Washburn assistant coach Joe Balestrieri is in his fourth season on the Ichabod bench. He also oversees the Washburn basketball program's social media accounts.
In his first season at Washburn, he helped lead the Ichabods to their first NCAA appearance since 2012 and a third-place finish in the MIAA race while reaching the MIAA Tournament Championship game. In year two the Ichabods reached the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season finishing second in the MIAA race and reaching the MIAA Tournament Championship game for the second year in a row.
Balestrieri joined the Washburn men's basketball coaching staff on July 10, 2017 after spending the previous three seasons as the video coordinator at Wake Forest.
Balestrieri first joined the Wake Forest coaching staff in June 2014 after a two-year stint in the same position as a graduate assistant under Danny Manning at the University of Tulsa. He helped lead the Golden Hurricane to the 2013-14 Conference USA championship, the program's first title since 2003. In addition to his video operations duties, Balestrieri also assisted in team travel.
Prior to Tulsa, Balestrieri served as an assistant coach for one season at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kan., working under then-Baker head coach and current Washburn head coach Brett Ballard.
Balestrieri began his career as an undergraduate student at the University of Kansas, where he served as a student manager for the basketball program under head coach Bill Self from 2007-10. He was appointed head manager for his senior season in 2009-10. As head manager for the Jayhawks, Balestrieri oversaw a staff of seven other managers. His duties also included the scheduling and directing of managers during practice and games, set-up and assisting with practice and games, preparing for road trips, laundry and gear organization and distribution.
Balestrieri also worked the Bill Self Basketball Camps from 2006-10. In 2010 he served as co-director of Bill Self's team camp. Prior to the 2010 camp, he assisted with set-up and preparation of the camps and staffing and overseeing camp counselors.
During Balestrieri's time as part of the Kansas basketball program, the Jayhawks won the 2008 national championship, advanced to one NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen, won three Big 12 regular season championships and won two Big 12 Conference Tournament Championships.
A native of Lee's Summit, Mo., Balestrieri earned his bachelor of science degree in health and physical education in 2010 from the University of Kansas. He went on to earn a Master's of Arts degree in Education from Tulsa in 2014.
Joe and his wife Brooke live in Topeka with their daughter Blake.
