Jaden Uken, former recruiting coordinator at Bradley University, was named Assistant Men’s Basketball coach at Fordham University it was announced today by Head Coach Jeff Neubauer.
“Jaden brings a wealth of talent and experience to the staff at Fordham,” said Neubauer. “He is very personable and a complete coach, who is an outstanding recruiter and very detail oriented. We look forward to him bringing those attributes to Fordham.”
Uken served as the recruiting coordinator for head coach Gino Ford at Bradley University the past four years, helping Bradley to one of the nation’s best turnarounds from 2011-2012 to 2012-2013 as the Braves went from 7-25 in 2011-2012 to 18-17 in 2012-2013.
In 2013-2014, Uken helped the Bradley staff land a star-studded recruiting class in 2013-14 that included a consensus Top 100 high school recruit (Josh Cunningham), a junior college All-American (Tramique Sutherland) and a pair of NJCAA All-Region first-team selections (Kendahl Amerson and Jermaine Morgan).
Prior to Bradley, Uken first joined Ford’s staff as the director of operations at Kent State from 2008-2011, helping the Golden Flashes to a 68-37, three-year record, highlighted by back-to-back Mid-American Conference regular-season titles and NIT appearances in 2010 and 2011. In his role at Kent State, Uken was responsible for film breakdown, team travel, academic monitoring and camp administration.
Uken also has on-the-court coaching experience, serving as an assistant coach at Chipola (Fla.) College from 2006-2008 and Barton (Kan.) County Community College in 2003-2004. In between his junior college coaching assignments, Uken was a graduate assistant from 2004-06 at the University of Nebraska, where he also served as a student manager from 1998-2003.
In his two seasons at Chipola College, Uken helped the Indians to a 68-5 combined record, back-to-back Panhandle Conference and NJCAA Region VIII championships and a runner-up finish in the 2007 NJCAA national tournament. The 2006-07 Chipola squad held the No. 1 national ranking for 10 consecutive weeks during a 33-3 campaign, while the 2007-08 Indians held the top spot for 11 consecutive weeks en route to a 35-2 final record.
Uken also helped produce 12 NCAA Division I signees during his two seasons at Chipola, including JaMarcus Ellis (Indiana), the 2007 NJCAA National Player of the Year, and Mario Little (Kansas), the 2008 Florida Junior College Player of the Year. In addition, Uken was instrumental in the recruitment of 2009 NJCAA National Player of the Year Casey Mitchell (West Virginia).
In a similar role at Barton County Community College for the 2003-04 season, Uken helped a Cougars squad that featured second-team NJCAA All-American JP Batista (Gonzaga) to a 25-9 record.
Following his one year at Barton County, Uken returned to his alma mater as a graduate assistant on Barry Collier’s Nebraska staff. In Uken’s second year with the Huskers, Nebraska completed the 2005-06 season with a 19-14 record, which concluded with a semifinal run to the Big 12 Conference Tournament and a NIT appearance. While assisting the basketball program, Uken earned his master’s degree in instructional technology from Nebraska in 2006.
While serving as a student manager for the Huskers basketball team, Uken earned his bachelor’s degree in education from Nebraska in 2003. A graduate of Harvard Public Schools in Nebraska, Uken was a four-year basketball letter winner for the Cardinals.
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