Round two today…
• It sounds like NJIT head coach Jim Engles will interview at Fairleigh Dickinson later this week (perhaps Thursday). Engles has been the head coach at NJIT for the past five seasons leading them in their transition to DI. He has also been an assistant at Columbia, Rider, and Wagner.
• Looks like I missed one while taking a day off on Friday…multiple sources have told me that Siena is down to 4 – not three like I mentioned earlier. Candidate #4 is George Mason assistant Mike Wells. Prior to joining Paul Hewitt’s staff at GMU, Wells spent 17 seasons in the NBA in various roles. The hook here…Hewitt is the former (successful) coach at Siena who has a very good relationship with Siena AD John D’Argenio. It sounds like Wells and D’Argenio met this past Friday.
•Obviously Florida Gulf Coast HC Andy Enfield is a hot name after his Sweet 16 run. Some are saying USC may make a run at him, but I can confirm that he is involved at Old Dominion. He did interview there (via Skype) days before FGCU’s first tournament game. It sounds like he will be brought on to campus this week for a second round. An interesting side note (not that it means anything)…Enfield recently put his Ft. Myers home on the market: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/03/29/fgcu-coach-andy-en…
• Former NBA player Speedy Claxton is making it known that he wants the Hofstra job. He was a two-time conference player of the year at Hofstra (1998, 2000), and won a 2003 NBA Championship with the San Antonio Spurs. He is an NYC native who was the 20th overall pick in the 2000 NBA draft.
• Speaking of former NBA players…There appears to be a ton of support at New Mexico for Craig Neal to be elevated to head coach. He has already been named as the interim head coach to keep the ship on the straight and narrow while the athletic department decides what to do. Neal was a 3rd round pick by Portland in the 1998 NBA draft and spent time playing for the Heat and Nuggets. He has been at New Mexico for the past six seasons.
In case you missed it, here is my “Daily Dirt I” from earlier today: http://hoopdirt.com/blog/a17ae853/daily-dirt-4-1-13/…
