The Chicago Bulls announced today the appointment of four individuals to its Basketball Operations staff, including Dave Severns as Assistant Coach for Player Development, Jeff Tanaka as Assistant Athletic Trainer, Justin Zormelo as Assistant Video Coordinator and Joshua Bonhotal as Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach.
Severns, 51, comes to the Windy City after spending the last 12 years at Nike as a player development coach. While at Nike he worked with college players at its All-American Camp, Skills Academies and the Jordan Flight School. Prior to Nike, he spent three years as the Video Coordinator at Fresno State University, two years as an Assistant Coach at Fresno City College and one year as an Assistant Coach at Chico State University. Severns earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree from California State University-Chico.
Tanaka, 37, brings more than 15 years of experience on the professional and collegiate levels to the Bulls. He spent the last 10 seasons as an Assistant Athletic Trainer with the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League and spent the previous two seasons at the University of California-Berkeley in the same capacity. Prior to his tenure at Cal Berkeley, Tanaka had four stints in the professional ranks, beginning with a training camp internship with the Los Angeles Raiders in 1994. He then spent two seasons as a graduate assistant with the 49ers (1995-96) before accepting a position as an Assistant Athletic Trainer for the NFL Europe Amsterdam Admirals in 1997. After his time in Amsterdam, Tanaka spent the next two seasons at the University of California where he was Head Athletic Trainer for men’s basketball and the men’s and women’s swim teams. Tanaka received a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1994 and in 2001 earned a master’s degree in kinesiology from San Jose State.
Zormelo, 24, will begin his first season with the Bulls after spending last season as a video room intern with the Miami Heat. Prior to his internship with the Heat, Zormelo spent four years as the team manager (three years as head manager) for the Georgetown University Men’s Basketball team. He graduated from Georgetown University in 2006 with a B.S. in finance.
Bonhotal, 25, will begin his second stint with the Bulls, this time in a full-time role. He served as the Strength and Conditioning Intern during the first half of the 2006-2007 season. Most recently, he worked as a Strength and Conditioning Coach at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning in Winchester, Massachusetts. Bonhotal graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 2006 with a degree in kinesiology.
