SoCalHoops College Basketball News

College Coaching:  A Summer Recap--
Who's Where & What Happened--(Aug. 27, 2000)

Three have been at least 46 major D-I coaching changes (among head coaches, that is) which is about 15% of the entirety of Division I.  And taking into account some of the assistant coaching changes, and the hundreds of other moves, contract extensions, hirings and firings in all the divisions, (including D-II, D-III and NAIA, not to mention the JC level), there's a lot that happened this summer that we're even now just catching up on.  We don't know about every single coaching change,  but we've been able to track more than a few.  We've also noted some significant passings, and the occasional hirings of assistants where we either know about it or where it's significant.  And since we haven't posted individual articles for each of the changes as they've occurred , we thought it would be useful to write ust one gigantic summary, a sort of "Everything you wanted to know" type of deal, with every coaching change of note that we heard about since the end of the last college season.   To our knowledge, these don't predate the end of the regular season in February, and most of the changes took place after the conclusion of the Final Four.  

We may have missed some, including even some SoCal coaching changes, but we've tried not to overlook any. Here's what we know:

AIR FORCE-- Reggie Minton resigned on March 13, and was replaced by Joe Scott, a former assistant at Princeton.  Scott, 34, took over for Minton who was fired after the Falcons completed an 8-20 season. Minton, the third basketball coach since the Academy began playing basketball in 1957, was 150-295 in 16 seasons.  In eight seasons as an assistant at Princeton, Scott worked under Hall of Famer Pete Carril and his successor, Bill Carmody. Princeton was 163-61 over that stretch. Minton was this season's co-Mountain West coach of the year.

ALABAMA--A memorial service in May for Robert "Rah Rah" Scott, an Alabama assistant men's coach, attracted friends, co-workers and former teammates and players to Coleman Coliseum. Scott, an assistant basketball coach at Alabama, died of stomach cancer in early May. He was 42. "He was a friend, a co-worker and for the last couple of years he was a teacher to me because of everything that happened," Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried said. "He cared as much about people as anybody I've ever been around. Scott was diagnosed with cancer in September 1999 but missed only two regular season games last season. He played on a state championship team at Birmingham's Parker High School. After his Alabama career, he was picked in the fourth round by Golden State in the 1980 NBA draft and played professionally overseas for six years.

ALBERTSON COLLEGE--Named Mark Owen men's basketball coach.

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY-- Art Perry resigned in March, and was replaced by Jeff Jones, 39, who left Virginia under difficult circumstances two years ago. The Eagles haven't had a winning record since 1990-91, when they went 15-14. This season, they finished 11-18 under Art Perry. Jones guided Virginia to five NCAA Tournaments in eight seasons, including a surprise run to the final eight in 1995. But the program then went 41-47 over three years. Jones was forced to resign March 15, 1998, finishing with a 146-104 record and had not had a head coaching job since then.

APPALACHIAN STATE--Promoted Houston Fancher to replace Buzz Peterson as head coach.  Peterson resigned to take the vacant Tulsa job. Fancher later hired Joes Haskins as an assistant coach. 

ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK--Porter Moser was hired as men's basketball coach at Arkansas-Little Rock, replacing former NBA star Sidney Moncrief, who resigned after one season to take a job with the Dallas Mavericks. Moser later hired Steve Shields and Kwanza Johnson as his assistant coaches.

AUBURN--Assistant Mike LaPlante resigned to take the Jacksonville State head coaching job.

BALL STATE-- Tim Buckley, who spent five seasons as an assistant coach at Ball State, is back with the Cardinals as their new head basketball coach. Buckley, 36, is the school's 16th men's coach, replacing Ray McCallum who left Ball State after seven seasons to become head coach at the University of Houston.

BINGHAMTON STATE-Named Randy Dunton men's assistant basketball coach.

BLOOMFIELD-Named Jack Sullivan as men's basketball coach.

