James Ware is in his second year at Santa Clara University. An outstanding recruiter, Ware has experience as a player and a coach in the Big Ten, the Big 12, Western Athletic and Mountain West Conferences.

"James has been a great addition to our staff and has really increased our recruiting presence in the Midwest and West Coast," said Bronco head coach Kerry Keating. "He, like our entire staff, has great energy and passion to help make our players better."

Ware came to Santa Clara after two years at Utah State. Ware helped recruit two straight classes that led the Aggies to back-to-back Western Athletic Conference titles and its 10th straight post-season appearance.

In Ware's last season with the Aggies, they were 24-11, including a 17-0 record at home. Utah State notched its ninth-straight 20-win season, won a share of its first-ever WAC regular season championship with a 12-4 league mark and advanced to its ninth straight postseason (5 NCAA, 4 NIT).

Prior to joining the Utah State staff, Ware spent the previous three seasons as the Director of Basketball Operations at the University of Minnesota under head coach Dan Monson. He began his coaching career as an assistant coach at Hopkins (Minn.) High School from 2000-03, where he coached high school teammates Mitch Henke and Kris Humphries. Henke, a 2008 Santa Clara graduate and four-year letterwinner with the Broncos, earned a 3.76 cumulative grade point average as a finance major. Humphries went on to earn All-American honors at Minnesota before being drafted in the first round of the 2004 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz. Humphries led the Big Ten Conference in scoring and rebounding as a freshman at the University of Minnesota.

Ware prepped at Hopkins (Minn.) High School where he was an all-state and all-metro selection during his senior season, as well as being a Mr. Basketball finalist in Minnesota. During his three years in high school, Hopkins compiled an overall record of 75-5.

Ware, 33, began his basketball collegiate career at Colorado State University for then-head coach Stew Morrill before transferring to Midland (Texas) Junior College for one season. He was then a two-year starter at Texas Tech University and earned honorable mention All-Big 12 honors in 2000, along with being named academic all-conference.

Ware graduated from Texas Tech University in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree and then earned his Master's degree in Education and Human Development with an emphasis in sports management from the University of Minnesota in 2003.

A native of Hopkins, Minn., Ware and his wife Tamika have two sons, Jimmy (7) and J.J. (5).