To the surprise of few, Chris McMillian ascended to the next rung of the college coaching ladder.

The Hawaii men’s basketball strength coach of the past two years was promoted to director of basketball operations on Friday by UH head coach Gib Arnold, filling the spot vacated by Kerry Rupp after last season.

"It feels good. It’s refreshing," said McMillian, 32, a former starting point guard at Wyoming. "I got into this business three years ago to keep working my way up. I’m truly blessed and grateful to have the opportunity to do that here with Coach Arnold and this program."

Arnold, in turn, feels the former graduate assistant earned his added responsibilities, which include arranging team travel.

"I’m really glad we could roll him up," said Arnold, pointing out he did something similar when he promoted Scott Fisher from the DOBO spot to full assistant before last season. "(Chris) is a guy I want to keep around. I think someday he’s got a really good future as a full-time assistant, out on the road. Probably one day could be a head coach as well. He’s really talented."

McMillian recently received his master’s degree from UH.

As the DOBO, McMillian’s other responsibilities are classroom checks, video coordinating and keeping the basketball office running smoothly.

"My job in general is to make sure that Coach Gib doesn’t have any more stress on his plate than what he already had," McMillian said. "Anything that comes up to him, should only be basketball related as far as I’m concerned."