Here’s a Final Four Edition of the Daily Dirt as the parties in Phoenix continue…
- It’s now been confirmed that Pitt assistant Jeremy Ballard is departing and will become the associate head coach at VCU. Ballard spent 2012-15 on Shaka Smart’s staff at VCU. He then moved on to one-year stints at Illinois State and then Pitt. Ballard has also worked at Tulsa and Colgate.
- Speaking of VCU…I’ve heard that current assistant Rasheen Davis is involved with the job at LIU Brooklyn. Before joining the VCU staff in 2015, the Bronx native had been the associate head coach at Manhattan.
- Word on the street is that Fairmont State Associate head coach Paul Molinari will follow Jerrod Calhoun to Youngstown State. Molinari has also worked at Winthrop, Cleveland State, Wichita State, and UNLV. I have also heard that former James Madison and Marist assistant Corey Stitzel is involved with a spot on Calhoun’s staff. He has most recently been a HS coach in Virginia.
- I have heard the Keith “Mister” Jennings is involved with the opening at DII Elizabeth City State (NC). The current Lees-McRae assistant was a standout at East Tennessee State (I remember watching him play – he was NASTY), and went on to play in the NBA and overseas after graduation.
- It sounds like the search at DIII Muhlenberg (PA) is down to four. The names that I have heard are; Mike Blaine (Head Coach Medaille College), Tom Curle (Head Coach SUNY Plattsburgh), Dan Engelstad (Head Coach Southern Vermont), and Chris McHugh (Associate Coach Emory). Interviews will wrap-up next week.
- The search at DIII Elizabethtown (PA) is not quite as far along as the one at Muhlenberg. The seven person search committee is still going through the nearly 175 applications, and will begin reaching out to candidates in the next few weeks. Sounds like this one won’t wrap up until the end of May.
