Radford head men’s basketball coach Zach Chu has officially announced his inaugural coaching staff for the Highlanders with six new additions, who will join associate head coach Marcus Jenkins.
Overall, Chu’s seven full-time staff members bring over 90 years of coaching experience to the New River City on a combined basis, which includes multiple stops in the NBA and at the highest levels of college basketball.
“Our success is catalyzed by the energy of our people, and it begins with the leadership provided by our coaching staff,” Chu said. “As we navigate through the transformation taking place in intercollegiate athletics, staff composition must evolve naturally as well.
“As we prepare for the changing demands of our modern game, I believe, more than ever, that the composition of our coaching staff will prioritize relationships and will be deeply rooted in the ability to build connections of substance with our student-athletes and engage in the process of supporting their development holistically,” Chu added.
JORDAN SURENKAMP – ASSISTANT COACH Jordan Surenkamp joins the Highlanders with nearly a decade of experience in the NBA.
He most recently served as an assistant coach this past season with the Birmingham Squadron, a G League affiliate of the New Orleans Pelicans organization.
Prior to his time in Birmingham, Surenkamp was the head coach of the Greensboro Swarm, the G League affiliate of the Charlotte Hornets for three years. During his time with the program, over 15 roster players earned and advanced to NBA call ups, two-way contracts and other international opportunities.
Before leading the Swarm for three seasons, Surenkamp served for three years with the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets, which included two years as the team’s head video coordinator. He also was named the head coach for the Hornets summer league squad in 2022.
Before his time in Charlotte, he began his career in professional basketball with the Brooklyn Nets, which included time as the head video coordinator for their G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets.
Surenkamp got his coaching career started as a graduate assistant at South Alabama in 2013. After two years in the role, he was promoted to director of basketball operations in 2015, a position he also held for two seasons before joining the NBA ranks.
A 2013 graduate of Wabash (Indiana) College with a bachelor’s in rhetoric, Surenkamp was a four-year letterwinner on the men’s basketball team and appeared in 74 contests overall. During his time on the squad, the Little Giants went 65-39 (.625), which included a mark of 40-22 (.645) in conference play. The group posted 18 wins or more in a season three out of his four years on the team. He was also a standout in the classroom, as he was named a Wabash College President’s Scholar and was a member of the Dean’s List on three separate occasions.
He earned his master’s degree in communications from South Alabama in 2015.
JOSH ADEL – ASSISTANT COACH Josh Adel makes his way to the New River City by way of the University of Minnesota, where he most recently served as an assistant coach with the program.
Adel spent the past 11 years with the Gophers overall. A true grinder with a passion for the game and his student-athletes, Adel climbed the ranks from operations director (2013-14) to video coordinator (2014-23) to his latest role as an assistant on staff.
During his time in Minnesota, Adel was a part of the program’s two NCAA Tournament appearances in 2017 and 2019. He also served on the staff during the Gophers’ 2013 NIT Championship campaign.
Prior to his time in Minneapolis, Adel spent the 2012-13 season at Florida International where he was the program’s video coordinator under head coach Richard Pitino.
He also spent five years with Florida from 2007-12 and was promoted to the Gators’ head manager position in August 2009. During his stay in Gainesville, Florida made three NCAA Tournament appearances, which included two runs to the Elite Eight in both 2011 and 2012. The Gators also advanced to the NIT Quarterfinals in 2009 and the NIT Semifinals in 2008.
Adel received his bachelor’s degree in biology from Florida in 2012.
CONOR DOW – ASSISTANT COACH AND DIRECTOR OF RECRUITING Conor Dow joins Radford as assistant coach and director of recruiting, bringing with him a global and multi-level coaching background that includes experience with the NBA, G League, FIBA, international academies, and elite collegiate programs.
Most recently, Dow spent two years at the NBA Latin America Academy in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, where he oversaw player development, practice planning, and scouting for elite international prospects from over 30 countries. He served as head coach in elite matchups against Nike EYBL teams, top U.S prep schools, and other NBA Academies from around the world.
Before his time with the NBA Academy, Dow was an assistant coach at Johns Hopkins University. In the 2022-23 season, the Blue Jays went 25-5 overall en route to a NCAA Sweet 16 appearance and Centennial Conference Coaching Staff of the Year honors. Before Hopkins, Dow spent one season on the sidelines at Ithaca College, posting a 17-9 record.
Before returning to the college ranks, Dow served as the lead assistant coach and defensive coordinator for the Saskatchewan Rattlers of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL), beginning in April 2021. That summer, he was elevated to interim head coach, where he led a total team turnaround. Under his leadership, the Rattlers improved their points per game by +11.2, field goal percentage by +9.8 percent, and assists per game by +7.6 all while maintaining a top three PPP defense in the league.
