Minnesota head men’s basketball coach Richard Pitino has announced the hiring of Steve Felde as the team’s strength and conditioining coach. Felde, who has spent the last five years at the University of Miami, is returning to Dinkytown for his third stint with the Gophers.

“Steve has a tremendous wealth of experience in helping teams succeed,” said Pitino. “He has a track record of developing student-athletes to compete at the highest level, and I’m excited for him to help our program and our guys continue to develop.”

Felde joined the Hurricanes staff in May 2013 as assistant strength and conditioning coach, and two years ago was promoted to director of Olympic sports performance. He worked with the Miami men’s basketball and women’s soccer as part of his role in Coral Gables.

Before Miami, Felde spent the 2012-13 season at Minnesota, where he oversaw all aspects of men’s basketball weight lifting, plyometric and conditioning programs. He also monitored nutritional needs for basketball student-athletes and implemented strength programs for men’s and women’s hockey, men’s swimming and men’s golf.

Prior to his time in Minneapolis, Felde was the director of strength and conditioning at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee from 2007-12. While there, he oversaw strength and conditioning programs for 13 NCAA Division I sports including baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, men’s and women’s soccer, track and field, men’s and women’s swim/dive, tennis, cross country and volleyball. He contributed to 34 Horizon League championships in a variety of sports and helped the women’s soccer team to two consecutive years in the national rankings. The men’s basketball team saw marked progress in their overall record under Felde’s programs, as did the volleyball and baseball teams.