Alex Jensen has added vital international connections to his Utah basketball coaching staff, as the school announced Friday that Martin Schiller has joined the Runnin’ Utes as an assistant.
Those familiar with the Utah G League affiliate Salt Lake City Stars may recognize the name. Schiller served as the Stars’ head coach from 2017 to 2020 and was the G League Coach of the Year his final season with the team.
The majority of Schiller’s work, though, has happened overseas, and he has extensive head coaching experience at a variety of international stops.
“I’m excited to have Martin join our staff here in Salt Lake City,” Jensen said in a statement. “Martin has a great basketball mind having coached at various levels of the game both in the U.S. and internationally. Our players will benefit from his experience and his ability to teach and develop them.”
Schiller, a Vienna, Austria, native, heads back to Salt Lake City after most recently serving as the head coach for Rasta Vechta, a team out of the German Bundesliga and FIBA Champions League.
The 43-year-old has been a head coach in four different countries during his coaching career and was an assistant at a long list of international stops in the decade prior to becoming the Stars’ coach.
Schiller, whose coaching career goes all the way back to 2002, worked four years on the German National Team staff from 2015-19, and during that time, he worked with several NBA players, including Dirk Nowitzki, Dennis Schröder, Daniel Theis, Maxi Kleber, Paul Zipser and Moritz Wagner.
Schiller has also been the head coach of the U20 German National Team at the 2024 FIBA European Championship and for Casemont Zaragoza of the Liga ACB, the top Spanish professional league, from 2022 to 2023.
“My family and I used to enjoy visiting the Huntsman Center as fans of Utah Athletics. Now we are thrilled to be able to be a part of it.”
— New Utah basketball assistant coach Martin Schiller
Following his time as Stars coach, he spent one season as the head coach for Zalgiris Kaunas, competing in the top basketball league in Lithuania, LKL. His team won the LKL championship that year, in 2020-21.
Schiller’s top season with the Stars came in 2019-20, when Salt Lake City won the Western Conference regular-season title and the winter showcase championship. At one point, the Stars won 14 straight contests, a G League record at the time.
“I’m very excited to join Alex and the entire Utes family!” Schiller said in a statement. “Working with and for Alex is something that I have been intrigued with since meeting him with the German National Team in 2015. I was able to learn a lot from him during my days in the Jazz organization and am looking forward to reuniting again.
“My family and I used to enjoy visiting the Huntsman Center as fans of Utah Athletics. Now we are thrilled to be able to be a part of it.”
Schiller is the third assistant coach addition to the Utah coaching staff. He joins Eric Daniels, who has spent the past decade as an assistant at several other Utah schools, and Raphael Chillious, a noted recruiting guru with strong ties around the country.
The Utes also have former longtime NBA executive Wes Wilcox installed as Utah’s general manager.