Georgia announces addition of Akeem Miskdeen to basketball staff

Georgia Basketball has officially announced its first addition of an assistant coach in the Mike White era as of Friday morning. Akeem Miskdeen is set to join the staff in Athens after spending last season with White at Florida, helping the Gators to a 20-14 record and an NIT appearance.

“Akeem demonstrates all of the values that you look for in someone you want to work with,” White wrote in a statement. “He’s a great human being, relentless worker, good coach and recruiter but most of all a tremendous mentor to young men.”

“My family and I are extremely grateful and excited to join Coach White at the University of Georgia,” Miskdeen added. “I’m looking forward to helping build something special that our student-athletes, student body, alums, fans and the Athens community will be proud of. Go Dawgs!”

Miskdeen has a combined 13 years of coaching experience to his name, getting his start at Hampton in 2008-08 as director of basketball operations before stints at Mount Olive College and Wingate University, a pair of Division II schools in North Carolina. Mount Olive went 25-6 during his one season on staff, reaching the NCAA Tournament.

Miskdeen then made the move back to Hampton from 2011-16, helping guide the Pirates to postseason bids in each of his final three seasons including back-to-back NCAA Tournaments. As recruiting coordinator at Hampton, Miskdeen played a key role in landing first-team All-MEAC guards Quinton Chievous and Reignald Johnson Jr.

Kent State was his next stop, and the winning ways continued there. Miskdeen added the title of associate head coach for the Golden Flashes, helping guide them to the NCAA Tournament in 2017. In his first season, Jaylin Walker doubled his scoring average working with Miskdeen while Jalen Avery led the nation in assist to turnover ratio in year two. Kent State recorded 39 wins during his two seasons there before Miskdeen moved on to Florida Atlantic where he spent the three years prior to Florida. The Owls reached the CIT in 2019, their first postseason appearance in eight years, and finished with a winning record in three consecutive seasons, something only accomplished once before in program history.

Georgia has yet to announce the addition of Erik Pastrana, another Florida assistant of White’s that’s expected to join the staff. Once that’s done, White will have two of his three assistants secured, both of whom he added to his staff in Gainesville last season.

Pastrana was hired at Florida in May of 2021, coming to Gainesville after spending two seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Oklahoma State. During his time in Stillwater, the Cowboys posted a 39-23 record as he helped sign the No. 4 recruiting class in 2020 that included eventual Naismith finalist and No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham. During his time at Florida, Pastrana was the lead recruiter for 2022 prospect Malik Reneau who decommitted from Florida yesterday.

A Miami native, Pastrana has a long history in Florida with experience coaching high school, AAU, junior college and Division I basketball in the state. He joined the Oklahoma State staff after spending a season at Florida Atlanta. Prior to that he was the head coach at Daytona State College in 2017-18 and an assistant at Florida International University in 2016-17. Pastrana began his coaching career as a graduate assistant under Frank Martin at Kansas State from 2007-09, worked as an assistant at Labette Community College and Northwest Florida State College before making the jump to the Division I level as an assistant at Stephen F. Austin for three seasons. The 89 wins that the Lumberjacks accrued are tied for most by any coaching staff in its first three campaigns in NCAA history.

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