ETSU men’s basketball head coach Brooks Savage announced the hiring of Kristopher Arkenberg as an assistant coach to the Buccaneers’ staff on April 6, 2023.  

Arkenberg comes to Johnson City with 15 years of coaching experience, including the last 12 at the University of New Orleans where he was serving as the associate head coach under Mark Slessinger. Prior to UNO, Arkenberg coached one season each at Panola College (2010-11) and Lincoln Trail (2009-10), while getting a start at his alma mater IUPUI in 2008-09. 

During his time at New Orleans, Arkenberg was the recruiting coordinator for the last seven seasons, in which, the Privateers made four postseason appearances during this run – starting with an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2016-17. UNO swept both the Southland Conference regular season and tournament titles that season where the Privateers finished with 20 wins and went 13-5 in conference play. The 2016-17 season marked UNO’s first conference regular season title since winning the Sun Belt in 1996-97, while it was the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1995-96. The 20-win season was also the Privateers’ first since finishing 22-7 in that 1996-97 campaign. 

The trip to the Big Dance sparked three straight postseason appearances for the Privateers as UNO played in the College Basketball Invitational in 2017-18 and took on Texas Southern in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament in 2018-19. In the 2018 CBI, UNO defeated Texas-Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) before falling at Campbell, 71-69. In 2021-22, the Privateers played in the Basketball Classic where UNO faced Portland. 

Arkenberg did a tremendous job developing UNO’s players as the Privateers went eight straight seasons with an all-conference player from 2016-23, including Erik Thomas capturing Southland Conference Player of the Year honors in 2016-17 and Gerrale Gates being tabbed Freshman of the Year in 2018-19. In the 2021-22 season – where UNO won 18 games and went 10-4 in conference action – Derek St. Hilaire and Troy Green both earned first team all-conference honors. St. Hilaire went on to participate in the Reese’s Senior All-Star Game and Dunk Contest at the Final Four. 

In the 12 seasons at UNO, Arkenberg had a hand in every facet of the program – coached the team’s guards, coordinated team travel, worked on opponent scouts, was the team’s academic liaison, assisted with strength and conditioning, video coordination and set up recruiting visits, along with identifying potential student-athletes. 

Before arriving in New Orleans, Arkenberg spent one season each at Panola College (2010-11) and Lincoln Trail (2009-10) where those teams combined to post 28 wins, while 15 student-athletes he coached over that two-year stretch went on to play at four-year schools. 

In 2008-09, Arkenberg began his coaching career as an undergraduate at IUPUI where he assisted in the day-to-day operations, helped recruit a scout team and assisted coaching the team’s back court. The Jaguars went 16-14 that season, including a 9-9 mark in the Summit League where IUPUI advanced to the quarterfinals of the conference tournament.   

Following a stellar prep career on both the gridiron and the hardwood, Arkenberg originally enrolled at Franklin College where he played one season of football before transferring to IUPUI.
 
A native of Trafalgar, Indiana, Akrenberg completed his bachelor’s degree in general studies from IUPUI in 2009. He is married to the former Davlenn Deloney of Gilmer, Texas. The couple are proud parents of daughters Krislenn and Karter, and reside in New Orleans East.