Jake Thelen, a former consensus All-American and Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Year at Bellarmine University who spearheaded a Final Four run, joined the men’s basketball staff as an assistant prior to the 2017-18 season.
In Thelen's first year coaching at Bellarmine, the Knights finished 29-3 and captured the GLVC Tournament title with a 75-61 victory over Truman State. Thelen helped guide Bellarmine to an outright GLVC regular-season championship and 10th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.
Thelen became a member of Coach Scott Davenport’s staff after spending a year as a graduate assistant under Tom Crean at Indiana University. Prior to his stint with the Hoosiers, he was the head junior varsity coach and assistant varsity coach at St. Xavier (Ky.) High School in 2015-16, helping lead the team to a district championship.
Thelen was one of the most accomplished players in Bellarmine program history. As a senior in 2014-15, the power forward was a consensus All-American after being named on the first team by Basketball Times, DII Bulletin, BennettRank.com and the NABC and third team by Daktronics. The abundance of All-America accolades was preceded by his being recognized as the GLVC Player of the Year.
Thelen, who as a senior was also named first-team All-GLVC and to the league’s All-Defensive Team, was a central figure in leading the Knights to a 31-4 record and berth in the Final Four in 2014-15. He was named Most Outstanding Player of the NCAA Midwest Regional, racking up game highs of 24 points and 15 rebounds in an 81-72 triumph over Indianapolis in the regional final at Knights Hall.
In his final year at Bellarmine, Thelen averaged 18.6 points and 10.7 rebounds while shooting 66.7 percent from the floor. He finished his three-year career with the Knights as the program’s No. 16 all-time scorer with 1,412 points. Thelen set a new single-season program record by shooting 74 percent from the field in 2013-14. His 651 points and 375 rebounds in 2014-15 marked the second most in a single season in program history in both categories.
Before arriving at Bellarmine, Thelen played one season at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, and averaged 18.5 points and 7.5 rebounds while earning Southern States Conference Freshman of the Year honors.
The native of Edgewood, Kentucky, finished his prep career as the fourth-leading scorer in Covington Catholic (Ky.) High School history and was selected to play in the Kentucky/Indiana All-Star and Kentucky/Ohio All-Star games.
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