Storrs – Gavin Roberts, the head strength and conditioning coach for the Purdue men's basketball program the last three years, was hired as UConn's director of sports performance, men's basketball coach Dan Hurley announced Friday.

Roberts, 31, awaits the pending completion of UConn's employee onboarding process before joining the program.

"We are excited to add one of the top young sports performance coaches in the country, who is coming to us from an outstanding program," Hurley said in a release. "At Purdue, Gavin gained experience the standards and the tradition here with his tri-state area ties."

Roberts, originally from Somerset, N.J., played football and basketball at Franklin High School and nearly accepted a football offer from UConn.

"Yes, for me, it was between Purdue and UConn as a football player," Roberts said.

During Roberts' tenure at Purdue, the men's basketball team posted a 60-35 record overall, 38-21 in the Big Ten, with two NCAA appearances (the 2019-20 tourney was cancelled).

"Overall, the greatest aspect an athlete has is his availability ... so making sure guys are healthy," Roberts explained about his philosophy. "The second thing overall is to build athleticism – essentially trying to raise the threshold of these athletes so they are able to absorb and redirect force and be at their best on the court."

Roberts, a defensive back and special teams player for the Boilermakers, graduated from Purdue in 2013 with a degree in Health and Fitness and earned a master's degree in Technology, Leadership and Innovation from Purdue in 2015.