After a brief pause in FAU coaching news, the Owls announced on Monday afternoon that Aditya (AD) Malhotra, formerly of the Phoenix Suns, would be joining John Jakus’s staff as an Assistant Coach.
Marking the final staff addition in year 1 of the Jakus era, Malhotra makes the move from the NBA back to the CBB coaching ranks, joining the staff after 2 years with the Phoenix Suns, first as the manager of amateur scouting from July of 2022 to May of 2023, and most recently as the director of Basketball quality control.
Prior to his role with the Suns, Malhotra was on staff with Jakus at Baylor for 8 seasons from 2013-2022 where he held multiple roles. Working his way up from GA in 2013, he eventually became Special Assistant to the Head Coach in 2015, Director of operations & recruiting in 2018, and lastly as the Director of Basketball operations from 2019-2022.
Malhotra was on staff during Baylor’s national championship in 2021, and also coached & worked alongside current FAU assistant Obim Okeke during his tenure at Baylor, and according to Okeke, Malhotra’s role in their championship is larger than some may realize.
“He (Coach Malhotra) is a very smart guy, very passionate and a hard worker,” Okeke said.” “He was the backbone of the Baylor team as the DOBO and had a hand in everything when we won it all. Excited to work with him again.”
Malhotra’s understanding of recruiting at the next level is something that is invaluable on a CBB staff that is looking to get players to that level and combining that with close to a decade on staff at Baylor makes him a very diverse addition.
This staff is now officially complete, having brought in coaches with experience from all levels of basketball with Malhotra, Okeke, and Isaiah Austin having strong NBA & CBB ties, Todd Abernethy adding continuity & understanding of how to win in paradise, Jordan Fee bringing a translatable high level offense, and Demond Parker brings recent player experience and has also been a fast riser in the coaching ranks.
Coach Jakus and his staff will look to get to work over the upcoming weeks with summer practices underway and more to come as the summer marches on.
Photo via- @CoachADMalhotra on X