Delaware Blue Coats General Manager Matt Lilly announced Monday that Isaiah Fox, Xavier Silas and Àlex Terés have joined Head Coach Connor Johnson’s staff as Assistant Coaches.
“I am excited to welcome Isaiah, Xavier and Àlex to Delaware,” said Johnson. “They come to us with a wide range of rich basketball experiences that will help our players reach their goals. We take a lot of pride in developing and providing an opportunity for our coaches within our program, and I look forward to watching these guys grow.”
On Sept. 25, the 76ers announced that Ruben Boumtje Boumtje was named Assistant General Manager of the Blue Coats and that Craig Whitworth-Turner would serve as the team’s Sports Scientist and Strength and Conditioning Associate. Shanon Fronek joins the team as Associate Physical Therapist, while Head Athletic Trainer Dan Erickson returns to Delaware for his second season.
Assistant Coach Isaiah Fox joins the Blue Coats after spending the last year with the Los Angeles Lakers as a Player Development Coach. He previously served as an Assistant Coach with the South Bay Lakers, Los Angeles’ G League affiliate, from 2016-18. The 6-foot-9 Fox was a four-year letter winner for the University of Arizona basketball team from 2002-06 under Naismith Hall of Fame Head Coach Lute Olson. Fox was selected in the 2008 NBA G League Draft and his professional playing experience included stints in Australia, Mexico and Japan.
Assistant Coach Xavier Silas spent the last eight seasons playing in the NBA, the G League and internationally. His NBA experience includes stints with Philadelphia, Washington, Boston and Denver, appearing in two playoff games with Philadelphia in 2012. In 201 career G League contests (Maine, Bakersfield, Northern Arizona, Iowa), Silas averaged 14.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.7 assists in 29.6 minutes per contest and was named a 2018 G League All-Star. Internationally, he played in France (BCM Gravelines), Israel (Maccabi Ashdod), Argentina (Quimsa, San Lorenzo de Almagro), Greece (Nea Kifissia) and Germany (Telekom Baskets Bonn). Silas played collegiately at the University of Colorado Boulder (2006-08) and Northern Illinois University (2009-11). As a senior for Northern Illinois in 2011, he was named First Team All-Mid-American Conference after averaging a league-best 22.3 points per game.
Assistant Coach Àlex Terés arrives in Delaware from Spain, where his coaching career spans nearly three decades. A native of Barcelona, he served as Head Coach of three different clubs (CB Santfeliuenc, CE Sant Nicolau, CB Mollet) in Liga Española de Baloncesto Aficionado (EBA), reaching the finals six times in seven years. Terés also spent time with the EuroLeague FC Barcelona youth teams, where he was an Assistant Coach with the development team and Head Coach of the club’s U15 and U16 teams. A fixture in the Catalan and Spanish Basketball Federations since 1999, he has trained coaches of all levels in methodology and psychology for the last 20 years and also served as Head Coach of the U12 and U14 Catalan national teams. A graduate of the University of Barcelona, Terés holds degrees in psychology and education.
Boumtje Boumtje originally joined the 76ers in 2018 as a Technical Scout. A native of Cameroon, he played 10 years of professional basketball, including three in the NBA. Originally selected with the No. 50 overall pick in the 2001 NBA Draft, Boumtje Boumtje spent three seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers (2001-04), before continuing his career in Greece and Germany. Prior to joining the 76ers, he worked as a Data Scientist and Strategy Consultant for Siemens from 2015-18. A graduate of Georgetown University, Boumtje Boumtje holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and a master’s in applied mathematics and statistics from the school.
Whitworth-Turner spent the last year with U.S. Soccer, serving as a Sport Scientist. Prior to U.S. Soccer, he held sports science roles at North Carolina State University, Nike and NK Istra 1961 F.C. (Croatia). Originally from Oldham, England, Whitworth-Turner holds both his bachelor’s degree in science and football, as well as a PhD from Liverpool John Moores University.
Fronek comes to Delaware as a board certified Clinical Specialist in Sports Physical Therapy. She recently completed a prestigious Sports Physical Therapy fellowship program, prior to which she worked at Saint Francis University as a Sports Physical Therapy resident. Fronek, who is currently completing a fellowship in Orthopaedic Manual Physical Therapy, earned her doctorate degree in physical therapy from the University of Dayton and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Wilmington College in Ohio.
Additionally, the team welcomes Danielle Lyons (Manager, Basketball Operations), Quan Ngo (Video Coordinator), Justin Rey (Strength & Conditioning Assistant) and Mario Hicks (Basketball Operations Associate).
Lyons most recently served as Associate Director of Football Operations with the Florida Atlantic University football program. Ngo joins the team after spending the last year as a Special Assistant with the Southern Utah University men’s basketball program. Rey most recently served as Head of Strength & Conditioning Coach of Saint Joseph’s University Men’s Rugby along with the Philadelphia Little Flyers hockey club, following Strength & Conditioning Internships with Saint Joseph’s University Olympic Sports and the University of Miami football program. Hicks previously served as a Basketball Operations Assistant with the Orlando Magic and was a member of the Bishop Moore Catholic High School boys basketball coaching staff for the last three years.