By Steven Melendez/Staff Writer
The FIU men’s basketball program believes the team has taken an important step towards their goal of success with the promotion of former director of basketball operations, Jarrett T. Lockhart, to assistant head coach. Lockhart was effectively named assistant coach on July 1 and will primarily be responsible for training with the team’s backcourt players.
“I bring a lot of experience from the recruiting side. I was very instrumental in getting a lot of those guys to play in Lincoln College,” Lockhart said. “Also, I dealt with the individual young men about how to deal with things on-and-off the court. I’m easy to talk to and I’m at the in-between age where I could talk to them and they trust me.”
Before joining the FIU Panther family, Lockhart was the assistant coach at the Lincoln College of New England in Southington, Connecticut during the 2013-14 season. During his time, the Wildcats endured their most successful season in school history and Lockhart played a huge role in bringing in the best players for their system.
When Lockhart first arrived at FIU three years ago, he began his career as the director of basketball operations for the Panthers. He was in charge of overseeing the travel and overall operations of the program.
Lockhart discussed knowing the program and the people within it making his transition to assistant coach much easier.
“Being familiar with the system, with coach (Evans) and having the same guys on staff for a few years now definitely makes it feel like a family,” Lockhart said.
With a program that has been surrounded by change, team chemistry looks like one of the biggest challenges for the Panthers this upcoming season.
“Chemistry in general is very important,” Lockhart said. “The toughest part of building the chemistry is getting the guys that haven’t been around this summer acclimated to what the guys who have been here have been doing so far.”
The FIU men’s basketball season will feature seven new players and Lockhart feels that it is not time to set predictions. However, he knows the team will give their hardest every game.
“We’ll be competitive. From what we’ve seen this summer, we have players that understand the game and have a high basketball IQ,” Lockhart said. “We’ll be young, but when we put that finished product out on the floor, people will be surprised at what these guys can do.”
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