ST. CLOUD — Former St. Cloud State men’s basketball guard and assistant coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah was named head coach of the Iowa Wolves, the NBA G-League affiliate of the Minnesota Timberwolves, on Monday, Aug. 11.
Abdelfattah spent seven years at
as a player (2008-2010), student assistant coach (2010-11) and assistant coach (2013-2017).
Former St. Cloud State men’s basketball player and assistant coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah (middle) was recently named head coach of the Iowa Wolves, the G-League affiliate of the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Contributed / St. Cloud State University
Abdelfattah came to St. Cloud State in the 2008-09 season after spending time at Wilbur Wright College in Chicago. He was a bench/role player on the 2009-10 Huskies that advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight in Springfield, Massachusetts.
The Huskies won their first game in Springfield before falling to Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the Final Four. He finished his tenure as a player appearing in 35 games with the Huskies going 51-15 during that span.
Abdelfattah came back to his alma mater in the fall of 2013 where he spent time as an assistant under
for one year and then Matt Reimer the following three seasons. Abdelfattah and the Huskies produced a 70-50 record in his tenure as an assistant.
He was hired by the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, the Houston Rockets G-League affiliate, in 2018 where he served as an assistant coach before being promoted to head coach in 2019. With the Vipers, Abdelfattah guided the team to the 2022 G-League championship in 2022. He was named the G-League coach of the year that season.
The following year he was promoted to assistant coach on the Rockets’ staff under head coach Stephen Silas. He was the head coach of the Sydney (Australia) Kings of the National Basketball League (NBL) in 2023. Abdelfattah was fired by Sydney halfway through its season in February 2024.
Abdelfattah served as an assistant coach and team scout for this year’s men’s AmeriCup qualifying team.
In Des Moines, he will inherit a Wolves team that went 7-27 in the 2024-25 season. While the Wolves’ roster is not finalized, 2025 second-round pick Rocco Zikarsky and 2024 second-round pick Enrique Freeman are currently on two-way contracts.
2025 first-round pick Joan Beringer will also likely spend some time in Des Moines this winter.
Andy Rennecke is sports editor for St. Cloud LIVE. He focuses on writing in-depth high school and college features for the St. Cloud metro area (including Sartell, Sauk Rapids and St. Joseph) and for the ROCORI, Albany, Foley and Holdingford School Districts. Send him story ideas or feedback at andy@stcloudlive.com.