Marquette hires Justin Gainey as associate head coach

MILWAUKEE (AP) — Former Marquette director of operations Justin Gainey is returning to the Golden Eagles’ staff as associate head coach.

Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski announced the move Friday.

Gainey worked for Wojciechowski at Marquette from 2014-17 before spending one year as an assistant coach at Santa Clara and the past two seasons as an assistant coach at Arizona.

“Justin is one of the nation’s top rising coaches and his talents, ability to build meaningful relationships and myriad of experiences alongside some of the game’s best teachers will serve our program, and most importantly our players, incredibly well,” Wojciechowski said in a statement.

Former Marquette associate head coach Stan Johnson left to become head coach at Loyola Marymount two weeks ago.

Gainey played point guard at North Carolina State from 1996-2000 and was a team captain. He worked as an administrative coordinator (2006-08) and director of basketball operations (2008-09) at his alma mater before becoming an assistant coach for one season at Elon and for four seasons at Appalachian State.