The Morning Dish – Friday, September 17th
NABC Down to Four: The National Association of Basketball Coaches rescinded their proposal from earlier this summer to allow men’s basketball players a fifth year of eligibility. The proposal, which was aimed at improving graduation rates among D-I student-athletes, was part of a larger package of changes and improvements to improve college basketball. The remainder of the package, including recruiting reforms, including tryouts and allowing additional coach-player communication, will still be forwarded to the NCAA Management Council, and an initial vote is expected in January.
Wait, Wait: Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim showed off his offcourt acumen last night during a live taping of the popular National Public Radio quiz show “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me”. Boeheim, present for a taping at the Crouse Hinds Concert Theater in Syracuse, participated on the show as part of a fundraiser for station WRVO in Oswego. He was featured in a segment called “Not My Job”, where celebrities answer questions outside their area of expertise. According to the AP, Boeheim even joked to host Peter Sagal, “I know you’re from Washington. Is Georgetown still there?”. Boeheim also joked that he told former SU star Carmelo Anthony, “Do you want to hear my voice for another year or make $11 million?”. Boeheim answered two of three technology questions correctly, resulting in local resident Larry Smith getting NPR News anchor Carl Kasell’s voice on his answering machine. The show will be aired on NPR stations tomorrow. Check local listings.
Bluejay Comes Home: Creighton head coach Dana Altman announced the hiring of Brian Fish as an assistant on his Bluejay coaching staff. Fish, who recently left San Diego after two seasons on Brad Holland’s staff, returns to Altman’s coaching staff after eight years. Fish was on Altman’s Marshall coaching staff in 1989 as a grad assistant, and later worked with Altman as film/video coordinator at Kansas State and Altman’s first two seasons at Creighton. Fish then left for TCU in 1996 as an assistant to Billy Tubbs. As a player, Fish played two seasons at Western Kentucky in the mid-80’s under Clem Haskins, and transferred to Marshall for his final two years, which were under Altman. Altman also announced that longtime Creighton employee Len Gordy had been appointed Director of Basketball Operations. Gordy has been associated with the staff since the mid-90’s.
New Demon Deacon: Meanwhile, Wake Forest announced that former player Tim Fuller has returned to Winston-Salem as Director of Basketball Operations for Skip Prosser’s coaching staff. Fuller, who played on Tim Duncan’s Deacon squads, and was co-captain of the 2000 NIT Championship team. After graduating from Wake, Fuller was an intern with the ACC’s Assistant Commissioner’s office, was a volunteer assistant coach at North Carolina A&T, and was an assistant at Elon for the past two seasons. Prior to joining Wake Forest, Fuller had been named as the Director of Basketball Operations for new ACC member Miami under former Wake Forest assistant coach Frank Haith.