BUTLER--Barry Collier was replaced by Thad Matta, 32,   in early April.  Matta, a 1990 Butler graduate and an assistant at Butler under Collier for three years, was hired after Collier accepted the head coaching job at Nebraska, concluding an 11 year career at the school.

BYU--Stan Watts, who coached Brigham Young for 23 years and was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, died at 88 this past April. Watts coached the Cougars from 1949-72, compiling a 372-254 record. His teams won eight conference championships and two NIT championships.

CAL BERKELEY--Men's Assistant Scott Beeton resigned to take the SUNY-Albany men's head coaching position which was vacated when Scott Hicks resigned earlier this summer to take the Loyola Maryland job.  As of this writing, Cal is still looking for a replacement.

CAL POLY POMONA--Tim Rapp, who guided the Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball team to two consecutive winning seasons, resigned his head coaching position.  Rapp, who was 32-22 in his two seasons (one as interim head coach) decided to move to Australia with his wife and their two children.  Greg Kamansky, who was promoted to associate head coach in April, was named interim head coach. Kamansky has been an assistant coach at Cal Poly for the past two seasons.

CAL STATE FULLERTON--Bob Hawking was fired on February 23, and was later replaced by Donny Daniels, an 11 year first assistant to Rick Majerus at Utah on April 20.  Daniels hired Rob Orellana from Fairleigh-Dickinson and Jason Levy from Portland as his top assistants.

CAL STATE SACRAMENTO-- Fired third year head coach Tom Abatemarco (who went to Rhode Island as an assistant) and replaced him with Jerome Jenkins as interim coach on March 17.

CAL STATE SAN BERNARDINO--Former San Bernardino Valley College men's basketball coach Jeff Oliver has been hired as an assistant at Cal State San Bernardino. Last year at SBVC, Oliver was named the Foothill Conference coach of the year after guiding the Indians to an 11-3 conference record. Oliver was a part-time assistant at Cal State during the Coyotes' 1998-99 season, in which they won the West Regional tournament and advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight.

CAMPBELLSVILLE-Named Keith Adkins men's basketball coach.

CHARLESTON SOUTHERN-- Tom Conrad resigned on March 29, and was replaced by Jim Platt on May 3.

CINCINNATI -- The Los Angeles Clippers offered their head coaching job to University of Cincinnati coach Bob Huggins, who turned it down.

COLORADO STATE-- After telling Colorado State that he had reached his dream job, Ritchie McKay found another dream at Oregon State, whree Eddie Payne had just been terminated.  McKay resigned on March 24, and he was replaced by Dale Layer on April 11 as the men's head coach. Layer, a 41 year old assistant at Colorado State the last two seasons, was promoted to men's head basketball coach after coaching at Queens College in Charlotte, N.C., for nine years, leading his team to five winning seasons and two trips to the NCAA Division II Tournament while compiling a 168-87 record. He was twice named the NCAA regional coach of the year. The Rams finished 18-12 last season, 8-6 in the Mountain West Conference

CONCORDIA, ST. PAUL-Named Jim Datka men's basketball coach.

CORNELL--Scott Thompson resigned as the men's head coach on July 28, and as of this writing has not yet been replaced.

DELAWARE--David Henderson, a former assistant for Duke, was hired July 21 as the head coach, replacing Mike Brey, who resigned July 14.  Delaware also hired Josh Oppenheimer as the number one assistant.  Oppenheimer had been an assistant at Dusquesne and before that coached with the LA Rockfish club program. Henderson served as an assistant to Duke's Mike Krzyzewski for the last three seasons. He also played for the Blue Devils from 1983-86, and was co-captain of Duke's 1986 Final Four team.

DELAWARE STATE--Tony Sheals left Delaware State on March 15 and was replaced by Greg Jackson on May 15.

EASTERN--Named Mike Schauer men's basketball coach.

