Story: Adam Nelson (@HD_DirtKing)
A bunch of stuff to kick-off the week…
It sounds like the longest D1 search of the off-season is getting close to wrapping up. South Carolina State has been on the hunt for a new head coach since Tony Madlock departed for Alabama State back on April 11th. About 6 weeks after his departure, SC State announced that they hired a search firm, and now it seems like they are nearly done. The name that I’ve heard the most here is West Virginia assistant Erik Martin. He has been with Bob Higgins at both K-State and West Virginia since 2006. A few other HM assistant names bouncing around this one – more on this soon.
I can confirm that Longwood Director of Recruiting & Program Development Donovan Williams has joined the staff at Presbyterian as an assistant coach. Williams had been at Longwood since 2019, and has also worked at Georgia Tech, Lafayette, Princeton, and Cornell. An official announcement is expected shortly.
Nebraska assistant coach Armon Gates is headed to Oregon – the Omaha World Herald was first with this one. Gates, who had been at Nebraska since 2018, was originally hired by former head coach Tim Miles, and then retained by Fred Hoiberg. The official announcement from Oregon is expected this week.
Tennessee Tech has hired NAIA University of Mobile graduate assistant Stefan King as their new Director of Basketball Operations. King had been on the Mobile staff for the past three seasons. An official announcement is expected shortly.
I have heard that Gardner-Webb graduate assistant Christian Turner will become an assistant D2 North Greenville University. Turner played at GWU from 2016-20, and has been on staff there since his graduation.
D3 Middlebury College assistant coach Connor Merrill has departed and been named as the head coach at Deerfield Academy (NEPSAC). Merrill had been at Middlebury since 2018, and was a GA at Springfield before that. He previously worked at the prep level as an assistant at Vermont Academy.
D3 St. Joseph’s (LI) has found their next head coach. They will hire a current D3 assistant to replace Mike McSloy who became the head coach at Drew University last month. I’ll be able to roll with the name tomorrow.
D3 Pratt Institute (NY) may be done as well. Working to confirm that one today.
