UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State women's basketball assistant coach Aaron Kallhoff has been selected to participate in the 2021 TopConnect Basketball Virtual Symposium, a prestigious program that provides the nation's top assistant coaches with leadership development and networking opportunities.
Kallhoff begins his first season in Happy Valley in 2021-22. Kallhoff was named to the women's basketball staff in April after spending the past three years as an assistant at LSU. Kallhoff spent the last six seasons with Power Five programs and the last eight seasons coaching in Division I. In total, Kallhoff has over 18 years of college coaching experience. In his three seasons at LSU, Kallhoff played an instrumental role in bringing highly-ranked national and international players to Baton Rouge, including a Top 20 recruiting class in 2019. He helped guide the Tigers to a 20-win season in 2019-20 as LSU was primed for an NCAA Tournament berth before the cancellation of the postseason tournament due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Kallhoff primarily worked with the LSU post players, developing Faustine Aifuwa and Ayana Mitchell into two of the top all-around players in the SEC. Mitchell was a two-time All-SEC performer, while Aifuwa was named to the 2020 SEC All-Defensive Team.
The TopConnect symposium will take place Aug. 17-18. TopConnect (formerly Villa 7), which began in 2003, identifies the top assistant basketball coaches in the country and connects them with mid-major athletic directors, providing tremendous networking and leadership development opportunities for both parties.
TopConnect develops educational programming that allows these top assistant coaches to hear from a wide variety of successful leaders and speakers. The 2021 virtual symposium is headlined by a panel of prominent and successful head coaches in Tina Langley, head women's basketball coach at Washington, and Mike Rhoades, head men's basketball coach at VCU. Sessions include a panel of mid-major athletic directors who recently completed a basketball coaching search, a breakout session on the first 100 days on the job from recent head coaching hires during the past year, navigating the media, a small group setting with search firm representatives from across the country and a panel on coaches who are entering their second year and the lessons they've learned. The three-word mantra of "Connect. Prepare. Lead." identifies the purpose of TopConnect.
TopConnect continues to pave the way in development of the next generation of leaders in college athletics. Since its inception in 2018, seventeen attendees have been hired as Athletic Director, Head Men's Basketball Coach or Head Women's Basketball Coach.
Men's Basketball:
Dwayne Killings, University at Albany; Kyle Neptune, Fordham University; Tony Stubblefield, DePaul University; Greg Gary, Mercer University; Kim English, George Mason University; Brett Nelson, College of the Holy Cross; Rashon Burno, Northern Illinois University; Bryan Mullins, Southern Illinois University; Steve Lutz, Texas A&M, Corpus Christi; Isaac Brown, Wichita State University; Drew Valentine, Loyola University, Chicago; and Jay Young, Fairfield University.
Women's Basketball:
Ganiyat Adeduntan, Colgate University; Mark Campbell, California State University – Sacramento and Cayla Petree, Morehead State University
Director of Athletics:
Randale Richmond, Kent State University and Dr. Trayvean Scott, Grambling State University