EASTERN KENTUCKY- Scott Perry resigned on March 7, and was replaced by Travis Ford on April 4.  Ford, a former star guard at Kentucky who coached Campbellsville the last three seasons, replaced Perry, who resigned after a three-year record of 19-61 overall and 12-42 in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Colonels were 6-21 this season, winning only two OVC games. Ford was the Southeastern Conference Tournament MVP in 1993 and 1994, and MVP in the 1993 NCAA tournament Southeast Regional, when Kentucky advanced to the Final Four under coach Rick Pitino.  Ford was Mid-South Conference Coach of the Year in 1999 when Campbellsville was 28-3.

EASTERN MICHIGAN--Milton Barnes resigned on March 6, and was replaced by Jim Boone March 28.

EASTERN WASHINGTON-- Steve Aggers resigned from EWU on April 5 to take the vacant Loyola Marymount job in Los Angeles following the firing of Charles Bradley.  Aggers' replacement is Ray Giacoletti, who took the head coaching job at EWU the same day Aggers left.

DOMINICAN COLLEGE.-Named Bill Treseler men's basketball coach.

DUKE--Former Duke basketball player Chris Collins was been picked to replace David Henderson as an assistant coach for the Blue Devils.

EASTERN NEW MEXICO-Named Shawn Scanlan men's basketball coach.

ETSU--Named Tom Conrad and Scott Wagers men's assistant basketball coaches.

EUREKA-Named Mike DeGeorge men's basketball coach.

FELICIAN-Named Darryl Jacobs men's basketball coach.

FLORIDA--Billy Donovan received a $1.2 million-per-year contract extension for leading the Gators to the national championship game. Donovan signed a five-year, $6 million deal which brings him even with football coach Steve Spurrier ($2 million per year) in the million-dollar category. The deal also brings him even with Kentucky coach Tubby Smith as the highest-paid basketball coach in the Southeastern Conference. Donovan's contract is among the richest for basketball coaches. Duke's Mike Krzyzewski earns about $1.6 million a year.

FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL-- Donnie Marsh, an assistant basketball coach at Virginia Tech the past three years, took over as head coach at Florida International in early May. Marsh, 44, replaced Marcos "Shakey" Rodriguez, who resigned last month after five seasons at Florida International.

GREENSBORO--Announced the resignation of Bill Chambers, men's basketball coach.

GEORGIA TECH--Longtime coach Bobby Cremins resigned on February 18 after leading GTech to a 354-237 record in 19 seasons and three ACC titles and 14 NCAA and NIT berths.  He was replaced by Paul Hewitt, 36, from Siena College.

HARTFORD--Paul Brazeau resigned from Hartford on March 5, and was replaced by Larry Harrison, who was named the eighth head coach at Hartford's men's basketball program on April 20, after serving as an assistant coach for 14 years at the D-I level with DePaul and Cincinnati

HOUSTON--Hired Ray McCallum, 39,  as men's head basketball coach. McCallum was head coach at Ball State for seven years. McCallum replaced Clyde Drexler, who resigned on March 30.  During seven years at Ball State, McCallum took the Cardinals to the NCAA Tournament twice, including last season.  Drexler had retired from an All-Star NBA career two years ago to take over at his alma mater. School officials hoped to return Houston to its basketball prominence of the early 1980s, when Drexler and the rest of the "Phi Slama Jama" teams went to the Final Four three straight years. Drexler's teams, however, went 10-17 and 9-22.

HOWARD UNIVERSITY--Hired Frankie Allen as men's head basketball coach. Allen formerly coached this past season at Tennessee State, where he resigned in March after a 7-22 season.  He replaced Billy Coward (a volunteer kicking coach on the Howard football team) who acted as interim coach after Kirk Saulny and two of his assistants were fired January 7, 2000 after an internal school investigation revealed that Saulny had broken "unspecified" NCAA and school rules.

