Eastern Illinois University Director of Athletics Barbara Burke has announced the five finalists for the vacant men’s basketball head coaching position. The finalists are David Cason, Brian Fish, Doug Novsek, Kareem Richardson and Jay Spoonhour. Each of the five finalists will interview on campus in the next two weeks based on availability and advancement of their teams in post-season basketball action.
Cason is currently an assistant coach at Vanderbilt University where the Commodores finished the season at 25-11. Vanderbilt won the Southeastern Conference Basketball Tournament and was eliminated in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Cason has been on the Vanderbilt staff for one season under head coach Kevin Stallings who Cason played for at Illinois State. Prior to his time at Vanderbilt, Cason spent six seasons at Tulsa including three seasons (2008-10) as the associate head coach. Cason has been an assistant at TCU, Manhattan, Notre Dame and Eastern Illinois. He spent three seasons as the director of basketball operations at North Carolina.
Fish is currently an assistant coach at the University of Oregon where the Ducks posted a 24-10 record. Oregon concluded its season on Tuesday night with a loss at Washington in the quarterfinals of the post-season NIT. Fish has been on the staff at Oregon for one season coming with head coach Dana Altman from Creighton after working for Altman on the Blue Jays staff for six seasons. Fish was an assistant coach at San Diego for two seasons serving as the associate head coach in 2004. He also has assistant coaching stops at TCU and Marshall. Fish is from Seymour, Ind., and began his collegiate playing career at Western Kentucky before finishing his playing days at Marshall.
Novsek is currently the associate head coach at the University of Nevada where the Wolf Pack finished with a 28-7 record. Nevada won the Western Athletic Conference regular season title and lost at Stanford on Wednesday night in the post-season NIT quarterfinals. Novsek has been an assistant coach at Nevada for six seasons including the last three as the associate head coach. He has additional assistant coaching stops at Nebraska, Illinois State, Texas State and Indiana State. Novsek is from Lawrenceville, Ill., where he was named runner-up for Illinois Mr. Basketball in 1982. He played his college basketball at Southern Illinois.
Richardson is currently an assistant coach at Xavier University where the Musketeers are currently 23-12. Xavier will play in the NCAA Sweet 16 this Friday in the East Region facing No. 3 seed Baylor. Richardson is in his first season as an assistant coach at Xavier after spending the past three seasons as an assistant coach at Drake. He has additional assistant coaching stops at UMKC, Evansville, Wright State and Indiana State. Richardson is from Rantoul, Ill., and began his collegiate playing career at East Carolina before finishing his playing days at Evansville. His first coaching stop was at the University of Indianapolis in 1997.
Spoonhour is currently the head coach at Moberly Area Community College in Missouri. The Greyhounds finished the season with a 22-8 record losing in the NJCAA Region 16 Tournament. Spoonhour has been the head coach at Moberly Area CC for the last three seasons. He has won 100 games as a junior college head coach including the NJCAA National Championship in 2001 at Wabash Valley College. The son of legendary coach Charlie Spoonhour, he has been a NCAA Division I assistant coach at Missouri, Saint Louis, UNLV, Texas San-Antonio and Valparaiso. In 2004 Spoonhour was the acting head coach at UNLV for the final month of the season posting a 6-3 record.
