Mark Pope has added another familiar face to his first Kentucky basketball coaching staff.

Kentucky head coach Mark Pope has officially hired Randy Towner as his head strength coach on his debut Kentucky coaching staff.

“Randy Towner is one of the elite strength and conditioning coaches in all of basketball,” Pope said via press release. “He spent time in the college ranks before moving on to one of the best staffs in the NBA with the Milwaukee Bucks. Our guys are blessed to have him here. He has a ton of juice, a wealth of expertise and will embrace what Kentucky basketball is all about.”

“I could not be more excited to join Coach Pope’s staff again,” Towner added. “We had a great experience working together at Utah Valley and I’m excited for the chance to work with him again here at Kentucky. We want to step in and be the best performance staff in the country and help this program win a national championship. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, but we are up for the challenge.”

Towner, a National Strength and Conditioning Association (NCSA)-certified strength and conditioning specialist, graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in exercise and sports science in 2016 and will pursue a master’s degree in sport conditioning and performance at Southern Utah in 2021. He has worked in strength and conditioning at UTSA, Utah, UAB, and Utah Valley, all under Pope.

Towner has spent the last two seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, working alongside players such as two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and eight-time All-Star Damian Lillard. Towner succeeds Brady Welsh, who was Kentucky’s head strength coach for the last two seasons of the John Calipari era.