IDAHO STATE  (See also OREGON)--Steve Belko, who coached basketball at Idaho State and Oregon and was a former commissioner of the Big Sky Conference, died in May of natural causes in a Boise hospital. He was 84. Belko was 109-51 at then-Idaho State College from 1951 through 1956. He was named Rocky Mountain Conference coach of the year three times. Belko left in 1956 to become head coach at Oregon. He coached there until 1971, compiling a 179-211 record, twice taking the Ducks to the NCAA tournament. He served as Big Sky commissioner from 1977-81. Belko played football for the University of Idaho, graduating in 1939.

ILLINOIS--Completed a five-year contract with new basketball coach Bill Self,  a deal worth at least $825,000 a year. Self got the job when former Illini Lon Kruger got the Atlanta Hawks job. Self resigned the Tulsa head coaching position to take the Illinois job.  He was replaced at Tulsa by  Buzz Peterson who came from Appalachian State.

INCARNATE WORD--Named Al Grushkin men's basketball coach.

INDIANA--Bobby Knight hung on to his job, at least for the short-term despite being under intense scrutiny and a major university investigation into allegations that he punched, choked and otherwise abused current and former players.  

JACKSON STATE--Signed Andy Stoglin, men's basketball coach, to a two-year contract.

JACKSONVILLE STATE--Mike LaPlante, an assistant for four years at Auburn, was hired as men's basketball coach at Jacksonville State in early May. LaPlante played at Maine from 1985-89 and started his career as a Yale assistant. Jacksonville State went 17-10 last season -- including a 12-6 mark in the Trans America Conference.   La Plante replaced Mark Turgeon who resigned on March 10.

KANSAS STATE--Fired Tom Asbury and replaced him with Jim Woolridge as head coach.  Woolridge was formerly an assistant with the NBA Chicago Bulls.  In early June, KState reached a settlement with Asbury on his contract, which had two years to run when he was fired.  As a result of the firing, KState released Crenshaw's E.J. Harris from his signed letter of intent, and Harris has now signed a scholarship agreement with Washington State, where he'll enroll with his former teammate, Tommy Johnson.

KANSAS STATE (See also UTAH)--Former Utah and Kansas State coach Jack Gardner, the only coach to take two schools to the NCAA Final Four two different times, died in April at the age of  90. Gardner, elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984, died after a long illness. Best known for putting the "run" in "Runnin' Utes," Gardner's teams employed a revolutionary fast-break style during an era when many teams still relied on set shots. Gardner's teams routinely scored in the 70s or higher, capitalizing on the talents of players like All-America Billy McGill, who led the nation in scoring in 1961-62 at 38.8 points a game.

KENNESAW STATE-Named Tony Ingle men's basketball coach.

KENTUCKY STATE-Named Winston Bennett men's basketball coach.

KINGS POINT-Named Joseph Conefry men's assistant basketball coach.

KUTZTOWN-Named Bernie Driscoll men's basketball coach.

LA VERNE-- Gabe Duran, an assistant coach for the past two seasons, has been named head coach of the University of La Verne men's basketball team. Duran replaces Dan Mulville, who recently left to take a position with the Cal Poly Pomona men's basketball program.  La Verne finished third in Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play the past two years. Duran was a two-year starter at point guard prior to becoming an assistant coach.  The university will conduct a search for a permanent head coach in March 2001.

LE MOYNE--Named Steve Evans men's basketball coach.

LEHMAN--Named Steven Schulman men's basketball coach to replace Darryl Jacobs, who resigned in April.

LIFE UNIVERSITY--Named John Barrett men's basketball coach.   Barrett replaced Life University basketball coach Roger Kaiser, who led the Running Eagles to three NAIA basketball championships in the past four years, who announced his retirement in early June.

LONG BEACH STATE--Signed Wayne Morgan, men's basketball coach, to a three-year contract extension through the 2003-04 season.

LORAS-Named Chad Walthall men's basketball coach.

