Updated 5/19/10 1:00 AM The New York Gauchos have confirmed the hire of Billy Singleton on their Twitter.

Since Maurice Hicks is taking the Director of Basketball operations job at St. John’s that leaves an opening for the New York Gauchos. The buzz around New York is that Billy Singleton is currently the favorite to take the position.

Singleton became the Director of Basketball operations under Norm Roberts in September of 2007. Singleton was a standout player for the Redstorm and graduated from the University in 1991. Singleton was a three-year letter winner at St. John’s and co-captain as a senior in 1991, playing for Hall of Fame Coach Lou Carnesecca and alongside greats such as Malik Sealy, Jayson Williams, Jason Buchanan and Robert Werdann. He played in 96 career contests, averaging 8.7 points per game and 5.7 rebounds with a .478 field goal percentage. He was a member of the 1989 St. John’s NIT Championship team, and is notably remembered for joining Sealy in carrying Carnesecca off the court following the coach’s 500th career win on Feb. 2, 1991.

Following commencement from St. John’s, Singleton enjoyed a 16-year playing career abroad, with stints in Australia, France, Uruguay, Ireland, Chile, Israel, Cyprus and most notably, England, where he remains among the British Basketball League’s (BBL) all-time scoring leaders. Singleton spent a combined 13 seasons playing in the BBL, capturing the league’s championship with the Leicester Raiders, Cheshire Jets and Scottish Rocks.

After spending one season as an assistant coach with the BBL’s Cheshire Jets, Singleton spent the 2005-07 seasons as head coach. With Cheshire, he was responsible for all on-court operations of the club, including: team selection, player development, practice and game preparation while also managing the team’s budget.

A native of the Bronx, Singleton attended Adlai E. Stevenson High School. He is the nephew of current Philadelphia 76ers television analyst Ed Pinckney, who was named the Most Outstanding Player of the 1985 Final Four with Villanova before a 12-year NBA career.

Singleton has had long ties with the Gauchos organization so the move would make a lot of sense and would beneficial for St. John’s in the NYC recruiting wars.

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*Singleton’s bio copied from RedStormSports.com