Minnesota Basketball: Kyle Lindstead Hired as Assistant Coach

The Minnesota Golden Gophers finally made official what had been rumored for some time—Kyle Lindsted will be hired by Richard Pitino as the Gophers third assistant coach. He joins Ed Conroy and Rob Jeter on Pitino’s staff immediately.

Lindsted spend the last three seasons as an assistant under Greg Marshall at Wichita State. He was one of the Shockers lead recruiters and helped them to a 82-22 record over the past three seasons. The Shockers won two Missouri Valley Conference regular season titles and one conference tournament crown in his first two seasons in Wichita. Last season Wichita State finished second in its first season as members of the American Athletic Conference and earned its seventh consecutive NCAA Tournament berth as a No. 4 seed.

Prior to WSU Lindstead built the program at Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Air, Kansas. Lindsted was the athletic director and head basketball coach from 2000-2015 and turned the program into one of the nation’s top high school basketball schools. Between 2010 and 2015 the school produced 35 Division I basketball players including former Gopher Bakare Konate and current Gopher senior Dupree McBrayer. Other notable alumni include former Oklahoma star Buddy Hield and Michigan State point guard Tum-Tum-Nairn,

Lindsted’s father founded the school in 1987, and Lindsted took over the basketball program in 2000. He built the program into one of the nation’s most-respected high school programs, securing full Nike sponsorship and a multi-year contract with ESPN’s National High School Invitational.

Richard Pitino had the following to say about the hire in the Minnesota press release:

We are very excited about the addition of Kyle to our basketball program, He’s a great recruiter and will bring a lot to our team. He’s got contacts all over the world and a wealth of knowledge about the game.”