UB Men’s Basketball adds Hunter Jenkins as assistant coach

The early stages of the Jim Whitesell era are slowly taking shape as UB’s last assistant coach vacancy was filled today. Odessa College’s Hunter Jenkins will make the relocation trip from Texas to Western New York.

“Hunter is one of best young minds in the game and has a real knack for discovering and evaluating talent,” Whitesell said in a UB news release. ”He is going to fit in really well with our staff and his passion for the game will resonate well with our players.”

Jenkins has only spent the previous year at Odessa, a Division I junior college and member of the Western Junior College Athletic Conference, but the results were top-notch. The Wranglers had a 28-win campaign that finished off with a quarterfinals appearance in the NJCAA Tournament. Former UB guard James Reese was the centerpiece to that squad.

Before Odessa, Jenkins spent two years as an assistant at his alma mater, Trinity Valley Community College, which is another premier Division I JUCO program that is a lock almost every year for the NJCAA tourney. He is lauded for bringing in Wendell Mitchell, the top JUCO player in the country during his tenure there.

He also has two years of experience as a graduate assistant, spending one year at Texas Tech and Lousiana Tech respectively. He also carried out video coordinator duties in that role.

The hire is a solid addition for Whitesell as it gives him an exceptional recruiter, as well as a top up-and-coming basketball coach. It also follows the blueprint of his predecessor in bringing in someone from the JUCO ranks. We’ll see if he pulls in any Odessa players not named James Reese to the Bulls.