https://georgiadogs.com/news/2018/6/4/mens-basketball-jake-thelen-named-dogs-dobo.aspxJake Thelen Named UGA Director of Basketball Operations
June 4, 2018
ATHENS, Ga. Jake Thelen, a former All-American forward at Bellarmine University, has joined the Georgia Basketball staff as director of basketball operations, head coach Tom Crean announced on Monday.
"Jake Thelen came highly recommended to us at Indiana, and I realized quickly that we had a star in the making," Crean said. "He's extremely diligent, organized, focused and competitive. People enjoy being around him, and I'm excited that he'll be touching so many areas of our Georgia Basketball program. He, working alongside Matt Bucklin, who has been nothing short of outstanding during our time at Georgia, give us two people that will cover a lot of ground inside this program.
Thelen (pronounced Thee-lin) enjoyed a standout career at Bellarmine, graduating in 2015, and spent last season as an assistant coach on the staff at his alma mater. In addition, he coached at St. Xavier (Ky.) High School in 2015-16 and was a graduate assistant under Crean at Indiana in 2016-17.
"I am extremely excited to join Coach Crean at the University of Georgia and be a part of the Bulldog family," Thelen said. "Coach Crean is one if the best coaches in the country and will develop our student-athletes not only on the court but off the court as well. I look forward to working with all of the coaches to help our players develop every day and build Georgia Basketball into something special."
Thelen helped guide Bellarmine to a 29-3 finish last season. The Knights captured the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC) regular-season and tournament titles and reached the NCAA Tournament for the 10th consecutive campaign.
Thelen was one of the most celebrated players in Bellarmine's history. He was a consensus All-American and was named the GLVC Player of the Year in 2015. Thelen was tabbed first-team All-America by Basketball Times, DII Bulletin, the National Association of Basketball Coaches and BennettRank.com.
The Knights compiled a 31-4 mark during Thelen's senior season and advanced to the Division II Final Four. He was named the Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Midwest Regional after racking up 24 points and 15 rebounds against Indianapolis in the Regional final.
Thelen finished his career ranked No. 16 among Bellarmine's career scoring leaders with 1,412 points in three seasons. As a senior, he posted the second-highest point and rebound tallies in school history, pouring in 651 points and grabbing 375 rebounds to average a double-double of 18.6 ppg and 10.7 rpg. In 2013-14, Thelen connected on a school-record 74.0 percent of his shots from the field.
Thelen started every game of his three seasons at Bellarmine as the Knights compiled a 78-20 record, reached the "Sweet 16" round of the NCAA Tournament in 2013 and advanced to the Final Four in 2015.
Thelen played one season at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Ala., in 2012-13 before transferring to Bellarmine. At Spring Hill, he averaged 18.5 points and 7.5 rebounds en route to securing Southern States Conference Freshman of the Year honors.
A native of Edgewood, Ky., Thelen starred at Covington Catholic High School, where he finished as the school's fourth-leading career scorer and was selected to play in both the Kentucky/Indiana and the Kentucky/Ohio All-Star games.
Thelen received his bachelor's degree in business administration from Bellarmine in 2015.
