Kip Wellman, a former Syracuse graduate assistant, has been named the Orange’s director of basketball operations, SU Athletics announced in a release on Friday.

Wellman served as a graduate assistant at Syracuse from 2005-2009 before joining Western Kentucky as the director of player development. He was later promoted to assistant coach, a capacity in which he served through the Hilltoppers’ 2011-12 NCAA Tournament campaign, but was out of basketball last season after WKU underwent a coaching change.

Wellman fills the vacancy left by Tim O’Toole, who left the Orange for Stanford earlier this offseason. O’Toole joined SU midway through last season after Stan Kissel resigned abruptly  in December.