LOYOLA-MD--Scott Hicks, former coach at SUNY-Albany, was hired as men's basketball coach at Loyola-Maryland.  He replaced Dino Guadio, who resigned after three seasons.

LOYOLA MARYMOUNT (CA)--Hired Steve Aggers from Eastern Washington University to replace Charles Bradley who was fired before the end of the season.

MEDGAR EVERS--Named Robert Holford men's basketball coach.

MEMPHIS-- Johnny Jones was replaced by John Calipari

MIAMI FLORIDA--After signing a contract extension in early April which would have kept him at Miami at least through the 2006-07 season, which would have paid him $400,000 per year, Leonard Hamilton resigned on June 14 to become the head coach of the NBA Wizards, signing a contract worth far more than Miami could have ever hoped to pay him.  Miami then hired former Tulane coach Perry Clark as head basketball coach after Rick Pitino turned the school down.  Pitino decided to stay with the Celtics. Denny Crum also turned down the job and decided to stay at Louisville.

MICHIGAN STATE--Tom Izzo, who led Michigan State to the NCAA basketball title turned down a lucrative offer to coach the Atlanta Hawks and will return to the Spartans.

MINNESOTA--Bill Musselman, who endured a turbulent stay at the University of Minnesota in the 1970s and became the first coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves, died in early May at the age of 59. The cause of death was heart and kidney failure, a Mayo Clinic spokesman said. Musselman died at the clinic's St. Mary's Hospital. Musselman earlier told reporters that he had bone marrow cancer. He had a stroke on Oct. 28, 1999 and had been hospitalized off and on since. Musselman, fiery, intense and always bounding from his sideline seat, was a basketball vagabond, coaching at all levels of the game. He held 14 head coaching jobs over 35 years and had been an assistant with the Portland Trail Blazers since 1997. He became coach of the Timberwolves in 1989 and coached them two seasons. He also coached the Cleveland Cavaliers for two seasons and had a record of 233-84 as a college coach at Ashland, Minnesota and South Alabama.

MISSISSIPPI STATE-Named Phil Cunningham men's assistant basketball coach.

MISSOURI-KANSAS CITY--Dean Demopoulos, a top assistant under John Chaney at national power Temple, was hired as the new head coach at Missouri-Kansas City Bob Sundvold, former UMKC head coach was unexpectedly fired earlier in June by the school. 

NEBRASKA--Danny Nee was replaced by Barry Collier as the new men's head coach on April 5. Collier, whose Butler team nearly upset NCAA tournament runner-up Florida in the first round, replaced Nee, who was fired March 13 after 14 seasons at Nebraska. The Huskers went 11-19 this season, matching the school's worst loss total. Nebraska has made the NCAA tournament six times but has never gotten past the first round. Nebraska's interest in Collier increased when Bill Self chose to remain with Tulsa (he later quit Tulsa to take the Illinois job). Collier coached Butler for 11 seasons, compiling a 196-132 record. The Indianapolis school has won at least 20 games in each of the last four seasons.

NEW ENGLAND COLLEGE-Gino Valente became the new men's basketball coach.

NEW HAMPSHIRE--Named Cory McClure men's assistant basketball coach.

NOTRE DAME-- Matt Doherty resigned as head coach at Notre Dame to return to his alma mater, North Carolina as head coach.  Notre Dame replaced Doherty with Mike Brey, who was hired on July 14.

NORTH CAROLINA-Bill Guthridge, a 30 year assistant for Dean Smith, the winningest head coach in basketball history, and head coach at UNC for three years after replacing Smith, resigned and was replaced by Matt Doherty, a starter on North Carolina's 1982 NCAA national championship team, was hired as Tar Heels' coach Tuesday, the first former player from the storied program to return as coach in 75 years.

NORTH CAROLINA A&T-Signed Curtis Hunter, interim men's basketball coach, to a four-year contract.

NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL-Announced the resignation of Greg Jackson, men's basketball coach.

NORTHWESTERN IOWA--Named Kris Korver men's basketball coach.

OREGON STATE-- Eddie Payne was fired unexpetedly by OSU and later threatened to sue the school for the manner in which his termination was handled, which by all accounts was poor.  Ritchie McKay, head coach at Colorado State, was hired about two weeks later to replace Payne.

PATTEN-Announced the resignation of Dave Weber, director of athletics and men's basketball coach and then named Nicolas Colon men's basketball coach.

PENN STATE--Jerry Dunn withdrew his name from consideration for the head coaching position at Tulane when Perry Clark left, and decided to remain at Penn State.

PENN ST.-NEW KENSINGTON-Announced the resignation of Samba Johnson, men's basketball coach. We do not know who replaced him.

PEPPERDINE--Named Benjy Taylor and Sean Farnham as men's assistant basketball coaches.

PHILADELPHIA-Named Jesse Balcer men's assistant basketball coach.

ROBERT MORRIS COLLEGE--Jim Boone resigned on March 28 to take the Eastern Michigan job, and was replaced by Danny Nee in April as the new men's head coach. Nee was fired in March at Nebraska despite winning more games than any basketball coach in school history. The Colonials rarely draw more than 1,000 for home games, despite making five NCAA tournament appearances since 1983. However, the Colonials now have two well-known coaches in Nee and football coach Joe Walton, the former New York Jets coach. Robert Morris also began making recruiting inroads under Boone as rivals Pittsburgh and Duquesne stumbled to a succession of losing seasons.

RUTGERS--Extended basketball coach Kevin Bannon's contract by three years through 2005-2006.

SALISBURY STATE-Named Steve Holmes men's basketball coach.

SAMFORD-Extended the contract of Jimmy Tillette, men's basketball coach, from 7-to-10 years, through the 2010 season.

SIENA--Hired Louis Orr, 42, former Syracuse asssistant as men's head coach.   He replaces Paul Hewitt, who took over at Georgia Tech (replacing Bobby Cremins after 19 years).  Hewitt was credited with turning the Siena program into a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference power. Orr then hired William Garrett and John Dunne as men's assistant basketball coaches .

SHAW-Named Joel Hopkins men's basketball coach.   Hopkins was the former head coach at Mt. Zion Christian Academy.

SOUTH CAROLINA STATE--Signed Cy Alexander, men's basketball coach, to a contract extension through 2004.

SOUTHEAST MISSOURI STATE--Like St. Bonaventure coach Jim Baron, SE Missouri State men's coach Gary Garner talked with the Colorado State folks, but decided to stay at Southeast Missouri State and not accept the basketball coaching job at Colorado State. Garner considered Colorado State, saying he was intrigued about coaching against Utah's Rick Majerus and other coaches in the Mountain West Conference. Garner is 58-29 in three years at Southeast Missouri State. This year, the Indians were the Ohio Valley Conference co-champions and won the OVC Tournament. They lost to Louisiana State in first-round NCAA Tournament action.

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA--Henry Bibby received a three-year extension that puts him under contract through the 2004-05 season. Bibby was appointed interim coach on Feb. 7, 1996, when Charlie Parker was fired. He was hired on a permanent basis five weeks later. Bibby's record at USC is 57-57, and his teams have had three winning records in his four seasons there. The Trojans were 9-9 in the Pac-10 and 16-14 overall last season. Bibby's 2000-2001 team returns all five starters -- Brian Scalabrine, Sam Clancy, David Bluthenthal, Jeff Trepagnier and Brandon Granville.

