Today’s "dirt"…
• I have heard that interviews are beginning at RPI. There were nearly 90 legitimate applicants who were reviewed by the committee. Of those, 13 were selected for the first round of interviews (believed to be phone or Skype interviews). From that group, five will be chosen to come to campus. The group is dominated by current DIII head coaches, and includes 1 DI associate head coach, and 2 Ivy League assistants.
• I have heard that the search at Williams is down to six. One name that I keep hearing is Bucknell associate head coach Dane Fischer (a former Williams assistant). Another name making the rounds is Skidmore head coach Joe Burke. He has been at Skidmore since 2010, and was also an assistant at Navy and Cornell. I have a few other names, but will wait for confirmation before going with them.
• I can confirm that North Central College (IL) associate head coach Todd Kelly has been named as the head coach at Illinois Institute of Technology. Kelly had been at NCC since 2009, and brings strong area recruiting ties to IIT. He also served as the head coach at Providence St. Mel (IL) HS.
• J.R. Sims has been hired as a graduate assistant under Tom Crean at Indiana. The Indiana native was a four year letterman at Eastern Michigan. His father Ray is a long-time Indiana HS coach who has won almost 250 games in his career.
• Missouri State West Plains head coach Yancey Walker has hired Adam Short to replace Bryan Bender on his staff. Short was most recently an assistant at Cowley College (KS) and has also worked with MoKan Nike Elite Youth Basketball League out of Kansas City, MO.
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