Veteran Minnesota junior college basketball coach Jay Pivec has been hired as an assistant at the University of St. Thomas. Pivec coached for two seasons at Dakota County Technical College after his highly successful program at Minneapolis Community and Technical College was terminated by the school's administration.

Pivec was named national junior college coach of the year in 2009 and had a 494-133 record in 22 years of coaching at that level. He will remain on the physical education faculty at MCTC.

Tauer, a former St. Thomas player, is in his third year of coaching the Tommies, who finished third in NCAA Division III last season and won the MIAC championship with a 19-1 record. The relationship between Pivec and Tauer goes back to when Tauer was a high school standout at Cretin-Derham Hall.

You can read the St. Thomas press release about Pivec's hiring here.