Derek Elston joins IU basketball staff

BLOOMINGTON -- Tom Crean thought Derek Elston was headed back to Europe for a third season of professional basketball, until he saw pictures of Elston and his girlfriend, still in the States. That's when IU's coach approached his former player about an opening on staff.

"He gave me a call the next morning and asked if it was something I'd be interested in," Elston told The Star on Monday. "I said, 'Yea, absolutely.'"

Indiana announced Elston as the Hoosiers' as director of player development Monday, in an afternoon press release. Elston was a senior on the 2012-13 team that became the first in 20 years to win an outright Big Ten title.

"Derek Elston has been a major part of everything here from walking in when it was at the bottom and helping the program become a champion again," IU coach Tom Crean said in the release. "From the day he left Indiana with two degrees, he's gone out of his way to sustain a level of connectivity to the program by investing his own energy in the program. He is close enough in age to really know what our players deal with and how much improvement is needed on a daily basis."

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According to the release, Elston's duties "will include player mentoring and life skills programming, administrative operations, and involvement in the program's support services." He will also assume planning and administrative duties for community outreach events the Hoosiers are involved in, and prepare players for them.

Elston said he'll lean on his experience as a player -- Crean regularly cited his positive impact in the locker room and on team chemistry -- in this role. He has been on the job less than a week.

"These guys aren't going to be put through anything I haven't been through myself," Elston said. "I know playing here is tough, whether it's practices or the pressure of wanting to do your best. ... From day one, I've seen a change in these guys already and how we interact with each other."

The Tipton native was a member of Crean's first full recruiting class in 2009, the same six-player group that brought eventual 1,000-point scorers Jordan Hulls and Christian Watford to Bloomington. He actually committed to IU during former coach Kelvin Sampson's tenure, but kept his commitment when Crean arrived from Marquette.

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Elston has played professionally in Malta and Portugal since finishing at IU in 2013.

"Derek was the unheralded leader in his time at Indiana and his leadership skills are going to be very beneficial to the program," Crean said in the release. "Perhaps above all else, Derek understands and appreciates what Indiana basketball is. He has tremendous respect and admiration for our former players, he's lived it, and he's invested in our program's future."

Back in Bloomington full-time, Elston said he's excited to rejoin his old program.

"It's kind feels surreal for me," he said. "I can't believe I'm back here, and I can't believe I'm actually going to be in this position."

Follow Star reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.

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