After losing assistant coach Talor Battle to Ohio State, Northwestern's basketball coaching staff is back to its full complement with the hiring of Northern Illinois associate head coach Shane Southwell.

Southwell coached at NIU the past two seasons, and will be joining the Wildcats as an assistant coach.

"We are excited to welcome Shane Southwell to our Wildcat coaching staff," head coach Chris Collins said in a university release. "Shane brings great experience as a former player at Kansas State, under both Frank Martin and Bruce Weber, where he played a key role in a Big 12 Championship.

"Now he has transitioned into the coaching ranks, where he has worked with and learned under some outstanding coaches, both at the college and USA basketball levels. Shane's strong ability to assist in palyer development and game planning, as well as his energy on the recruiting trail, will make a huge impact in our program."

The addition of Southwell furthers a few different connections on the Northwestern coaching staff.

The first is the connection to the state of Illinois. All five members of Northwestern's staff: Collins, Southwell, special assistant to the head coach Brian James, and assistants Bryant McIntosh and Chris Lowery have unique connections to the state.

Collins and James were born here, Southwell and Lowery coached here previously, at NIU and SIU, respectively, and McIntosh, of course, starred at Northwestern as a player.

The second tie-in is with Lowery. Before he was the Wildcats' defensive guru, Lowery was an assistant for a decade at Kansas State, starting the year those other purple Wildcats won the Big XII with Southwell as a starter.

After Southwell starred as a player in Manhattan, he came back to the program and worked alongside Lowery on Bruce Weber's staff as a grad assistant in 2017-19, and then as a full-fledged assistant from 2020-22, after a year at Robert Morris.

After Weber resigned in 2022, Lowery joined Northwestern's staff and Southwell headed a couple counties over to DeKalb and NIU.

The Huskies have struggled the past few years under Rashon Burno, going 11-20 in 2024 and 13-19 in 2023, but they made huge strides from their 3-16 mark in 2021.

Southwell is familiar with the state's recruiting landscape and has proven a good eye for talent and acquisiton in the past: Northwestern's release credits him for a key role in recruiting Markquis Nowell, an All-American and Cousy Award winner for KSU in 2023.