SOUTHWEST TEXAS STATE-- Dennis Nutt was hired on April 10 to replace Mike Miller (geez, how many of them are there out there?) who resigned after six years on March 20 to become assistant head coach at Kansas State.   Nutt had been an assistant at Arkansas State for the past five years. Nutt is also the brother of Arkansas State head coach Dickie Nutt and Arkansas football coach Houston Nutt.   Miller was 87-79 at Southwest Texas. An Arkansas State assistant for the past five seasons, Nutt played for TCU from 1981-1985. He earned team MVP awards his final two seasons. He also played for the Dallas Mavericks from 1986-88.

ST BONAVENTURE-- Head basketball coach Jim Baron was given permission to talk to Colorado State about the head job there after Ritchi McKay resigned to take the Oregon State job following the termination of Eddie Payne, but decided to stay at St. Bonaventure.

STEPHEN AUSTIN--Derek Allister resigned in February and was replaced by Danny Kaspar.

ST. JOHNS--Mike Jarvis turned down the head coaching job of the Washington Wizards and decided to remain as head coach at St. Johns.

ST. LEO--Named Conrad Foss men's assistant basketball coach.

ST PETERS--Bob Leckie was hired as head men's coach to replace Rodger Blind.

STETSON-Named Rod Popp men's assistant basketball coach.

STONEHILL-Named Kevin O'Brien men's basketball coach.

SUNY-ALBANY--Hired former Cal assistant men's coach Scott Beeton as head coach, following the resignation of Scott Hicks, who took the head job at Loyola-Maryland. 

SYRACUSE-Named Troy Weaver men's assistant basketball coach. Promoted men's assistant basketball coach Bernie Fine to associate head coach. Bernie Fine succeeded to Louis Orr's job when Orr was hired in April as the men's head coach at Siena.

TENNESSEE STATE-Named Nolan Richardson III men's basketball coach. Richardson worked with his father at Arkansas for 10 years. Richardson replaced Frankie Allend, who resigned after a 7-22 season. Allen then took the head coaching job at Howard University in Washington, DC.

TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE-Announced the retirement of Paul Peak, men's basketball coach. Named Sam Walker men's basketball coach.

TEXAS-DALLAS-Named Terry Butterfield men's basketball coach.

TEXAS LUTHERAN-Announced the retirement of Jim Shuler, men's basketball coach.

TEXAS-PAN AMERICAN--Delray Brooks, former coach of the University of Texas-Pan American men's basketball team, pleaded no contest in May to stealing $25,000 from the school.

TROY STATE-Signed Don Maestri, men's basketball coach, to a three-year contact extension.

TULANE--Kentucky assistant Shawn Finney was hired as Tulane's basketball coach taking over a team that was among the best last season in Conference USA. He replaces Perry Clark, who became coach at Miami after 11 years at Tulane.

TULSA-- Buzz Peterson left Applachian State and was hired as the Tulsa men's basketball head coach, replacing Bill Self, who left Tulsa to take the Illinois head coaching job. On March 31, Self told Tulsa that he had decided to accept "an enhanced deal" and withdraw from consideration for the Nebraska job, which he had been considering, thus paving the way for Nebraska to hire Bobby Collier.  At the time, Self cited the community's support in deciding to stick with the Golden Hurricane, which finished with its first appearance in an NCAA tournament regional final. Self reportedly chose between a deal worth $800,000 to $1 million at Nebraska and a Tulsa compensation package enhanced by a fund-raising drive among corporate leaders, which was estimated to have increased his yearly compensation from $350,000 to $650,000. Evidently it wasn't enough and Self took the Illinois job rather than stay at Tulsa.

TUSKEGEE-Named Oliver Jones men's basketball coach.

UC-IRVINE-- Pat Douglass, who guided UC-Irvine's basketball team to a 14-14 record last season, received a contract extension through the 2003-04 season. Douglass is in his third season. Irvine's 14 wins were an eight-game improvement from the previous season, which tied a school record.

URSINUS-Announced the resignation of George White, men's basketball coach.

