Former NBA player, Mizzou assistant to join Paul Mills’ coaching staff at Wichita State

The three assistants following head coach Paul Mills to Wichita State have been finalized, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed to The Eagle.

Kenton Paulino, Quincy Acy and Chris Hollender will join Mills on the Wichita State men’s basketball coaching staff for the 2023-24 season. Stadium’s Jeff Goodman was the first to report the news on Friday afternoon.

The staff features a mixture of coaches who have experience with Mills, as Paulino spent the last two years as an assistant coach under him at Oral Roberts and Acy played four years at Baylor with Mills as an assistant coach, and one who doesn’t, at least publicly, in Hollender.

Acy is perhaps the most intriguing addition to the staff as a former seven-year NBA veteran with no Division I coaching experience. But that’s because he just recently retired from his playing career and spent the past season as the player development coach for the Texas Legends in the NBA G League.

Acy, 32, appeared in 337 career games for multiple NBA teams across a seven-year career and also won championships in Israel and Greece. He developed into a professional basketball player during his four-year career at Baylor from 2008-12 when Mills was on Scott Drew’s staff in Waco.

As a former standout big man, the 6-foot-7 Acy could make up for what he lacks in Division I experience with his own playing experience. Acy’s NBA reputation and young age could also make him a strong recruiter right out of the gates.

Hollender comes with two decades of Division I experience, most recently a five-year stint at Missouri from 2017-22 under head coach Cuonzo Martin. He also served as an assistant under Jim Crews at Army (2002-09), Marty Simmons at Evansville (2009-12), Rick Ray at Mississippi State (2012-15) and Kareem Richardson at UMKC (2015-17).

In his bio on Mizzou’s website, Hollender is credited for “bringing strong Midwest ties” to recruiting and designing most of the offensive schemes for the Tigers during their NCAA tournament run in 2021. He is a former star player for Evansville and a native of Mattoon, Ill.

Paulino is the lone coach who Mills has direct coaching experience with after the former Texas standout player spent the past two seasons on his staff at Oral Roberts.

The Los Angeles native has strong Texas ties, which fit perfectly with Mills’ preference in recruiting. Not only is Paulino a former standout for the Longhorns, he spent three years as a special assistant at Texas under head coach Rick Barnes. He also has more than a decade of Division I coaching experience with previous stops at UTEP (2018-20), Tulsa (2017-19), Fresno State (2012-17) and Lamar (2011-12).

Other staff members following Mills from Oral Roberts include director of player development Iain Laymon and strength and conditioning coach Ashtin Meerpohl. The same source confirmed that Xavier Holland, who was the director of operations at Lipscomb this past season and spent two years as a graduate assistant on Mills’ staff at Oral Roberts, is also joining the Shockers, although it is unclear in what capacity.

The complete staff is expected to officially be announced by Wichita State in the coming days.