Here’s today’s dirt….

The main pieces of Mark Turgeon’s staff at Maryland are in place, and they come as no surprise. Turgeon was able to lure Dalonte Hill away from Kansas State. Also, he is keeping current assistant Bino Ranson and will add former Texas A&M associate head coach Scott Spinelli. He has assembled a very powerful staff with some major DC/Maryland recruiting connections.

Former St. Francis (NY) head coach Brian Nash has been added to the staff at Fairfield. There has not been a formal announcement yet, but my source tells me that he was introduced at the end of the year basketball banquet late last week. Before taking the St. Francis gig in 2006, Nash had been an assistant at Sacred Heart, St. Bonaventure, Siena, and Seton Hall.

I’m hearing that Philadelphia University assistant Bill Phillips is in line for the director of operations job at James Madison . He played at Saint Joseph’s – James Madison is coached by former SJU assistant Matt Brady. Phillips played overseas since 2002 before joining the Philly staff last season.

Sounds like Idaho State assistant Geoff Alexander will is in the mix for a similar position at Eastern Illinois. Alexander has been at Idaho State for the five seasons. He is an Illinois native who played at Western Illinois. His father, Neil, has over 600 career wins as the head coach at Lincoln (IL) HS.

The search to replace Dick Whitmore at Colby is in full swing. The two names that I keep hearing are Plymouth State head coach Damien Starhorn and Thomas College head coach T.J. Maines. They are both Colby alums who played for Whitmore. Another name that I heard who may be involved is Vermont interim head coach John Becker. Not sure how much longer this search will go on.