Friday, March 27, 2009

Two Coaches Hired

Lander University announced yesterday that Jeff Burkhamer will become the new basketball coach at the University. Burkhamer comes to Lander from Armstrong Atlantic University - a fellow member of the DII Peach Belt Conference. Armstrong Atlantic was 23-7 this past season and 134-73 in the last 7 seasons under the direction of Burkhamer.

Bill Robinson was named head coach at Milligan College today. Robinson come to Milligan from Appalachian Athletic Conference rival Montreat College where he had been at the helm for the past 12 seasons. During his time at Montreat, Robinson led his team to an AAC regular season championship, two AAC tournament championships and made two appearances at the national tournament. He was also named AAC Coach of the Year three times. Montreat finished this past season 11-20 and split their series with Milligan.

Coaching Rumors

I am starting to hear Jay Lawson's name more and more at Boston University. The highly successful DII head coach (Bentley College) would make an interesting choice, given the amount of quality assistants out there. On 3/15, I had Lawson listed among my "long shots" to get the BU job. Apparently he has moved up the list.

http://www.hoopdirt.com/blog/850b4a7b/boston-university-rumo…

I wonder how the recent recruiting scandal at UConn will effect the candidacy of UConn assistant Andre LaFleur. LaFleur has publically expressed his interest in the job and his name has not been mentioned in the Yahoo! report.

I gave 4 names for the job at Cal Poly earlier in the week (http://www.hoopdirt.com/blog/9969b503/rumors-at-cal-poly/…), but apparently the list has expanded. The three new names that are being bantered around are, Jeff Oliver (Head Coach, DII Cal State San Bernardino - 1995 Cal Poly grad), Philip Matthews (Nebraska assistant, former head coach at San Francisco), and Brad Soderberg (former head coach at St. Louis, current AD at Loras College). I still think USC's Bob Cantu is the guy for the job, but there is a lot of interest in this position.

My sources are telling me that Oregon is going to make a decision on the fate of Ernie Kent in the next few days. He has a one million dollar buy-out clause and I heard that if Oregon can justify the expenditure, Kent will be gone.

Staying in Oregon.....I'm starting to hear some speculation that Craig Robinson will be a candidate at Virginia. A move to Charlottesville would put him closer to his brother-in-law Barack Obama. I think UVA will go after Oklahoma's Jeff Capel first, but don't count Robinson out of the mix.

Appalachian State has formed their search committee to hire the next coach. It includes: Stan Aeschleman, ASU’s provost and executive vice chancellor; Michael Baylor, student representative; Charlie Cobb, ASU’s athletics director; Avery Hall, a former ASU football player and member of the university’s board of trustees; Mark Harrill, Yosef Club representative; and Jean Roberts, senior associate director for academic advising. I wonder if any of them knew Buzz Peterson from his first go around at ASU?

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Two Head Coaching Jobs are open

Northwest Mississippi Community College

Union County College

2 DI Schools Hire Head Coaches

South Carolina assistant coach Scott Cherry is expected to be named head coach at High Point tomorrow afternoon. A 2:00pm press conference has been scheduled.

Cherry came to USC from Western Kentucky when Darrin Horn got the job last spring. He played on UNC's 1993 national Championship team and was on the staff at George Mason during their improbable Final Four run in 2006. His in-state ties and his youth (he's only 37) seem to be two of the more important factors in this hiring according to a well placed source.

As we speculated earlier in the day, LeVelle Moton was officially introduced as the new coach at NC Central. The NCCU alum received a five-year contract with an annual salary of $100,000. He becomes the 17th basketball coach in school history.



Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Daily News

Missouri University of S&T Coach Resigns, Assistant to take Over

Dale Martin will step down has head coach after 22 years, he leaves as the 2nd winningest coach in school history with 239 wins. Assistant coach Jim Glash will take over as head coach. He has been on the Miners sideline for the past two seasons.

http://sports.mst.edu/news/2009/3/24/MBB_DaleMartin.aspx

Midwestern State Head Coach steps down

Jeff Ray will be stepping down has Head Coach at MSU to accept another role at the university. Ray has been with the university in some capacity for the past 27 years which included two stints has head coach. In his most recent stint with MSU he compiled a 112-60 record, which included two trips to the south central regionals.

Rob McIlhaney, Ray’s long-time assistant coach, said he would not apply for the head coaching job and will also not stay on as an assistant for the next head coach.

http://msumustangs.com/article.asp?articleID=1772


Miller to stay on at Penn

Glen Miller will be returning next season as head coach of the Penn basketball team, the basketball club's co-chair John Rockwell confirmed last night. In three seasons at Penn Miller has 45-45 record. This past year they finished up 10-18 which was Penn worst record since the 90-91 season.


