Some end of the week "dirt" …
• Louisville head coach Rick Pitino is expected to announce Kareem Richardson’s replacement today. Word on the street is that one of the frontrunners is Florida International assistant Mike Balado. He spent last season as an assistant to Richard Pitino at FIU, then joined him briefly in Minnesota, before rejoining the FIU staff as the top assistant. He has also been an assistant at Miami and Florida Atlantic and would bring some big-time Miami connections to Louisville.
• I have heard the former Minnesota DBO Joe Esposito will be joining Tubby Smith at Texas Tech. He has worked for Smith since 2007 and is the former head coach at Angelo State (TX). There is no word on whether he will remain in an administrative role, or be named as an assistant.
• It sounds like Sullivan CC (NY) head coach Kevin DeVantier may be headed to Norfolk State to join Robert Jones’ staff. Jones is a SUNY-New Paltz grad and DeVantier used to be an assistant there. DeVantier has amassed a 119-17 record in his four seasons at SCC. I have also heard that DeVantier’s brother Dan, a current assistant at Sullivan, will become the interim head coach there.
