Rutgers Head Men’s Basketball Coach Steve Pikiell announced the hiring of Dan Rickard as Senior Advisor, Greg Vetrone as Director of Player Development, Ben Asher as Special Assistant to the Head Coach and Bryan Dougher as Director of Basketball Operations.
“I am incredibly pleased to complete our staff with hard-working and dedicated individuals who not only have great knowledge of the game, but also understand the region’s college basketball landscape,” said Pikiell. “Dan, Greg, Ben and Bryan are all tremendous relationship builders. Their skill sets will be extremely valuable in creating a winning culture.”
Rickard spent the past 11 seasons at Stony Brook, where he was promoted to assistant coach in 2007. With the Seawolves, he served as offensive coordinator while focusing on backcourt player development, recruiting, game and practice planning, scouting and film. This past season, he was instrumental in the SBU achieving a 26-7 (14-2) record that featured the America East Conference regular and post-season titles and an NCAA Tournament berth.
A student-athlete at Stony Brook from 2002-04, Rickard helped the basketball team reach the America East Championship semifinals as a senior, the furthest the program had advanced in the tournament at that time. A 2004 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics, he went on to earn his Master of Arts in Liberal Studies at the school while beginning his career as the men’s basketball graduate assistant coach.
Vetrone possesses more than 25 years of coaching experience at the collegiate and high school levels and served four seasons (2009-13) as head coach at Fairleigh Dickinson. He remains “On the Banks” after working the past two seasons as an assistant coach with the Scarlet Knights and is credited with recruitment of Corey Sanders, Jonathan Laurent, Deshawn Freeman andShaquille Doorson.
A Queens, N.Y. native, Vetrone served as a player development consultant with the Canarias Basketball Academy in 2013-14 and has extensive background on the hardwood. He began his career in 1985 as an assistant coach at his alma mater, LIU-CW Post, before also working as an assistant at California-Irvine (1991-95) and UNLV (1995-99). He also served as a consultant for the Grass Roots Program/Reebok from 2002-07 and was the manager for Coaches versus Cancer from 2004-06.
Asher arrives in Piscataway after serving as Director of Operations at Siena under Jimmy Patsos last season. The Saints posted a 21-13 overall record and competed in the CBI postseason tournament. He was instrumental in the day-to-day activities of the team, including travel, practices, meals, facility use, camps and recruiting.
An Oyster Bay, N.Y. native, Asher spent two seasons (2013-15) in the ACC as a graduate assistant at NC State under Mark Gottfried. The Wolfpack advanced to the Sweet 16 in 2015, after reaching the ACC quarterfinal and advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament in 2014. Prior to arriving in Raleigh, Asher worked as the head student manager at West Virginia, where he earned a Regents Bachelor of Arts degree in 2013.
Dougher, who graduated as Stony Brook’s all-time leading scorer in its Division I history, spent the 2014-16 seasons as the school’s Director of Basketball Operations. He was responsible for a variety of administrative tasks in the role, including team travel, scheduling practices, official visits and recruiting records, fundraising initiatives, alumni events, ticket requests, housing, financial aid, video needs, operating budgets, equipment purchases and disbursement, camps and clinics, and student-athlete academics.
A Scotch Plains, N.J. native, Dougher was a four-year starter at point guard for Stony Brook from 2008-12 and developed into one of the best players in program history. In 126 career games, he averaged 12.8 points, shot 37.4 percent from three-point range and compiled 234 assists and 125 steals. A first-team All-America East pick, he earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Management in 2012, before two successful professional seasons abroad in the Australian Basketball Association.
http://www.scarletknights.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/042616aaa.html
Photo Courtesy Rutgers Athletics
