HoopDirt.com’s Daily News from the college basketball coaching world…
- Yesterday, UConn Athletic director David Benedict publicly commented on the future of head coach Kevin Ollie. He said, “Coach Ollie and I have spoken, he understands he has got to focus on things he can control. I have a good relationship with Coach, I believe he wants to do things the right way. … You go through the entire season. The evaluation isn’t over until the season is over, so we’re going to get to the end of the season. As we all know, anyone who knows the history of our men’s basketball program knows we have had some great finishes to our seasons. Therefore, let’s not jump out and get ahead of ourselves, let’s continue to evaluate and at the time the season us over, that will be the appropriate time to look at all aspects of the program.” More from Benedict on Ollie, and the current NCAA investigation into the men’s basketball program from the Hartford Courant can be found HERE.
- Georgia Tech assistant coach Darryl LaBarrie has resigned. He issued a statement to ESPN last night that read in part, “The NCAA review is taking longer than any of us would have hoped for. Therefore, as a Georgia Tech graduate who loves the school, I recently resigned my assistant-coaching position with the program to alleviate one of the many distractions that the team has had to deal with this season.” LaBarrie had been placed on paid administrative leave back in November while the school reviewed reported alleged violation of NCAA rules. LaBarrie’s name was officially removed from the Georgia Tech website over the weekend. The entire statement can be found HERE.
- According to the Coloradoan, Colorado State interim head basketball Steve Barnes coach is seen as an extension of recently suspended Larry Eustachy. Barnes was named as the interim on Saturday after the university announced it was conducting a “climate assessment” of the men’s basketall program, and that Eustachy had been suspended. According to the report, “Steve Barnes is his right-hand guy,” said a former CSU athletic department staff member who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Sometimes, he was even worse than Larry, because Larry was never in the office to begin with, and Steve was. There’s a difference between coaching hard and just being emotionally abusive and verbally abusive and manipulative, from seeing how (Eustachy and Barnes) would treat the academic staff, to the strength and conditioning staff.” The full story can be found HERE.
- North Carolina Central head coach LeVelle Moton had his #15 retired by NCCU earlier this week. The former standout for the Eagles scored 1,714 points during his playing career, and is now in his 9th season as the head coach at his alma mater. More on Moton from The News and Observer HERE.
- San Jose City College head coach Percy Carr notched his 900th career victory over the weekend. With 900 career wins Coach Carr holds the record for the most wins in California community college history and according to the SJCC website is now the winningest African-American basketball coach in U.S. collegiate athletics. In Coach Carr’s tenure, the Jaguars have gone to the playoffs 33 of 37 years. He has guided 8 different Jaguar teams to the State Championships and claimed 12 Conference Championships. More on Carr HERE.
- Central Methodist University head coach Jeff Sherman won his 600th career game when his 12th ranked Eagles defeated Missouri Valley 90-82 in overtime. Sherman is in his 33rd season as the head coach at CMU – his current squad is now 21-3 (10-3). Entering the season, Sherman stood as the #7th All-Time Winningest Collegiate Basketball Coach among four year colleges in the state of Missouri and the #5th All-Time Winningest Active Coaches within the NAIA Division I. More on Sherman’s career HERE.
- The HoopDirt.com Coach of the Week presented by Just Play Solutions winners were announced earlier this week. The full list of winners from the DI, DII, DIII, NAIA, and JUCO levels can be found HERE. Nominations for next week’s award can be sent to: [email protected]
