The Miami Herald is reporting that Florida International and New York Knicks exec Isiah Thomas will reach an agreement on a contract today, and that Thomas will officially be introduced as the Panthers coach on Wednesday. This is obviously a very strange hire. FIU AD Pete Garcia must have had some sort of contact with Thomas before he fired Sergio Rouco yesterday. Garcia must feel that this is a done deal.

I understand that this brings a tremendous amount of name recognition to FIU which can only help in recruiting. Zeke is a 12-time NBA All-Star, a Hall of Famer, and won two NBA Championships as a player. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been as successful since his retirement. He ran the CBA, the Pacers, and the Knicks into the ground. He has never coached at the college level, where recruiting is the lifeline. I am sure there will be a lot of mixed feelings about this one – is FIU doing the right thing here? Only time will tell.