Jacksonville University

Kurt Kanaskie joins Tony Jasick and Jacksonville University asan assistant coach for the 2014-15 season. A coaching veteran,Kanaskie has been at the helm of three programs and worked in powerconferences for much of the past decade.

Following a stellar playing career at La Salle, Kanaskie began hiscareer as an assistant coach at South Carolina for five seasons.His first head coaching job came at Division II Lock Haven, wherehe was in charge of the Bald Eagles for three seasons and was twicenamed the Pennsylvania State Athletics Conference (PSAC) Coach ofthe Year.

Moving within the conference, he then took over at IndianaUniversity of Pennsylvania. In eight seasons, Kanaskie was namedthe PSAC Coach of the Year two more times and twice named TheBasketball Times National Coach of the Year. In the school’sfirst-ever Division II NCAA Tournament, he guided the CrimsonEagles to the Elite Eight and a year later took them to thenational semifinals.

Moving up to Division I, Kanaskie was named the head coach atDrake, where he stayed for seven seasons until 2003. He then movedto Penn State, first as an assistant coach under Ed DeChellis andlater as the associate head coach. In his years in State College,the Nittany Lions claimed three postseason berths and won the 2009NIT Championship. Departing Penn State after the 2010-11 season, hespent one season as the associate head coach at Navy, and thenmoved on to become an assistant coach at Virginia Tech for the pasttwo seasons.

Kanaskie graduated from La Salle in 1980, after a college careerin which he earned All-Big 5 and All-East Coast Conference honors.He picked up a Master’s of Business Administration from SouthCarolina in 1985.