It looks like Drew Adams (Cincy), Achoki Moikobu...AKA Coach AC (Texas Tech), and Nick Norton (WVU) will be CDD's Assistant Coaches.
Drew Adams:
Drew Adams joined Cincinnati in October 2022 as the Associate Athletics Director for Men's Basketball.
Adams comes to Clifton by way of Bradley, where he was an assistant coach the previous seven years (2015-22). He helped the Braves to a complete rebuild that resulted in consecutive Missouri Valley Conference Championships for the first time in school history.
"Drew is one of the brightest young minds in college basketball," Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller said. "His experience in operations, recruiting and coaching at the highest level – including multiple NCAA Tournament bids and conference championships at several different elite programs – has given him an impressive resume and the skills to come into Cincinnati and immediately make us better in every facet of our program."
Respected among his peers and established as one of the brightest young minds in college hoops, he helped guide Bradley and New Mexico to five NCAA Tournament berths in his first six years as an assistant coach.
"I couldn't be more excited to be a University of Cincinnati Bearcat," Adams said. "Growing up in Southern Indiana, I know how special this place is with its history and tradition. I have so much respect for Coach Miller, and I couldn't be more grateful for him giving me this opportunity."
Adams earned Top 50 Most Impactful Mid Major Assistants distinction from Silver Waves Media in both 2020 and 2022, and was also named one of the top five assistant coaches in the Missouri Valley Conference during in 2020.
Adams played an important role in reestablishing Bradley to the peak of the Missouri Valley. He helped turn the nation's youngest team with just five wins in 2015-16 into conference champions and an appearance in the NCAA Tournament just three years later in 2018-19 – Bradley's first MVC Tournament title since 1988. BU then repeated as conference champions in 2020, marking the first time since 1954 and 1955 the Braves qualified for the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons.
He coached 10 all-conference players and seven MVC All-Freshman recipients at Bradley. Most recently, Bradley featured the 2022 Valley Newcomer of the Year in Terry Roberts and featured two NABC All-Region selections.
Adams joined Bradley after four seasons at the University of New Mexico, where he helped the Lobos to a 99-36 (.733) overall record, including a 45-21 (.682) tally in the Mountain West Conference. During his tenure in New Mexico, Adams helped the program to two regular-season league titles, three Mountain West postseason tournament crowns and three top-7 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.
He initially joined the staff in 2011-12 as Director of Operations for Steve Alford, was promoted to assistant coach for the 2012-13 season and remained on Craig Neal's staff his final two seasons.
Adams, who played for Alford during the 2006-07 season at Iowa, began his coaching career as a student assistant at Tennessee, helping the Volunteers to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances and the program's first No. 1 national ranking during the 2007-08 season. After graduating from Tennessee in 2009, Adams spent two years on Tom Crean's staff at Indiana, first as Coordinator of Basketball Systems in 2009-10 before being promoted to Director of Operations for the 2010-11 season. He also has coached on the AAU level for the Indiana Elite program.
Adams began his collegiate playing career at Florida Community College of Jacksonville where he was team captain as a sophomore in 2005-06 before transferring to Iowa.
A 2004 graduate of Bloomington High School South, Adams spent three years playing for head coach J.R. Holmes. During his senior season at South, the Panthers won Conference Indiana and he was selected as team captain, was the team's leading scorer and was an all-conference selection.
He earned his bachelor's degree in sports management from Tennessee in 2009. Adams and his wife, Brooke, have three daughters, Quinn, Ava and Sloane, and one son, Nolan.
(from gobearcats.com)
Achoki Moikobu (goes by Coach AC)
Achoki Moikobu is in his second season at Texas Tech as an assistant coach for Grant McCasland.
Moikobu was an assistant coach for McCasland for one season, helping the Mean Green establish a new program record by going 31-7 and completing the 2022-23 season by knocking off UAB to secure the NIT title.
He helped to lead the Red Raiders to the 2024 NCAA Tournament and a 23-win season in his first year. Tech finished tied for third in the Big 12 standings and advanced to the semifinals of the 2024 Big 12 Championship.
Moikobu joined the Red Raider program after prior collegiate experience at UNT, Drake and Grand Canyon University. At Drake, Moikobu helped lead the Bulldogs to a 13-5 Missouri Valley Conference record and a MVC Tournament title game appearance. Prior to Drake, Moikobu spent one season under Bryce Drew at Grand Canyon in 2020-21 as the Director of Recruiting.
The Mean Green led the nation by limiting opponents to only 55.8 points per game in his lone season at UNT, were sixth nationally by holding teams to 39.1 percent shooting, and ran off postseason victories over Alcorn State, Sam Houston, Oklahoma State and Wisconsin before the 68-61 win over UAB for the championship.
He helped assemble a roster that transformed GCU from a 13-17 record to 17-7 and claim a Western Athletic Conference regular season league title. Grand Canyon then won the 2021 WAC Tournament championship and earned its first Division I NCAA Tournament berth. With Moikobu on staff in 2020-21, GCU featured the nation's second-best field goal percentage defense (37.6 percent) and the nation's 15th-best offensive field goal percentage (49.2 percent). Moikobu also worked six seasons as a postgraduate head coach at Sunrise Christian Academy in Bel Air, Kansas. At Sunrise, he coached 28 future Division I players.
“Coach AC has great experience as a head coach in prep school and a great assistant coach for us,” McCasland said of Moikobu. “He does a great job of developing and building relationships. He is as authentic as it gets. I think he has a tremendous overall perspective of the game and is really special in individual workouts because he understands how to get the best out of players on a daily basis.”
A Seattle, Washington native, Moikobu played at Fort Hays State where he graduated in 2015. In his two seasons at Fort Hays State, he made 91 career 3-pointers and shot 47.7 percent from deep.
(from texastech.com)
Nick Norton:
Nick Norton was named assistant coach/director of player development for the Mountaineers on April 3, 2024.
A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Norton spent the last three seasons on DeVries’ staff at Drake, helping the Bulldogs to an 80-26 (.755) record with two NCAA Tournament appearances and two Missouri Valley Conference titles.
“Nick is a hard worker who brings great enthusiasm and tremendous energy to our basketball program,” DeVries said. “He always has a great rapport with our players and has a strong basketball IQ. Nick fits our basketball staff and our program extremely well.”
Norton joined the Drake staff during the 2021-22 season as assistant director of operations and was elevated to director of operations prior to the 2022-23 season. Last season, he was promoted to assistant coach/director of player development.
Norton began his collegiate career at UAB (2014-18), making 97 starts for the Blazers. He was named All-Conference USA Third Team as a sophomore, averaging 8.9 points per game and leading the league in assist-to-turnover ratio. Norton was named the Conference USA Men’s Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. As a freshman, he was one of 21 Kyle Macy National Freshman of the Year Award finalists and named to the Conference USA All-Freshman Team.
He transferred to Drake in 2018 and averaged 14.0 points, 5.9 assists and 4.1 rebounds per game before an injury ended his collegiate career. Norton set Drake’s single-game assists record (17) against North Dakota State, a record that stood until the 2022-23 season. He scored a career-high 31 points against San Diego and recorded the second triple-double in team history with 18 points, 17 assists and 13 rebounds against North Dakota State. Norton was named MVC Newcomer of the Week three times and Player of the Week once.
In 2019, Norton signed with the South Bay Lakers of the NBA G League, appearing in two games before stepping away due to injuries.
His father, Randy, is the head women’s basketball coach at UAB.
Nick and his wife, Caraline, have one son, Campton.
(from wvusports.com)
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