San Diego State announced the hiring of long time UC Irvine assistant Ryan Badrtalei as the Aztecs’ newest addition to the men’s basketball staff Wednesday afternoon.
Badrtalei has spent almost two decades in the UC Irvine basketball program, with the last 10 seasons as an assistant under head coach Russell Turner. Badrtalei who began his time at UCI as Video Coordinator and Director of Basketball Operations, most recently ascended to an associate head coach designation in 2020.
During his time on the UCI staff, the Anteaters had won 265 games over the last 13 seasons, averaging over 20 wins a year. These wins would result in seven Big West regular season Championships, one Conference tournament championship, and one NCAA Tournament victory.
Notably, Badrtalei had the opportunity to develop professional basketball players in both the NBA and international ranks. Namely, from 2007 until the end of his career in 2016, Ryan spent time working with Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers both on the court and in the area of strength and conditioning. During this time, Kobe went on to win 2 NBA championships, 2 Gold Medals with Team U.S.A. and the NBA MVP award.
Badrtalei graduated from UCLA in 2003 with a degree in psychobiology and a minor in education. While at UCLA, he was very involved with both the men’s and women’s basketball programs.
Head coach Brian Dutcher’s coaching staff is now complete with Badrtalei’s hiring, after former assistant Chris Acker departed for the head coach opportunity at Long Beach State.
The success of the Aztecs has been in large part the continuity within the coaching staff. Brian Dutcher, coming into his eighth year as head coach, has notched the highest winning percentage in school history at an impressive .766 record.
The stability of Dave Velasquez, Mark Fisher, and Matt Soria supporting the program, has been key components over the course of transitioning from the Steve Fisher to Brian Dutcher era. JayDee Luster is now the most tenured newcomer of Brian Dutcher’s direct hires since taking over the head coach duties.
Some previous assistants to make their way through the program during Dutcher’s tenure so far are: Sam Scholl, JD Pollock, Jay Morris, Rod Palmer, Justin Hutson, and Tim Shelton.
With Chris Acker’s departure being the most recent in coach Dutcher’s staff, the assistant hire was heavily sought after and was undoubtedly an important one moving forward in this new landscape of college basketball.
After a National Championship appearance and continued conference championship successes, SDSU took it’s time in securing Acker’s replacement—opting to make it’s hire well after the transfer portal deadline completed.
Stay tuned to Sons of Montezuma as we dive deeper into what exactly new assistant Ryan Badrtalei will bring to this years Aztecs basketball staff.
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