Richard Pitino finalizes Xavier basketball staff; Jackson lone coach retained from previous program

CINCINNATI –– Xavier University Sedler Family Men's Basketball Head Coach Richard Pitino announced the completion of his basketball staff, including six members of his New Mexico staff that led the Lobos to Mountain West Conference Championships and NCAA Tournament appearances each of the past two seasons.

The new Xavier staff that comes to XU from UNM includes Crawford Family Associate Head Coach Isaac Chew, Assistant Coach Tarvish Felton, Assistant Coach Aaron Katsuma, Assistant Coach, Player Development Daniel Walters, Director of Basketball Operations Peyton Stephens and Strength and Conditioning Coach Matthew Flores. Last season the Lobos finished 27-8 0overall record and reached the second round of the 2025 NCAA Tournament, while posting a 17-3 league record and winning the 2024-25 Mountain West Conference Regular Season Championship. New Mexico finished 26-10 in the 2023-24 season, winning the Mountain West Tournament Championship and returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014.

Assistant Coach (and McClain HS alum) Dante Jackson was retained from the previous Xavier staff. Xavier earned a bid to the 2025 NCAA Tournament and won an NCAA First Four matchup vs. Texas.

"One of the most important things to do when starting a program is building a staff," said Pitino. "Isaac, Tarvis, Aaron, Danny, Peyton and Matt all were integral parts of our Mountain West Championships and back-to-back NCAA Tournament teams. They have hit the ground running  right away and will be a huge part of our success. Retaining Dante was very important because he understands Xavier basketball and what Xavier University is all about."

Chew, who has experience coaching in four different power conferences, enters his fifth season on the Pitino's coaching staff in 2025-26. After his first three seasons as an assistant coach at New Mexico, he was promoted to Associate Head Coach in 2024. Chew has served as an assistant coach at the NCAA Division I level since 2007 (18 years) and has guided six different programs to the postseason. Chew, who earned his undergraduate degree at Avila University in Kansas City, has led teams to seven championships, including Mountain West titles in each of the last two seasons. Prior to arriving at New Mexico, Chew spent time with Murray State (2007-11), Missouri (2011-12), Marquette (2012-14), Virginia Tech (2014-16), Texas A&M (2016-19) and Grand Canyon (2019-21).

Felton enters his fourth season as an assistant coach under Pitino. Felton was at New Mexico for three seasons with Pitino (2022-25) after spending the previous four seasons at Fresno State, the last two as associate head coach. Felton has over 20 years of coaching experience. Prior to his tenure at Fresno State, he spent 10 seasons as an assistant coach at Utah State as the Aggies transitioned from the WAC to the Mountain West. He also spent time on the staffs of Southern Utah, Sacramento State, Cal State Los Angeles, along with four years as the first ever head coach at Texas A&M-International. A 1999 graduate of Southern Utah with a bachelor's degree in physical education, Felton earned 1999 All-Mid-Continent. Conference honors and was named Southern Utah's 1999 Male Athlete of the Year.

Katsuma enters his third season as an assistant coach under Pitino. Katsuma came to New Mexico to work with Pitino after spending the previous five seasons at Colorado State, four as the Director of Basketball Operations and one year as the Director of Recruiting. Katsuma brought over a decade of experience to New Mexico, having worked previously at Drake and Minnesota prior to his tenure at Colorado State. He began his career at his alma mater, Minnesota, including four seasons working for Pitino as a student manager, graduate manager and Assistant Director of Player Personnel. He joined Niko Medved's staff at Drake in 2017-18 as Director of Basketball Operations before moving with Medved to Colorado State beginning in 2018-19.

Walters is in his fourth season on Pitino's staff. Walters served as video coordinator at New Mexico in 2024-25 and added the assistant coach title as well. Walters joined the New Mexico men's basketball staff in June of 2022. He came to New Mexico after serving as the video coordinator at South Alabama for the previous two seasons. While at South Alabama, Walters helped the Jaguars to a 21-win season in 2021-22, the program's highest win total in 14 years. From 2017-20, Walters was a student manager with the men's basketball program at his alma mater, Texas A&M. His three seasons as a manager were highlighted by a trip to the NCAA Sweet 16 in 2018.

Stephens is in her fifth season on Pitino's basketball staff. The 2024-25 season was her first as the New Mexico Director of Basketball Operations after three seasons as the administrative assistant. In her role with the Lobos, Stephens handled numerous daily operations aspects of the program, including coordinating transportation and accommodations for team travel, organizing gear and apparel for players and staff, organizing events such as summer camps, recruiting visits and team meals and overseeing the group of student managers. She came to New Mexico in the summer of 2021 after serving as a graduate administrative assistant at her alma mater, Texas A&M, the prior two seasons.

Flores enters his fifth season as a strength and conditioning coach under Pitino. Flores joined New Mexico in 2021 after spending two seasons at Utah Valley. In 2020-21 at Utah Valley, Flores helped the Wolverines to a conference championship. Flores is no stranger to being on head coach Richard Pitino's staff as he was a graduate assistant at the University of Minnesota during the 2018-19 season. That season, Pitino and his staff led the Gophers to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Flores' resume also includes stops at his alma mater, Arizona State, and Portland State, where he worked with their football, basketball, wrestling, and tennis programs. Flores served in The United States Marine Corps from 2001-06.

Jackson is the one coach that Pitino retained from the previous Xavier staff. Jackson, who is entering his in his eighth year as a Xavier Assistant Coach, was a graduate assistant coach on the Xavier staff from 2012-14 and was hired as a full-time XU assistant in 2018. The Xavier graduate played in four NCAA Tournaments as a Musketeer player, including an Elite Eight and two Sweet 16s, and returned to Xavier under former XU head coach Travis Steele after stops as a full-time assistant at nearby Northern Kentucky (2015-16), Air Force (2016-17), Robert Morris (2017-18) and a brief stint at Kent State. Prior to his graduate assistant stop at Xavier, Jackson started his collegiate coaching career as a graduate assistant for one season (2011-12) under then-Ohio University head coach John Groce, who is now the head coach at Akron.

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