Anderson Steps down at Long Beach City College

Gary Anderson has announced that he will step down as the head men's basketball coach but stay on a assistant. He steps down as the schools all time winningest coach. No announcement has been made on a successor. You would think it would go to his assistant Barry Barnes who has been Anderson assistant for the past six seasons and who played at the school for two years.

http://athletics.lbcc.edu/athletichome/mensbasketballstaff.cfm

Coaching Rumors

Appalachian State


We are hearing that there are 4 serious candidates to replace Houston Fancher at Appalachain State. They are:

Buzz Peterson (Director of Player Personnel - Charlotte Bobcats)

Peterson has reportedly already turned down Elon. Was the head coach at Appalachian State from 1996-2000 (79-39) before moving on to Tulsa (1 season), Tennessee (4 seasons), and Coastal Carolina (2 seasons). The former Tar Heel has a career record of 201-134 in 11 season as a head coach.

James Holland (Assistant Coach - Alabama)

Most likely out of a job when the new staff is hired at UA. Has been an assistant at UTEP, Georgia, San Diego State, South Carolina, Murray State and UNC-Asheville. Brings a lot of experience to the table. Is ready to be the boss.

Matt Matheny (Associate Head Coach - Davidson)

Has been part of a very successful Davidson program both as a player and a coach. Graduated in 1992, and has been on Bob McKillop's staff since 1993. Knows North Carolina and would bring name recognition brought on by Davidson's recent success to the job (the school are about 100 miles apart).

Mike Muse (Assistant Coach - Wake Forest)

Muse is a 1985 alum of Appalachian State (and got his master's there in 1999). Served as an assistant at App. St. for two seasons before moving to the high school ranks. Has been at Wake Forest for the past three seasons.

These are four very solid candidates. I'd have to give Peterson the edge right now. He has head coaching experience, and he's won. He also has a good name in the state - he won a National Championship in 1982 with the Tar Heels and was some guy named Jordan's roommate. Being an alum will help get Muse in the door, but not sure if it's good enough to get him the job. Holland has a ton of experience as an assistant - someone will hire him as a head coach soon if it's not Appalachian St. Matheny's background at Davidson may give him the upper hand if Peterson turns it down.

Stay with HoopDirt for the latest college basketball coaching news and rumors.


Cal Poly


We've heard a bunch of names mentioned with the Cal Poly job over the last week. This Big West Conference job would be perfect for an assistant who wants to get after it. The league is competitive (CS-Northridge gave Memphis a pretty good run last week), but the right guy can definitely get it done at Cal Poly. Here are some of the names that we've heard:

Gregg Gottleib (Assistant Coach - Cal)

Began his career as an assistant at Cal Poly. Knows west coast recruiting from his time as an assistant at Cal, San Diego State, and Sacramento State. Not that it matters, but is the brother of ESPN's Doug Gottleib.

Bob Cantu (Assistant Coach - USC)

Another former Cal Poly assistant (administartive assistant 1996-1997). Was also an assistant at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo (same town as Cal Poly). Has really gotten it done as a recruiter at USC.

Rick Croy (Head Coach - Citrus CC)

Won WSC championship this year (28-5). Was 35-1 last season. Is 101-32 at Citrus. A former assistant at UC Riverside.

Brad Holland (Former Head Coach - San Diego)

Won 200 games in 13 seasons at San Diego. Was also the head coach at CS Fullerton. Brings a lot of experience to the table.

In my opinion, Cantu should be the guy. He has recruited successfully in the PAC-10, and that's what Cal Poly needs - a guy who will go get players! Croy has head coaching experience, and has proven that he can win, so he may be a dark horse here. Look for an announcement with in the next few weeks.

Stay with HoopDirt for the latest college basketball coaching news and rumors.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Dirt King Coaching Rumors

Alabama is reportedly willing to pay $2 million per year for it’s next coach. I’ve said all along that UAB’s Mike Davis should be the guy here, but AD Mal Moore may have his sights set a little hire. USC’s Tim Floyd’s name is now being mentioned, though not sure he’d want to leave what he’s built at USC.

http://blog.al.com/rapsheet/2009/03/tim_floyd_as_a_potential…

Looks like we were right on last week when we gave some names for the Boston University job (http://www.hoopdirt.com/blog/850b4a7b/boston-university-rumo…). BU has hired an Atlanta based search firm to help, but it looks like they will hire from with-in the region.

http://www.boston.com/sports/colleges/mens_basketball/articl…

I've heard some interesting names at Appalachian State. I hear that Monte Towe (NC State asst. and former head coach at UNO), Jerry Green

(former Tennessee head coach) and Phil Hopkins (former Western Carolina head coach) are

all interested in the job. My thought is that they should go with a younger guy – an assistant who wants to cut his teeth as a head coach, not someone who’s already done it. What about Tennessee’s Tony Jones or Georgia Tech’s Charlton Young?

Speaking of Appalachian State, I’ve head that former App. State head coach and current Charlotte Bobcats Director of Player Personnel Buzz Peterson is no longer interested in the Elon job. Sources tell us that UNC assistant C.B. McGrath is also not interested.

I think Virginia is going to try to lure Oklahoma Head Coach Jeff Capel to Charlottesville, but think they would be better off looking in their back yard at Anthony Grant. He will come cheaper than Capel and has the personality to “own” Charlottesville!

There are some big time DIII jobs open. Wheaton (Ill.) and Ohio Northern are both places where you could win a National Championship. They may both promote from with-in, but I would assume they will both do thorough national searches.

Check out HoopDirt.com for the latest college basketball coaching news and rumors.