Western Carolina assistant Todd Guilliams is joining Nick Mingione’s staff at Kentucky, the school announced on Thursday.

Guilliams spent one year at Western Carolina as its hitting coach and he also worked with the catchers. Prior to that he was the hitting coach at Valdosta State for eight seasons. While at Western Carolina, the Catamounts’ offense ranked in the nation’s top 25 teams in batting average (.304, 24th in the nation), runs scored (453 runs, 18th) and home runs (72 HR, 9th).

The connection between Mingione and Guilliams comes from Guilliams time as an assistant at Embry-Riddle University. Guilliams recruited Mingione in 1995 and the two have had a connection ever since.

“He’s a faithful man, a family man,” Mingione said in a press release. “He’s been a winner everywhere he’s been, he’s a developer of players and, even more important, a developer of men.

“When I began the process of putting together our staff, I was looking for someone who could make our players better in every aspect of life, on and off the field. Coach Guilliams has an unmatched track record of developing people as well as players.”

The chance to work with Mingione was a big reason Guilliams decided to make the move after just one season at Western Carolina.

“When it comes to making this kind of decision, it’s all about where you work, who you work for and who you work with,” Guilliams said. “I’d heard about Mitch Barnhart, his character and how he runs the athletic department. Coach Mingione is a people person, a man of character. It’s exciting to be around him, he has a great positive attitude. When you put those together it couldn’t be a better place.”

Aaron Fitt of D1Baseball.com reported that Kentucky is likely to hire Arkansas Little Rock assistant Roland Fanning, which would round out Mingione’s staff.