Sept. 27, 2013
SAN DIEGO - San Diego State men's basketball head coach Steve Fisher has made three changes to his staff ahead of the upcoming 2013-14 campaign. David Velasquez has been named an assistant coach, Tim Shelton has been hired as the team's director of player of development and Mark Fisher steps into the role of assistant to the head coach.
Mark Fisher will assume new responsibilities with the program due to being diagnosed with ALS. As the assistant to the head coach, Fisher will continue his active role with the team.
Velasquez becomes an assistant coach in what will be his 12th season with the program. For the last six years, the 2007 SDSU graduate has been the team's director of player development. In that position, Velasquez was the point man in video breakdown and film exchange, while also assisting in the areas of travel, community service and day-to-day operations.
Prior to being an official member of the men's basketball staff, Velasquez was an Aztec student manager in 2002-03 and head manager from 2003-07. In January 2007, he was added to the active SDSU roster and played in four games for a team that advanced to the NIT. Following his graduation in May 2007, Velasquez became a graduate manager at Pacific before returning to San Diego State to become the director of player development in December 2007.
Shelton replaces Velasquez after finishing the 2012-13 campaign as an SDSU graduate manager. The Fresno native remains at San Diego State following a successful stint as a player and student. Shelton, who is set to begin his seventh season on Montezuma Mesa, played five seasons and saw action in 109 games while helping the Aztecs reach the postseason in all five campaigns, including three consecutive NCAA tournament berths.
The forward averaged 5.0 points and 3.6 rebounds in his career and was a member of the record-setting 2010-11 squad that captured the Mountain West regular-season and tournament championships, won the school's first Division I NCAA tournament game, advanced to the Sweet 16 and finished with a record of 34-3. Shelton earned his bachelor's degree in history from San Diego State in May 2011 and finished his master's degree coursework in educational leadership in the spring of 2013.
Fisher is entering his 12th season with the program after graduating from Michigan in 2001. Following his time in Ann Arbor, Fisher moved west to become SDSU's director of basketball operations, a title he held for five years before being named an assistant coach. As an assistant, a role he fulfilled for six seasons, he helped the Aztecs to the postseason every year and helped secure nationally recognized recruiting classes, which produced a pair of NBA draft picks.
San Diego State is coming off a school-record fourth straight appearance in the NCAA tournament where it advanced past the second round for the second time in three seasons. Last year, the Aztecs finished with a 23-11 record, which represented their eighth-consecutive campaign of 20 or more wins, and their postseason berth was their eighth in a row as well.