The San Antonio Spurs today announced additions and promotions within the team’s basketball operations staff.
In the Spurs medical and performance group, Xavi Schelling has been named Director of Player Performance & Wellness, while Marilyn Adams is now Director of Performance Therapy. Logan Sullivan joins the Spurs as Senior Performance Therapist, while Brendan Bowman is now Assistant Athletic Trainer & Recovery Coordinator. Hillary Cauthen comes to San Antonio as Performance Psychologist, while Ryan Curtis has been named Sports Science Coordinator, Jesse Wang becomes Assistant Performance Coach and Chasity Chov is now Medical Assistant II.
In the Spurs front office, Manu Ginobili has been named Special Advisor to Basketball Operations and Josh Ryan is now Senior Front End Developer.
San Antonio’s coaching staff now includes Willis Hall as Player Development Assistant, Sean Sheldon as Head Video Coordinator and Josh Brannon as Assistant Video Coordinator.
In Spurs operations, Cory Johnson has been named Director of Team Operations and Ricki Dean joins San Antonio as Player Engagement & Family Services Manager.
Schelling moves to Director of Player Performance & Wellness after spending the last five seasons as the team’s Director of Sports Science and Athletic Performance. He enters his eighth season with the Spurs overall since starting as Applied Sports Scientist in 2014. Prior to joining San Antonio, he served as the Director of Athletic Performance from 2006-14 for Bàsquet Manresa, a Spanish team in the 1st Division of the ACB Spanish League. He has also worked as the Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Spanish National Basketball Team at the 2014 U20 European Championship.
Adams has been elevated to Director of Performance Therapy after joining the Spurs in 2014 as Director of Rehabilitation. Prior to arriving in San Antonio, she worked independently with various elite athletes and served as the Team Physiotherapist for Triathlon Canada at the 2012 Olympic Summer Games in London. In addition, the University of Alberta graduate spent 2009-14 on the FIS Snowboard World Cup Tour with the Canada Snowboard Team.
Sullivan comes to San Antonio after spending the last four seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers as the team’s Physical Therapist. Prior to entering the NBA, he spent three years at EXOS, a human performance company in Phoenix, where he worked individually with professional athletes from the four U.S. major sports leagues, the PGA Tour and Olympians. A former football player at Butler, Sullivan graduated from BU with a bachelor’s degree in biology in 2011 before earning a doctorate in physical therapy from Northern Arizona in 2015.
Bowman moves to Assistant Athletic Trainer & Recovery Coordinator after spending the last four seasons with San Antonio, most recently as Assistant Athletic Trainer last year. Prior to last year, he spent his first three seasons in Silver and Black as a Medical Systems Assistant and Medical Quality Assurance Assistant. Bowman also spent a season as the Athletic Trainer for the Birmingham Squadron, formerly the Erie BayHawks, of the NBA G League in 2016-17. Bowman earned a master’s degree from Minot State in 2016 after graduating from Washington State in 2014.
Cauthen joins the Spurs with 13 years of experience applying mental skills training. She co-founded Blu Chip Analytics in 2017 and Living Mental Wellness in 2018 in Austin. Cauthen has served as Director of Performance Services at Texas Optimal Performance & Psychological Services since 2015 and was elected to the executive board of the Association of Applied Sport Psychology in 2018. A former Division I track and field athlete at the University of New Hampshire and Miami of Ohio, Cauthen earned both a master’s and PsyD in clinical psychology from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology at Los Angeles.
Curtis transitions to Sports Science Coordinator after spending the last two seasons as Athletic Performance Data Manager for the Spurs. He was the Director of Athlete Performance and Safety at the Korey Stringer Institute (University of Connecticut) after working as a strength coach and athletic trainer for the US Marine Corps, US Tennis Association and privately for professional tennis players on the ATP/WTA World Tour. Curtis graduated with a bachelor’s degree in athletic training from Culver-Stockton College in 2006, finished a master’s degree in kinesiology from Kansas State in 2009 and earned a PhD in exercise science from UConn in 2019.
