The Morning Dish – Tuesday, June 3rd:
New Top Seahawk: Reports out of New York indicate that Mike Deane will be named today as the new head coach at Wagner, replacing Dereck Whittenburg, who bolted for Fordham last month. A news conference is scheduled for 2:00 pm Eastern. Deane had previously coached Siena, Marquette, and, most recently Lamar, all of which he had taken to the NCAA Tournament. Holding a 343-219 all-time record, Deane was usurped by Billy Tubbs at Lamar this season. Deane has beaten out the other favorite, current Wagner assistant Jim Meil, who came with Whittenburg to the program, as well as former Duke and NBA player Bobby Hurley.
Bonnie Report: St. Bonaventure will be submitting a report on all of the violations and breakdowns over the past year in the next few weeks to the NCAA. AD Paul Grys indicated that the NCAA had been investigating the events that led to the forfeiture of six A-10 Conference games, and the eventual resignation or termination of head coach JvBK, the AD, an assistant, and the president of the university. Yikes. The NCAA can sanction the school further for illegally fast-tracking the application of welding-certificate holder and forward Jamil Terrell.
Subtraction at USF: New University of South Florida head coach Robert McCullum has suspended sophomore forward Yusuf Baker for unspecified violations of team policy. Baker, who averaged almost 5 points and 5 boards per game. It’s not known whether Baker will be back with the Bulls. Just a few weeks ago McCullum had to cancellation of Sheldon Franklin’s scholarship due to questionable SAT scores. Last season former coach Seth Greenberg had to deal with the departures of three players as well: Greg Brittain (NCAA suspension), Will McDonald (battery charges) and Terrence Leather (left the bench during a game).
Addition at USF: Steve Henson was named as an acting assistant coach at South Florida. Henson, formerly an assistant for the Atlanta Hawks for Lon Kruger and later Terry Stott, has collegiate experience with Illinois. Henson actually played for head coach Robert McCullum when McCallum was an assistant at Kansas State.
New Salukis: Southern Illinois named both Paul Lusk and Jack Owens new assistants for Matt Painter’s staff. Lusk, who was a former guard with the the Salukis in the early 90s, and spent several years playing professionally in Argentina, followed an assistant job at Missouri Southern, and a head coaching position at D-III University of Dubuque. Owens, who was a guard at Howard (Texas) Community College before playing for Eastern Illinois in the late 90s. Owens then served as an assistant at Howard CC, followed by Barton County (Kansas) JC, and lastly as an assistant at Eastern Illinois last season.
