Dean Oliver, an All-Big Ten guard, nine-year professional and six-year coaching veteran, has been named as an assistant coach on the Wisconsin men's basketball staff head coach as announced by Greg Gard on Thursday.
"We are really excited to welcome Dean back to the Big Ten and the Wisconsin basketball family," Gard said. "I have been impressed with him over the years and after getting to know him better through this process, it became easy to see why he has been so successful in the past as a player and most recently as a coach. Everyone I talked to about Dean had the utmost respect for his leadership, teaching abilities and passion for helping student-athletes. He has a tremendous reputation for building relationships, has great rapport with players and excels in player development, particularly with guards. It's rare to find a coach with his combination of professional playing experience and coaching ability and I have no doubt he is the right fit for our program."
"I am extremely honored and excited to be joining the men's basketball staff at the University of Wisconsin," Oliver said. "It is truly a dream to coach at such a prestigious, storied Big Ten program. I can't wait to get to work with the young nucleus of players as well as the exciting incoming recruits. I am equally as excited to work with and learn from Coach Gard and staff.
"I want to thank Coach Alvarez, Coach Gard and the entire UW staff for welcoming me in. Go Badgers!"
Oliver comes to Madison after a pair of three-year coaching stints at North Dakota (2012-14) and Illinois State (2015-17). In three seasons at ISU, Oliver helped guide Illinois State to a 68-34 overall record, a share of the 2017 Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title and two National Invitation Tournament bids (2015 and 2017). During the 2016-17 season, the Redbirds set program records for overall victories (28) and conference wins (17).
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