James Ware Named Assistant Coach At Utah State

Utah State’s head men’s basketball coach Stew Morrill announced Friday the hiring of James Ware as an assistant coach for the Aggies. Ware replaces Don Holst who resigned following the 2005-06 season.

Ware has spent the last three seasons as the Director of Basketball Operations at the University of Minnesota under head coach Dan Monson. He began his coaching career as an assistant at Hopkins (Minn.) High School from 2000-03, where he coached Kris Humphries who went on to earn All-America honors at Minnesota before being drafted in the first round of the 2004 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz.

“We are very excited about the addition of James Ware to our coaching staff,” said Morrill. “He has tremendous potential in this business and brings high character and very solid experience to this position. Having coached James at Colorado State, it gives us both a comfort level with this move.

“James and his family will be valuable and positive contributors to Utah State University,” added Morrill. “One of the great rewards in coaching is to see the maturity of your former players, and James is an impressive young man who our players will relate to and respect.”

Ware began his collegiate career at Colorado State University for then head coach Stew Morrill, before transferring to Midland (Texas) Junior College for one season. He was then a two-year starter at Texas Tech University and earned honorable mention all-Big 12 honors in 2000, along with being named academic all-conference.

“I am very excited to join the staff at Utah State University,” said Ware. “The success the program has had under Stew Morrill is one of the biggest things that attracted me to the position. Having played for Coach Morrill, and Coach Verlin, we have established a great relationship over the last 10 years, and that relationship will make the transition from Minnesota to Utah State very easy.”

Ware prepped at Hopkins (Minn.) High School where he was an all-state and all-metro selection during his senior season, as well as being a Mr. Basketball finalist in Minnesota. During his three years in high school, Hopkins compiled an overall record of 75-5.

Ware graduated from Texas Tech University in 2000 with a bachelor of arts degree and then earned his master’s degree in education and human development with an emphasis in sports management from the University of Minnesota in 2003.

A native of Hopkins, Minn., Ware and his wife Tamika have two sons, Jimmy (4) and J.J. (2).