AMES, Iowa – Iowa State men’s basketball head coach T.J. Otzelberger has named former Cyclone Diante Garrett as a new assistant coach. Garrett will begin his duties with the Cyclones immediately.
“Diante will be a great addition to our program,” Otzelberger said. “His experience playing for Iowa State, and his time in the NBA, will greatly impact the development of our student-athletes. This will be a great start to Diante’s coaching career. We’re excited to have the caliber of person Diante is around our players, both on and off the court.”
Garrett played for the Cyclones from 2007-11, starting 99 of the 128 games he appeared in. He averaged 10.7 points, 4.8 assists and 2.8 rebounds per game over the course of his career. He earned All-Big 12 Second Team honors as a senior in 2011, while also being named to the USBWA All-District VI Team. In his final campaign in Ames, he went for 17.3 points, 6.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He was one of two players in the country to average over 17 points and six assists per game. He led the Big 12 in assists, becoming the first Cyclone since Jacy Holloway in 1996-97 to lead the league in assists.
Following his time in Ames, he spent 12 years playing professionally before recently announcing his retirement. He played in Croatia and France from 2011-12 before joining the Phoenix Suns for the 2012-13 season. He appeared in 19 games for the Suns, while also sharing time in the NBA G League with the Bakersfield Jam. He spent the 2013-14 season with the Utah Jazz, appearing in 71 games for the Jazz. The Milwaukee native averaged 3.5 points, 1.7 assists and 1.4 rebounds for the Jazz, while shooting 37.5 percent from downtown. He played the 2014-15 season with the Iowa Energy and parts of 2015 with Grand Rapids Drive in the NBA G League before spending the final nine years of his career overseas. Garrett was named a G League All-Star in 2014-15.
Garrett won multiple league championships during his career, including Croatian League Champion (2011), Italian Cup Champion (2018) and Greek Super Cup Champion (2020). He also was named All-Japanese League Second Team in 2017, while also being a Japanese League All-Star.
No. 3 Iowa State opens Big 12 play Monday at Colorado. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. (CT) on CBS Sports Network.