Wang elevates to Assistant Performance Coach after spending the last two seasons as Sports Science Quality Assurance Assistant for San Antonio. He started with the organization in 2018 as Athletic Performance Quality Assurance Assistant for the Austin Spurs. Prior to joining the Silver and Black, Wang spent a season with the Cincinnati Bengals as Strength and Conditioning Fellow after earning a bachelor’s degree in human physiology from Oregon and working as a Sports Science Assistant with the Ducks football team.
Chov becomes San Antonio’s Medical Assistant II after spending last season as the Austin Spurs Assistant Athletic Trainer. Prior to joining the Spurs in 2020, she served as the University of Nevada’s Associate Director of Sports Medicine in 2019-20, working with the men’s basketball team. Chov earned a master’s degree from Michigan State in 2019 while working with the Spartans football and men’s basketball teams and graduated with a bachelor’s degree in athletic training from the University of Texas at Austin in 2017.
Ginobili returns to the Spurs following a 16-year playing career with San Antonio where he helped the Silver and Black capture four NBA championships. The Spurs all-time leader in three-pointers made (1,495) and steals (1,392), his career winning percentage of .721 is the best in NBA history (min. 1,000 games). A native of Argentina and 23-year professional, Ginobili is one of only two players in the history of basketball to win a EuroLeague title, an NBA championship and an Olympic gold medal.
Ryan becomes Senior Front End Developer after spending the last four seasons as Front End Developer. Prior to joining San Antonio, he served as Web Developer for Axis Maps from 2013-17 while earning a master’s degree in geographic information systems from Penn State. After graduating from Wheaton College with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 2007, Ryan worked with the Free Burma Rangers doing humanitarian relief work in Thailand, later providing cartographic and IT support to various relief agencies throughout Southeast Asia.
Hall becomes the Spurs Player Development Assistant after spending the last three seasons as Video Coordinator. He enters his sixth season in San Antonio after starting with the team as a Quality Assurance Assistant in the video department in 2016. Prior to joining San Antonio, Hall played professionally for two seasons in Portugal and Luxembourg. The Charlotte native played four seasons at the College of Charleston, appearing in 137 games in his career from 2009-14.
Brannon becomes the Spurs Assistant Video Coordinator after spending the last two seasons as a Quality Assurance Assistant in the video department. Prior to joining the Spurs in 2019, he coached at Shawnee Mission East High School from 2016-18. The Houston native played at Southwestern Community College and Panola Junior College before spending his final three seasons at Rockhurst University, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in business communication in 2016. Brannon also worked in basketball camps for the Spurs Sports Academy since 2010, serving as a Camp Director from 2016-19.
Sheldon moves into the Head Video Coordinator position after spending last season as Assistant Video Coordinator for the Spurs. He enters his fourth season in San Antonio following his start in 2018 as a Quality Assurance Assistant in the video department. Sheldon joined the Silver and Black after serving as a graduate assistant at Michigan State while earning his master’s degree in 2017-18. Prior to entering coaching, he played professionally in Switzerland in 2016-17 after a four-year career at William and Mary, where he appeared in 111 games for the Tribe from 2012-16.
Johnson is now the Spurs Director of Team Operations after spending the last three seasons as Team Equipment and Travel Manger. Prior to joining San Antonio, he spent six seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves as assistant equipment manager from 2012-18. Prior to entering the NBA, he served as an assistant coach for one season at University of Mary after earning a master’s degree in sports management from Western Illinois University in 2011.
Dean joins San Antonio as the team’s Player Engagement & Family Services Manager after spending the last six years at the National Basketball Players Association as Associate Manager of Strategic Engagement & Development. At the NBPA, she was responsible for player engagement, crisis management and managing the ICONic Program, a transitional support program for players drafted under the age of 21. Dean received a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2011 and a master’s from Georgetown University in 2012.
