Kentucky Basketball Welcomes Additions to Support Staff

The Wildcats have added four members to their support staff.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The University of Kentucky men’s basketball program has added four members to its support staff for the 2023-24 season, the program announced on Friday.

Winners of the 2023 GLOBL JAM, the Wildcats open play at home against New Mexico State on Nov. 6 inside Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center.

Kevin Gallagher, Assistant Video Coordinator: Gallagher is no stranger to the UK program having served as a manager from 2018-21 and each of the past two seasons as a graduate assistant in the video department. He is a two-time graduate of the University of Kentucky with a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2020 and a master’s in sport leadership in 2023. Gallagher will be tasked with assisting the staff with opponent scouting, day-to-day self-scouting projects and creating recruiting videos for visits.

Keenan Gumbs, Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach: A former Division III basketball All-American at Schreiner University, Gumbs also played for Liberty University where he helped the Flames win a conference championship and upset Mississippi State in the NCAA Tournament in 2019 before playing professionally overseas. He holds an exercise science degree from Schreiner University and has a master’s in human performance from Liberty. Gumbs will be an integral part of the day-to-day fitness and performance of the student-athletes, working alongside head strength and conditioning coach Brady Welch. Gumbs is a certified strength and conditioning specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association.

Darin Minniefield, Graduate Assistant: Minniefield was a four-year basketball starter for Our Lady of the Lake University and was a second-team all-conference performer. He earned a degree in psychology from Our Lady of the Lake in 2022. Minniefield is the son of Dirk Minniefield who was an All-Southeastern Conference performer and 1,000-point scorer for the Wildcats from 1980-83. He has worked with the John Lucas Player Development program and has also coached with the Houston Defenders AAU program. Minnifield will assist the program in player development on the court and provide support to the video coordinators. He’ll be pursuing a degree in sport leadership from UK.

Zach Thomas, Graduate Assistant: Thomas is a four-time conference regular-season champion and two-time member of an NCAA Tournament team and scored more than 1,500 career points. Thomas owns a Bachelor of Science degree in biomedical engineering from Bucknell. He was a teammate of former UK letterman Nate Sestina while playing for the Bison for three seasons. Over the last five years, Thomas has played professional basketball in Belgium, Italy, Ukraine, Poland, Finland, Sweden and most recently Cyprus. He will also contribute to UK’s on-court player development and assist with projects in conjunction with the video coordinators. Thomas will pursue an MBA from Kentucky.

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