A bunch of things that I’ve heard…
I mentioned in yesterday’s Daily Dirt that I had most of Jim Ferry’s new staff at UMBC. Here’s what I can confirm…Josh Pelletier and Evann Baker have been hired as assistant coaches. Pelletier had been at Albany for the past seven seasons, and had previously worked with Ferry at Duquesne. Baker has spent the past four seasons as the Video Coordinator at Akron, and was a graduate manager at Penn State before that. I have also heard that Ferry will retain Director of Basketball Operations Jake Brudish. He has been at UMBC since 2017, serving first as a GA and then as the Director of Analytics, before being elevated to DBO before last season.
New Cincinnati head coach Wes Miler will add Chris Lepore as an assistant. Lepore had been on Miller’s staff at UNCG for the past eight seasons. It also sounds like Indiana Assistant AD for Basketball Administration Mike Roberts is in the mix to become an assistant with the Bearcats. Roberts was an assistant under Archie Miller at IU, and assumed a new title when Mike Woodson took over. Roberts had been the associate head coach under Wes Miller at UNCG before being hired at Indiana.
Kentucky assistant Joel Justus is headed to Arizona State. He had spent the past five seasons as an assistant at UK, and was the special assistant to the head coach before that.
New Texas A&M Corpus Christi head coach Steve Lutz is beginning to assemble his staff. Names that I’ve heard in the mix here are Tarleton State assistant Jim Shaw, and Omaha Director of Basketball Operations Kevin Jewell.
Texas Arlington head coach Greg Young is also building his initial staff. So far, he has retained Snoop Johnson (promoted to associate head coach), and Riley Davis (promoted to assistant head coach and recruiting coordinator). It sounds like the leader for the third assistant spot is former Denver assistant Dwight Thorne. The Arlington, TX native, had been at Denver since 2016.
Earlier today, Hofstra announced that Serge Clement had been hired as an assistant on Speedy Claxton’s new staff. I have also heard that Rasheen Davis is in the mix for a spot here. The veteran assistant is a New York native, who has had stops at Arizona State, Manhattan, UMass, VCU, Xavier, Louisville, and Pitt.
