UND adds Steven Aldridge as men's basketball assistant coach

May 21—The UND men's basketball program has rounded out its assistant coaching staff.

On Friday, the Fighting Hawks announced Steven Aldridge will be assistant coach, filling the void of former assistant Dani Mihailovic.

"Steven comes from a highly successful program that played for conference championships and made a run in the NCAA tournament while he was there," UND head coach Paul Sather said. "He brings a great deal of experience and energy to our program and has established recruiting relationships throughout the country, in particular the west coast. He has played for and worked with some tremendous coaches and has been highly recommended from all those he has spent time with."

Prior to coming to UND, Aldridge spent the previous two seasons at Eastern Washington as a graduate assistant. The Eagles went 39-16 with Aldridge on the staff, advancing to the NCAA Tournament in 2020-21 before nearly defeating No. 3 seed Kansas in the opening round.

"Paul Sather is a man of great integrity and loyalty with a passion for what he does as a basketball coach," said Aldridge. "He is a coach that knows how to build a winning culture and I know that we will continue to make the Fighting Hawks family and community of Grand Forks proud in our pursuit of excellence."

Aldridge spent three seasons at Western Colorado University before heading to EWU, also guiding the Mountaineers to new heights. As an assistant coach, he helped Western return to the RMAC Tournament for the first time since Aldridge was a player for the Mountaineers in 2012, where he led the team in assists and was a team captain during his two years as a player.

He also spent time as a player and coach at San Diego City College, earning Pacific Coast All-Conference selections as a player and helping the Knights to a 41-19 record during his tenure as an assistant.

"Steve is a hardworking, self-motivated coach with a very bright future ahead of him," former EWU head coach and current Portland head coach Shantay Legans said. "He invests in relationships and it's shown by how much the players love and appreciate him. He is going to be a great addition to North Dakota."