Early last week, Men’s Basketball head coach Steve Masiello announced that Michael Alvarado had received a promotion within the coaching staff.

After serving as special assistant to Masiello for the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Alvarado will hold the position of assistant coach for the 2017 campaign.

Alvarado, native of the Bronx, enjoyed a four-year career playing point guard for the Jaspers; three of which were spent under Steve Masiello. During his time in Riverdale, Alvarado was able to earn third team All-MAAC honors, All-MAAC Rookie Honors, be named Co-Captain his junior and senior year, and win a MAAC Championship as a senior.

“We look forward to Mike’s leadership in recruiting, game preparation, player development and helping our student-athletes mature into successful young men.” Masiello said, per GoJaspers.com.

Building a coaching staff internally is an endeavor that Masiello is very mindful in doing. He himself was an assistant to Rick Pitino, his former college coach at the University of Kentucky, from 2005 to 2011 at Louisville University before joining the Jaspers.

Masiello has shown a willingness to bring back his former players while being the lead man at Manhattan as well. Roberto Collonette, Michael Alvarado, and RaShawn Stores are a few Masiello’s former players that have returned to Manhattan to start their coaching careers.

Just last spring Masiello announced that he had also offered graduating point guard Tyler Wilson a job on his staff for the 2017 season.

Wilson would be following a path that multiple of Masiello’s point guards have followed. Most recently was RaShawn Stores, who joined the staff ahead of the 2016 season.

With Alvarado advancing to his new position as assistant coach, Stores will now serve as a special assistant to the head coach.

After playing all four seasons under Steve Masiello from 2012 to 2016, Stores was able to call himself a two-time MAAC Champion, a MAAC All-Rookie, and a Lefty Driesell Defensive All-American.

“RaShawn is someone who guys can identify with. He has walked in their shoes, been through the ups and downs of a student-athlete and understands what it takes to be successful,” Masiello said to GoJaspers.com, “We are very excited about having him around our guys as a role model and someone as a mentor to look up to.”

Leadership and brotherhood are two aspects of Masiello’s team that he is proud to display, and keeping alumni of the team around is just one way the Jaspers try to continue to build this community of Manhattan basketball.