The Morning Dish – Thursday, August 12th
Arizona Recruit Delayed: Arizona’s Nigerian signee, 7-2 center Charles Okwandu, now is not a part of this season’s plans for the Wildcats. Okwandu, still taking high school classes in Lagos, is not expected to meet the Arizona August 23rd enrollment date for the start of classes. Wildcat officials are not worried about Okwandu’s academics, just the timing, as Nigerian school years run into the fall, delaying Okwandu’s expected arrival in Tucson. Once high school is completed, then Okwandu can be enrolled at Arizona. However, Okwandu must then go through the NCAA clearinghouse, and get a student visa from the U.S. State Department, plus obtain the exit visa from Nigeria. The best-case scenario is that Okwandu can start playing in time for the Winter semester in late December, but he may have to redshirt the season.
Thomas and Mack Back: UNLV announced that the Thomas & Mack Center is now under the UNLV athletic department purview, thus allowing the athletic department to enforce schedules at the arena that previously would disrupt Runnin’ Rebel practices. The T&M, which had been under control of then university’s finance department for the past 21 years, would frequently be unavailable to Rebel athletes, causing ire among coaches by sending the teams to other facilities. Two other facilities, the Cox Arena and the Sam Boyd Stadium, also were moved to athletic department control, though there was less contention regarding those venues.
Hepp Promoted: New Stanford head coach Trent Johnson has named L.J. Hepp as the final assistant on his Cardinal coaching staff. Hepp, who was on former coach Mike Montgomery’s staff as Video Coordinator last season, replaces Russell Turner, who accompanied Montgomery to the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. Hepp was previously a graduate assistant at North Carolina, playing as a walk-on guard on the Tar Heels’ Junior Varsity squad, and graduating in 2001. A noted scholar, Hepp’s Master’s degree in Sport Administration yielded the thesis “The Relationship between Draft Position and Success in the NBA,” which is in the process of being published.
New Bulldog: Former Auburn basketball office administrator Terry Johnson has been named to Butler’s basketball program as Director of Operations. Johnson steps in on Todd Lickliter’s staff to replace LaVall Jordan, who was promoted to assistant coach last month. Johnson has coaching experience as an assistant at Lincoln Trail Junior College (Robinson, Illinois), Indiana Tech, and IUPU-Ft. Wayne (pre-Division I), his alma mater. Johnson also played professionally for the Tri-City Posse in the Western League for two years and the Anderson Lawmen in the Heartland League for one season.
Receiving a Grant: Winthrop has announced the hiring of Earl Grant as an assistant on Gregg Marshall’s coaching staff. Grant comes to Rock Hill from The Citadel, where he was an assistant for the past two seasons. Grant replaces Shaun Golden, who accepted the head coaching position at Newberry College (Newberry, South Carolina) in June. A graduate of Georgia College (Milledgeville, Georgia), Grant led the school to the NCAA D-II Elite Eight in 2000, and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Public Administration from the College of Charleston.
