A few quick hitters to start the day…

• Simpson (CA) head coach Matt Thacker has been released. I mentioned that I had heard a Cal Pac job was going to open last week (http://hoopdirt.com/blog/54214ba5/small-college-quotdirtquot…), but could not go with it at the time. Thacker was actually fired on 4/15, and then appealed the decision – I wanted to wait until the official decision had been made. According to great sources, the decision stands and he is out. In two seasons, Thacker compiled a 15-43 record.

• Maryville (TN) assistant Alex Bowers has resigned and will become the head girls basketball coach at Catholic High School (TN). He is a Maryville alum who had been on the staff for the past two seasons.

• I have heard that former Kennesaw state standout Jon-Michael Nickerson has accepted a grad assistant spot under Josh Pastner at Memphis. Nickerson had been the athletic director and head basketball coach at Excel Christian Academy in Georgia the past two years.