The DirtKing is back among the living today (kind of…). I had surgery on Tuesday to repair an old water skiing injury. Apparently I’m not as tough as I used to be – this one kicked my butt! Here are a bunch of things that I heard while recovering over the past 48 hours…
• I can confirm that Wofford assistant Darris Nichols is headed to Louisiana Tech. Nichols joined the Wofford staff last summer, and was an assistant at Northern Kentucky before that. He has also served as a GA at his alma mater West Virginia.
• Word on the street is that St. Bonaventure assistant Jeff Massey will move on to become an assistant at Toledo. Massey has been on Mark Schmidt’s staff at St. Bonaventure for the past seven seasons, and also spent two seasons with Schmidt at Robert Morris. He played at Xavier and was the Musketeer’s leading scorer his senior year. After graduation, Massey spent four seasons playing in Poland and France.
• Two Northwest Florida State College assistants have taken DI administrative spots. David Keifer has become the video coordinator at South Carolina. He has also served as the assistant video coordinator at Central Florida, and worked for South Carolina head coach Frank Martin as a student at Kansas State. Also, Matt Cline has taken the DBO spot at Eastern Michigan. He has previously served as a GA at Florida State. NW Florida head coach Steve DeMeo has already added Grant McMillan to his staff to fill one of the vacancies. McMillan comes from Independence CC in Kansas where the Pirates were the regular season Jayhawk East Champions. McMillan has also been at Howard College in Texas where the Hawks received an at large big to the national tournament. McMillan was also a graduate assistant at TCU under Jim Christian.
• I have heard the Lesley University (MA) will hire Rivier University (NH) associate head coach Chris Giordano as their new head coach. Giordano is a Rivier alum who has been on the staff for the past two seasons. He has also been a HS coach in NH.
• From a good source…the University of Charleston (WVa.) has hired Bret Rector and Tom Berryman as assistants. Rector has been an assistant at WVU-Tech and Pikeville (KY). Berryman has been a staffer at Alabama for the past four seasons serving as a GA and most recently the video coordinator. They will replace Chris Kibler (became the head coach at Hiram) and Evan Faulkner (Became the head coach at Ripley (WVa.) High school).
• Aaron Drakeford, a former player and assistant at University of Rio Grande, will return to the school as the associate head coach. He spent last season as an assistant last at Fishburne Military School. After finishing his career at Rio, Drakeford played professionally in England with the Guildford Heat and with the Cleveland Vipers of the UBA.
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