, performance enhancement and corrective exercise.

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