Shortly after the Big East tournament came to a close, two of the three local Big East programs (St. John’s and Seton Hall) had dismissed their head coaches, with fellow metro institution Rutgers following suit two months later when Fred Hill resigned. Each of the three schools eventually hired new head coaches in a relatively quick fashion after announcing that the previous head men would not be back, and each has seen their own unique level of success.
Mike Dunlap– With the hiring of veteran Mike Dunlap, Coach Lavin brings even more depth and experience to an already well-rounded staff. A former assistant at Arizona and Oregon, Dunlap possesses the same Pac-10 ties Lavin has, and was also an assistant to Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl. Moreover, Dunlap has experience at the head coaching level as well, with stints at Division II school Metropolitan State (Colo.) and the Adelaide 36ers in Australia to pad his vast resume. Dunlap has also written several articles about basketball fundamentals that have been nationally published.
Tony Chiles– Was Lavin’s initial hire, being welcomed to the St. John’s family a week after Lavin was brought on board. A former assistant at Drexel before joining St. John’s, Chiles cut his teeth in the New York area while serving under former St. John’s head man Fran Fraschilla and Jeff Ruland at Manhattan and Iona, respectively. Chiles has an extensive background with guards, player development and scouting reports, as noted in the press release that confirmed his hiring.
Rico Hines– A former player under Coach Lavin at UCLA, Rico Hines spent his last four years as an employee of the Golden State Warriors, working as a player development assistant under Don Nelson, the NBA’s all-time winningest coach. Hines’ work has seen him mentor such stars as Stephen Curry, Anthony Morrow, Monta Ellis, and even fellow UCLA products and Lavin pupils Trevor Ariza and Baron Davis. Hines was endorsed by Nelson shortly after his arrival at St. John’s as having done “an outstanding job developing our younger players,” and “matured into a great assistant coach.” Hines will add nine seniors to the illustrious list of players that have grown under his watch, most notably D.J. Kennedy and Dwight Hardy, both of whom are regarded as potential members of the 2011 NBA draft class.
Maurice Hicks– Coach Lavin gave his staff a local feel with the hiring of Maurice “Moe” Hicks as his director of basketball operations. Hicks is known throughout New York City for his success as the head coach at CHSAA powerhouse Rice High School, where he coached future Big East stars the likes of Andre Barrett, Edgar Sosa, and Kemba Walker before they went on to become stars at Seton Hall, Louisville, and UConn, respectively. Before his five state championships at Rice, Hicks also won a PSAL title at Brandeis High School in Manhattan. Hicks will replace former St. John’s player Billy Singleton in the office, and will schedule team travel, practices and supervise the assistant coaches among other things, while working closely with athletic director Chris Monasch as well.
Derrick Wrobel– Like Mike Dunlap and Coach Lavin as well, Derrick Wrobel is a product of the Pac-10, having spent the last four years at Cal, and comes to St. John’s in an administrative role. The former basketball operations coordinator and director of external relations for the Golden Bears, Wrobel will handle student development, athletic compliance, and the administration of the Steve Lavin basketball camp as some of his many duties. Lavin’s basketball camp will be held this August at Taffner Field House.
Now that each of the Red Storm’s new hires has been analyzed, let’s compare them to their metropolitan area counterparts, who also bring new members to the hardwood for the upcoming season.
Seton Hall-New Pirates head coach Kevin Willard didn’t go very far when he named his top assistant, tabbing former Pirate Shaheen Holloway to come to New Jersey with him as his associate head coach. Holloway spent the last three years as one of Willard’s assistants at Iona. Willard also brought Dan McHale and Casey Stanley with him from New Rochelle, while bringing in Chris Pompey from New Mexico State to round out his staff. Former Pirate player Grant Billmeier will work in the office alongside Stephen Sauers. Once the director of basketball operations under Bobby Gonzalez, Sauers will reprise his role under Willard.
Rutgers-New Scarlet Knights boss Mike Rice wasted little time assembling his staff after being hired last month, naming two assistants in former Hofstra deputy Van Macon, and David Cox, who remains in the Big East after serving under John Thompson III at Georgetown. Rice just recently announced the hire of former NBA veteran Eric Murdock as the director of player development, enabling the New Jersey native to return to the Big East, where he played collegiately at Providence.
How Does Each Staff Rank?
Now that we’ve got you caught up on what Seton Hall and Rutgers have done during the offseason, it’s now time to take a look at how each staff sizes up against one another, and how each will be able to recruit for next season and the future.
1. St. John’s – St. John’s has really turned the corner with the hiring of the aforementioned individuals to join Steve Lavin in the head coach’s quest to return St. John’s to national prominence, and when compared to local and conference rivals Seton Hall and Rutgers, it can be argued that the Johnnies have the edge on the bench. That’s not all, though, as Coach Lavin has displayed why he was lauded as an excellent recruiter with his signing of Los Angeles prep star Dwayne Polee, who was signed several weeks after Lavin came on board. Frenchman Remi Barry is also continuing to weigh St. John’s heavily as he comes closer to making his decision.
2. Rutgers – Considering that Rice was able to get Jordan Goodman to give the Scarlet Knights a verbal for 2012 almost immediately after the coach left Robert Morris to go to Piscataway, Rutgers gets the nod over Seton Hall for the time being, as most of the Pirates’ recruits had committed before Bobby Gonzalez was unceremoniously axed. Rice also has a reputation for being a relentless recruiter as well as a coach, something that will benefit the Scarlet Knights down the road as they look to move into the upper echelon of the Big East.
3. Seton Hall – Nothing against Kevin Willard, but as mentioned before, Seton Hall’s headlining newcomer (Paterson Catholic’s Fuquan Edwin) had committed before the 2009-10 season had even started, when Bobby Gonzalez did not have to worry about job security. Willard did add Patrik Auda of the Czech Republic and Florida prep school standout Anali Okoloji, and while he believes that both will make an immediate impact, Seton Hall already has a talented core of players returning, led by guards Jeremy Hazell and Jordan Theodore, as well as forwards Herb Pope and Jeff Robinson.
While it has been noted that each of the three local programs have already seen their own unique success, the level of short-term improvement will vary between the schools, as each was in a different state before and after replacing its head coach. Seton Hall made last year’s NIT, but was seen as a bubble team even with Willard leaving Iona. It remains to be seen whether or not the Pirates can take the next step in postseason play. Rutgers has been decimated throughout the offseason, as Mike Rosario and Patrick Jackson both transferred in the wake of Fred Hill’s resignation; and even though Mike Rice brings the promise of upward mobility within the Big East, Rutgers is still at least two years away from making waves as far as the postseason is concerned. Finally, St. John’s was already poised for bigger and better things before falling to Memphis in the NIT, and the hire of Steve Lavin should be enough to return the Johnnies to the “Big Dance” for the first time since 2002.
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