Yanni Hufnagel Joins Cal Men’s Basketball Coaching Staff

BERKELEY, Calif. – California head men’s basketball coach Cuonzo Martin has announced the appointment of Yanni Hufnagel as an assistant coach for the Golden Bears.

The addition of Hufnagel completes Martin’s coaching staff at Cal. He joins associate head coach Tracy Webster and assistant coach Jon Harris on Martin’s bench for the 2014-15 season.   

"Yanni's strong passion for the game has correlated to success wherever he has been," Martin said. "We share the same goal in developing champions on the basketball court, in the class room and in the community. I am thrilled for the opportunity to have Yanni join the staff here at Cal."   

Hufnagel comes to Cal following a season at Vanderbilt where he served as an assistant coach under Kevin Stallings, landing a nationally-ranked freshman class as the Commodores’ recruiting coordinator.

Prior to his time in Nashville, Hufnagel served four seasons as an assistant coach at Harvard where he helped lead the Crimson to the postseason each year. During his four seasons in Boston, Harvard posted at least 20 wins each season, recorded a 90-30 four-year mark, and captured three-consecutive Ivy League titles. He helped lead Harvard to its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1946 in 2012. The 2013 Harvard squad advanced to the third round of the NCAA Tournament when the 14th-seeded Crimson upended third-seeded New Mexico for the program’s first-ever postseason victory.

In Hufnagel’s third season at Harvard, the Crimson posted a school-record 26 victories in 2012, earning the program’s first-ever national ranking. The Crimson ascended as high as No. 21 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll and No. 22 in the Associated Press poll.

Hufnagel served as Harvard’s recruiting coordinator where he was lauded for bringing in several highly-rated recruiting classes. CBS Sports recognized Hufnagel as "one of the most relentless and energetic recruiters in the game," in their 2012-13 College Basketball Preview, while naming him one of their nine "Dream Team" assistant coaches in college basketball.

He was also noted for the development of the Crimson’s guards into All-Ivy League selections. Jeremy Lin, now a member of the Houston Rockets, was a 2010 first-team all-conference pick. Wesley Saunders was an All-Ivy League selection in 2013, later developing into the conference player of the year. Siyani Chambers was named the Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2013.      

Hufnagel was a graduate assistant at Oklahoma for two seasons from 2008-2009, where he helped conduct individual workouts, and assisted the coaching staff during practice. In his two years at Oklahoma, the Sooners won 53 games, and advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament in 2009.

With the Sooners, Hufnagel assisted in the development of Blake Griffin, the first overall selection in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers. Blake was named the 2010-11 NBA Rookie of the Year and appeared in his fourth consecutive All-Star game in 2013-14.

Hufnagel has experience at the NBA level, serving an internship in basketball operations with the New Jersey Nets (now Brooklyn Nets) where he assisted in the front office in preparation for the draft.

Hufnagel earned his Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University in 2006 and a Masters of Education with an emphasis in Intercollegiate Athletic Administration at Oklahoma in 2010.