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Kellen Buffington hired as Texas Tech basketball general manager

Kellen Buffington has been hired as the general manager of the Texas Tech basketball team.

Coach Grant McCasland announced Buffington's hire on Monday. Considered one of the top grassroots basketball organizers in the country, Buffington founded The TB5Reports in Dallas and helped identify and scout successful players such as Cade Cunningham — a former No. 1 pick in the NBA Draft — as well as Mike Miles, Anthony Black and Keyonte George, among others.

Kellen Buffington
Kellen Buffington

The news release did not state what Buffington's responsibilities with the team as general manager will be.

"Texas Tech is a special place," Buffington said in the news release. "The support from the fanbase is unmatched in college basketball. Grant is a builder and a winner. The opportunity to work with him, this staff and these players was a situation I really wanted to be a part of."

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Buffington is a native of Compton, California, earning a bachelor's degree in criminal justice at Paul Quinn College and a master's in education administration from Concordia University. In addition to The TB5Reports, Buffington established The Blueprint5 in 2013, a basketball program for young men in inner-city neighborhoods. He also worked as a juvenile detention officer for three years in the Dallas Juvenile Justice system.

In the release, McCasland noted Buffington's array of experience as a reason for his hire, saying, "His ability to connect with people is what has allowed him to have so much success in basketball."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Kellen Buffington hired as Texas Tech basketball general manager