UTAH (See also KANSAS STATE)--Former Utah and Kansas State coach Jack Gardner, the only coach to take two schools to the NCAA Final Four two different times, died in April at the age of  90. Gardner, elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984, died after a long illness. Best known for putting the "run" in "Runnin' Utes," Gardner's teams employed a revolutionary fast-break style during an era when many teams still relied on set shots. Gardner's teams routinely scored in the 70s or higher, capitalizing on the talents of players like All-America Billy McGill, who led the nation in scoring in 1961-62 at 38.8 points a game.

UTAH STATE-- Extended basketball coach Stew Morrill's contract through 2008. The Aggies won the Big West title last season before losing to Connecticut in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Morrill is 261-157 in 14 years as a college coach. He was 97-52 in five seasons at Montana and 121-86 in seven seasons at Colorado State.

VILLANOVA-Signed Steve Lappas, men's basketball coach, to a contract extension through the 2003-04 season. The school also named Steve Pinone men's associate head basketball coach and Chris Walker men's assistant basketball coach.

VIRGINIA TECH-- Assistant men's coach Donnie Marsh resigned to take the head coaching job at Florida International University.

WASHINGTON--Washington basketball coach Bob Bender's contract was extended by one year in April, and it now runs five years, through 2005. The contract pays him an annual base salary of about $375,000. Bender has a record of 95-104 in seven seasons at Washington. His tenure includes two NIT appearances and two in the NCAA tournament, with a trip to the regional semifinals in 1998. The Huskies (10-20, 5-13)   finished tied for eighth in the Pac-10 last season.

WAYNE STATE, NEBRASKA--Named Rico Burkett men's basketball coach.

WESTERN CAROLINA--Steve Shurina replaced Phil Hopkins as men's head basketball coach. Shurina, an assistant coach at Vanderbilt, was hired two weeks after Western Carolina fired Phil Hopkins, who compiled a 65-76 record in five years, including a 14-14 mark last season. Shurina, 34, received a four-year contract with a base salary of $100,000. Last season was his first at Vanderbilt after seven years at Davidson, like Western Carolina a member of the Southern Conference. Shurina played at St. John's and began his coaching career as an assistant at Brooklyn College, where he received a master's degree in physical education and sports management.

WESTERN MICHIGAN-- Robert McCullum was hired to replace Bob Donewald.

WILBERFORCE-Named Steve Tucker men's basketball coach and athletics director.

WILLIAM & MARY--Rick Boyages, an assistant coach at Ohio State the last three years, was hired as the basketball coach at William & Mary. He replaces Charlie Woollum, who retired in May.  Woollum, 59, was 69-94 at William & Mary. He led the Tribe to a 20-7 record in 1997-98, the school's first 20-victory season in 15 years. Woollum also coached at Bucknell for 19 years before taking over the Tribe. The Tribe finished 11-17 last season, giving Woollum a 387-315 career mark.

WICHITA STATE-- Randy Smithson resigned on March 5, and was replaced by Mark Turgeon on March 11.

WISCONSIN--Coach Dick Bennett announced on April 10 that he would return to Wisconsin for another year, trying to build on the success of the Badgers' improbable run to the Final Four. Bennett considered retirement after Wisconsin lost 53-41 to national champion Michigan State in the NCAA semifinals. Bennett led the Badgers to their first Final Four since 1941.

WYOMING--Extended Steve McClain's contract by two years, which will now expire after the 2005 season and he will receive another $59,000 a year.The raise includes $10,000 to bring his state-funded base salary to $110,008, a $24,000 annual housing allowance from funds raised by the athletic department and a $25,000 contribution from the Cowboy Joe Club, a sports booster group. The package including summer camp and shoe contract income will exceed $300,000 for next fiscal year, university president Philip Dubois and athletic director Lee Moon said. McClain will get $5,000 if three of his top 12 scholarship athletes receive all-conference or GTE academic honors and $10,000 if half earn the honors. McClain, 37, has a 37-22 record in two seasons, including 24-3 at home.

 
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