Prior to his time in Canada, Dow spent three seasons (2017–20) with the Dallas Mavericks organization, within both the NBA and G League levels. Dow, started with the player development staff of the Mavericks for the 2017-2018 campaign. He then served as an assistant coach for the Texas Legends, the Mavericks’ G League affiliate, from 2018-20. During his time with the Legends, Dow was instrumental in player skill development, where he helped improve the three-point and free throw shooting of over eight players, and assisted with five NBA call-ups, with the most notably being guard Cameron Payne.
Following his first G League season, Dow also spent time in the Dallas Mavericks’ video room in 2019, where he created pre-draft video breakdowns for hundreds of NBA prospects and assisted with on-court pre-draft workouts. During this time, he overlapped with Radford head coach, Zach Chu, who was the associate head coach of the Texas Legends during the 2018–19 campaign.
Dow began his coaching journey with the Middlesex Magic AAU program before joining the staff at MIT as an assistant coach in 2015. In the Fall of 2015 Dow moved to Lafayette College as the director of basketball operations under legendary head coach Fran O’Hanlon, where he served from 2015-17.
A native of Needham, Massachusetts, Dow was a team captain at Clark University, where he graduated in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in economics.
DAVID WATKINS – ASSISTANT COACH AND SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO THE HEAD COACH David Watkins enters his first season with the Radford men’s basketball program after a historic two-year run as an assistant coach at Daytona State College, where he specialized as the Falcons’ defensive coordinator. Watkins built one of the top defensive units in the country, guiding Daytona State to back-to-back top five national rankings in forced turnovers. The Falcons averaged 17.7 turnovers forced per game during the 2023–24 season and improved to 18.3 per game in 2024–25. Over that two-year span, Daytona State compiled a 56–8 record overall, tying the school record for wins in consecutive seasons with 28 victories each year. The Falcons also captured back-to-back Citrus Conference Championships and for the first time in program history, made consecutive appearances in the NJCAA National Tournament. In Watkins’ final season, the team advanced to the Elite Eight for the first time in school history.
Under his tutelage and player development, the Falcons produced two NJCAA All-Americans, two Conference Players of the Year and eight First Team All-Conference Players, all of whom signed with NCAA Division I programs: Jaylin Payne (Longwood), Dylan Diaz (Louisiana Monroe), Eddie Placer (Wagner), Breylin Garcia (USC Upstate), Victor Panov (Drexel), Kylin Green (Utah Valley), Josue Grullon (UT Martin, Citrus Conference Player of the year, Second Team All-American) and Isaiah Dorecus (Milwaukee, Citrus Conference Player of the Year, First Team All-American).
Prior to his time at Daytona State, Watkins served as a graduate assistant at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) for two seasons under head coach Mike Rhoades. During his time at VCU, Watkins helped the Rams capture the 2023 Atlantic 10 regular season and tournament championship, which led to the VCU’s 2023 NCAA Tournament appearance. The Rams posted a 27-8 mark overall, which was the most wins for the program since the 2012-13 campaign. Previously, in the 2021-22 season, he helped VCU to the second round of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT). Watkins was vital in the development of the Rams’ post players during his time with the program, working closely with forwards Jalen Deloach and Brandon Johns Jr., both of whom earned All-Atlantic 10 Third Team honors, respectively.
Before joining the VCU staff, Watkins had a successful collegiate basketball career at the University of New Hampshire where he was a part of the all-time winningest team in New Hampshire history in 2016-17. He served as the captain in his final season.
A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Watkins earned his master’s degree in sport leadership in 2023 from VCU and a bachelor’s degree in sport studies with a minor in business administration from the University of New Hampshire in 2019.
CHASE RIDENOUR – OPERATIONS SPECIALIST Chase Ridenour comes to the Radford University basketball staff after serving the past year as graduate assistant and video coordinator at Western Carolina University.
Prior to WCU, Ridenour spent one year as a student assistant coach at Maryville University in Maryville, Tennessee, focusing on player development.
Ridenour played one full season at Maryville University before injuries preempted his career, finishing second on the team in three-point field goal percentage. He played his freshman year at Tennessee Tech University in the Ohio Valley Conference.
Ridenour enjoyed a celebrated career at the Webb School in Knoxville, finishing as the school’s all-time leading scorer and earning All-State honors three straight seasons, while being named Knoxville Player of the Year and the state’s Mr. Basketball finalist as a senior.
JACK FELD – OPERATIONS SPECIALIST Jack Feld brings substantial analytical capacity to the Highlanders’ staff having spent the past seven years in various analytical and scouting capacities serving both college programs and the NBA.
Feld graduated from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2024 with a degree in mathematics and statistics, after spending the three years at the University of Miami.
A native of Dallas, Texas, Feld graduated from Highland Park High School in 2019, where he was a two-year letterwinner on the varsity basketball team.
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