U-M basketball adds full-time strength and conditioning coach

For the first time since December 2023, the Michigan men’s basketball program has a full-time strength & conditioning coach.

Head coach Dusty May announced the addition of head strength and conditioning coach Matt Aldred on Monday. Aldred worked with May on the Florida basketball staff during the 2017-18 season and has since spent the past six years as the head strength and conditioning coach at Furman.

In this past season, Aldred added the titles of assistant head coach and director of basketball performance; according to his profile, he’s the nation’s first basketball strength and conditioning coach to gain this promotion.

“Matt (Aldred) only bolsters the goal of creating a staff of great teachers and genuine people who can help our players away from the game,” May said in a statement. “I met Matt six years ago and have always been impressed with him. His forward thinking, work at Furman, and academic teachings make him a unique coach who will enhance our strength and conditioning program.”

The strength & conditioning position has been a point of contention the past six months at Michigan after being a hallmark of the program for more than 15 years prior. Jon Sanderson, the coach under John Beilein, was retained by former coach Juwan Howard and worked with Howard’s program’s through the first 41⁄2 seasons of his tenure.

He was held in high regard around the department, known for his summer conditioning program — “Camp Sanderson” — which proved successful at taking players such as Caris LeVert and Duncan Robinson to the next level.

That is, until this past December, when Sanderson overheard Jace Howard — Juwan’s son and a former captain who is expected to return this season — berating a trainer in the locker room while working through a training session.

A source with knowledge of the situation told the Free Press that Sanderson yelled at Howard and told him not to speak to trainers that way, which set off the head coach, who began to approach Sanderson and yelled back about how to handle his own program.

Sanderson did not travel with U-M to Iowa the following day and later filed a complaint, which launched an internal investigation into the incident. After review, it was determined that no further action was warranted, and Howard was never suspended. The decision appeared to bother Sanderson, who never returned to the program.

Instead, he was moved into a different part of the department, working with Olympic-sport athletes for several months before his resignation on March 1. U-M’s loss became Illinois’ gain; the Illini announced Sanderson as their head strength & conditioning coach just two weeks later.

In the meantime, Mike Favre, Michigan’s strength & conditioning director, served as interim with the hoops team as it finished the 2023-24 season 3-18 in its final 21 games after the road trip to Iowa.

Now, the program adds Aldred, as it officially enters the May era.

“It’s an honor to be joining Dusty May’s staff at one of the premier universities in the world,” Aldred said in a statement. “The opportunity to work with Dusty, and his staff and represent the University of Michigan is a blessing. I will give my all to help develop our studentathletes into some of the best in the country.

“As a staff, we are committed to excellence, and working as one to ensure the Wolverines are a national championship contender. My family and I cannot wait to get to Ann Arbor and start.”