RADFORD, Va. – Safet Kastrat has been named Director of Player Development and Justin Cousin has returned as a Graduate Assistant, Radford Men's Basketball Head Coach Darris Nichols announced Wednesday morning.
 
A native of Trenton, N.J., Kastrat comes to Radford from Rider University where he served as a special assistant to Head Coach Kevin Baggett for two seasons. He was involved in nearly every aspect of the program, from working on scouting reports with assistant coaches to helping evaluate prospective recruits to handling day-to-day operations duties.
 
Kastrat also co-directed one of the best high school team camps in the country during his time at Rider. He led efforts to organize a 72-team event on campus which hosted teams from all over the east coast. Over 25 national talent evaluators/scouts were in attendance, including outlets such as ESPN, 24/7 Sports, Phenom Hoops Report, and many more.
 
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kastrat orchestrated the Who Knows You and Two Sides to the Game networking platform which served as a zoom seminar for college, high school, and AAU basketball coaches. The event involved over 1,000 coaches from all over the country.
 
Prior to his time at Rider, Kastrat was a member of the Hun School of Princeton's boys' varsity basketball coaching staff. Some of Kastrat's job responsibilities at Hun included, but were not limited to, on court coaching, preparing film and scouting reports on opponents, serving as an assistant liaison between student-athletes and college coaches, study hall monitor, assisting in practice planning, and coordinating summer camps.
 
While at Hun, Kastrat traveled all over the country to work summer basketball camps. Kastrat worked camps at Duke, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Texas A&M, Seton Hall, Rider, Columbia, The Hoop Group and more. In addition, Kastrat was the lead skills instructor and one of the all-star game coaches at the prestigious Jim Couch National Training Showcase in the Bronx where there were over 65 Division I prospects from across the nation. 
 
Kastrat graduated from Rider in December of 2020 with a bachelor's degree in Business Administration and a concentration in Sport Management and Leadership. He is of Albanian and Bosnian descent with strong roots to Eastern Europe.
 
Cousin returns to his alma mater where he was a member of the Radford men's basketball team from 2013-2018. He currently ranks seventh in program history for games played with 127 and was a key piece of the 2017-18 Big South Championship squad that topped LIU Brooklyn for the first NCAA Tournament victory in school history.
 
The son of former Highlander standout Rod Cousin, he averaged 4.9 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 1.0 assists per game for his career although his best season came as a junior in 2016-17 when he contributed 11.0 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game.
 
After graduating from Radford in 2018 with a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Cousin played professionally in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand. There, he averaged 11.3 points per game and was named Team Man of the Year, an award voted on by coaches and teammates for exemplifying many of the qualities of a team leader. While in New Zealand, he also served as a volunteer youth coach at Stratford Primary School.
 
Following his playing career, Cousin returned to his hometown of Burlington, N.C. to work as a counselor for at-risk youths in the area. He made a living as a 5^th Grade teacher and middle school basketball coach at Positive Day School while also applying his basketball knowledge as a trainer for kids 5-18 years of age.
 
The Highlanders kick off the 2021-22 season on Monday, Nov. 1 when they host Eastern Mennonite for an exhibition contest at the Dedmon Center. Then, on Nov. 9, the regular season officially begins with a game against Emory & Henry.

To follow the Radford men's basketball team throughout the season, visit RadfordAthletics.com, follow @RadfordHoops on Twitter, 'radfordhoops' Instagram or Radford Men's Basketball on Facebook.