MARSHALL, Minn. - Recently appointed Southwest Minnesota State University men's basketball head coach Brad Bigler today announced that Nate Kaeding has been named assistant coach for the Mustang men's basketball program.

Kaeding served the past two seasons as a graduate assistant coach at SMSU under former head coach Greg Stemen and helped SMSU to the 2009 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship and NCAA Central Region championship.  This past summer, Kaeding accepted an assistant coaching position at Montana State-Billings before returning to SMSU.

“I'm very excited to have Nate back on our coaching staff,” Bigler said.  “Nate was a big part of our success the past two seasons.  He brings great energy, knowledge and has a passion for the game that will help keep our program at a high level.”

A native of Fargo, N.D., Kaeding was a three-year letterwinner for the University of Mary where he graduated in the spring of 2007 with degrees in accounting and business administration.  As a senior he was team captain and was named academic All-NSIC.  Prior to joining the SMSU staff in 2007, he coached the 16 and 17-year old ECI Select West AAU team based out of North Dakota.  Kaeding recently completed his master's degree from SMSU.

“First off, I want to say thank you to director of athletics Chris Hmielewski and coach Bigler for the opportunity to return to Southwest Minnesota State University,” Kaeding said.  “It was a very tough decision to leave Montana State University Billings, but I could not pass up the chance to return to Marshall and help coach Bigler continue the tradition of the Mustang men's basketball program.  Coach Stemen has his footprints all over this program and has left it in a position to achieve continued success.  We are going to work everyday to live up to those expectations, as well as striving to reach new heights within our athletic, academic and community endeavors.”

Southwest Minnesota State University begins practice on Oct. 15 and will play its first exhibition game on Nov. 3 versus St. Olaf.  The Mustangs finished 28-7 last season and won the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference regular season championship and NCAA Central Region championship.  Former SMSU head coach Greg Stemen resigned from his position on Sept. 30.