Marshall: New Wichita State assistant coach comes 'highly recommended'

Wichita State made its hiring of New Mexico State associate head coach Lou Gudino as assistnat coach official on Wednesday, confirming media reports from earlier in the week.

Gudino will replace Donnie Jones, who left earlier this month for a similar position at Dayton. Jones will join a Gregg Marshall staff that also includes new addition Tyson Waterman and five-year veteran Isaac Brown.

There is some familiarity between Marshall and Gudino. Not only did Gudino spend a decade in the Missouri Valley Conference scouting the Shockers at Indiana State from 2007-16, but he spent last season with long-time Marshall disciple Chris Jans at New Mexico State.

“He comes highly recommended by Greg Lansing at Indiana State and by my former assistant Chris Jans at New Mexico State,” Marshall said in a statement. “Lou was a tremendous help to both of those programs in terms of day-to-day office administration. He’s also very knowledgeable about the game of basketball and, in particular, our system, having worked under Chris and having scouted our team for the better part of a decade in the Valley.”

Much like Jans, Gudino has a reputation as a top defensive coordinator and tireless recruiter.

In their one season together at New Mexico State, Jans and Gudino improved the team’s ranking in Ken Pomeroy’s defensive efficiency from No. 124 in the country to No. 16 last season. The Aggies finished with a 28-6 record, won the Western Athletic Conference regular-season and tournament titles and earned a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Restoring that type of defensive intensity has seemed to be a priority for Marshall this offseason. Faced with the task of turning over nine of 13 scholarship players, Marshall replenished the roster with long and explosive athletes who are better suited for the defensive challenges in the American Athletic Conference.

Spending a year with Jans at New Mexico State makes Gudino feel like he has a jump start on the job.

“I am forever indebted to Chris Jans for hiring me,” Gudino said in a statement. “The experience that I gained in every facet of the organization has been invaluable and helped prepare me for this next step. Wichita State is an elite program in the college basketball world. I look forward to joining coach Marshall’s staff and Shocker Nation and helping him maintain the championship culture that he has established.”

WSU posted a 25-8 record in 2017-18 and spent the entire season ranked in the top-25 en route to a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. But the Shockers return just 11 percent of their minutes played from that team.

Gudino’s other Division I experience comes at Lousiana Tech, where he was an assistant from 2005-07. He has also spent time in Kansas before, spending the 1999-00 seasonin Great Bend as an assistant at Barton County Community College.

This story was originally published July 18, 2018 at 12:09 PM with the headline "Marshall: New Wichita State assistant coach comes 'highly recommended'."