Western Kentucky’s men’s basketball program has announced the hiring of Nate Laing as an assistant coach for the upcoming 2025-26 season.

Laing joins the staff at WKU after serving two seasons as an assistant at Portland State.

“Nate is going to help WKU succeed in so many ways,” WKU head coach Hank Plona said in a news release. He’s a hard-working young coach with a special ability to motivate and inspire. He will be a great addition to our program.”

Laing helped the Vikings to back-to-back winnings seasons from 2023-25, including a 19-13 final record in 2024-25 and a third-place finish in the Big Sky Conference. Prior to joining the staff at Portland State, Laing served as an assistant under Plona at Indian Hills Community College in 2022-23, helping IHCC to a 29-5 final overall record and a semifinal run at the 2023 NJCAA National Tournament.

Prior to his stint at Indian Hills, Laing served as an assistant and interim head coach at Northwest Florida State College in Niceville, Florida, where he helped guide the Raiders to the NJCAA DI Men’s Basketball National Championship in 2021-22. In three seasons at Northwest Florida State, Laing managed the men’s basketball staff and oversaw day-to-day operations of the program, including community engagement events and fundraising initiatives. Laing assisted in recruiting, scouting and player development while overseeing practice plans, statistical analysis and video breakdown for the program.

Laing began his coaching career as an assistant at Kentucky Wesleyan College for one season in 2018-19. Prior to entering coaching, Laing competed as a student-athlete at Jacksonville State from 2013-16 and UCF from 2016-18. Beginning his basketball playing career at Jax State, Laing was named team captain and a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) Representative. Laing completed his playing career at UCF, playing under head coach Johnny Dawkins and received the Most Inspirational Award, the Coaches Award and served as a SAAC Representative.

Laing completed a Master of Career and Technical Education degree at UCF in 2017-18. While at Jacksonville State, Laing earned a Bachelor of Science in human resource management.

“Nate is very familiar with how we do things on a day-to-day basis and will hit the ground running by contributing to success in all areas including on-floor coaching, scouting, player development and recruiting,” Plona said. “He’s going to be a very important part of our success and I’m looking forward to working with him once again.”