Chris Hansen did not succeed in his attempt to lure the Sacramento Kings to Seattle, but Wednesday University of Washington men’s basketball coach Lorenzo Romar announced that he had hired the Kings’ strength and conditioning coach, Seattle native Daniel Shapiro, to the Huskies’ staff. It’s the third staff addition Romar has made in the past three weeks.
First, he induced former assistant coach and premier recruiter Ralph Chillious to return to Washington after Chillious spent eight months at Villanova. Then Romar hired T.J. Otzelberger, Iowa State’s top assistant.
Wednesday, he added Shapiro, 35, who spent the last eight years as the strength and conditioning coach of the Kings. In that capacity, Shapiro worked closely with former Huskies Isaiah Thomas, Spencer Hawes and Jon Brockman.
“I love that guy,” Thomas told gohuskies.com. “He and I have worked together a lot. I’ve put hard work in with that guy. I’m sorry to see him go, but I’m glad he’s a Husky.”
Otzelberger effectively replaces Lamont Smith, an assistant who left UW last month after one season to become associate head coach under a new regime at New Mexico.
Chillious replaced Jim Shaw, a nine-year veteran of Romar’s staff who came to UW from Oklahoma and decided to leave to pursue other opportunities in college coaching.
Paul Fortier, who played under the late Marv Harshman and has been a long-time member of Romar’s staff, is also expected to leave to accept a position with another program.
Shapiro is an O’Dea High graduate who grew up in the suburb of Newcastle. He graduated from Seattle Pacific, worked with the SuperSonics as a strength and conditioning coach, and then spent two years in that capacity at the University of Dayton before moving to Sacramento.
