Thursday, April 24, 2008

Buzz Williams hires two assistant coaches

Rosiak breaks the news in a blog loaded with great information -- Buzz Williams hired two assistant coaches today:
  • Tony Benford from Nebraska (by way of Arizona State and New Mexico)
  • David "Aki" Collins from Fairfield (by way of Marshall, Howard and Colorado)
From the Nebraska athletics site a few key points on Tony Benford:
  • Native of Hobbs, NM
  • Played collegiately at Texas Tech
  • Collegiate assistant coach since 1993
  • Assistant coach and later associate head coach at Arizona State (eight seasons in Tempe)
  • Assistant coach at Nebraska since 2006
From the Fairfield athletics site a few key points on Aki Collins.
  • Native of Brooklyn, NY
  • Played collegiately at Morehouse College and Clark College
  • Assistant coach at Fairfield since 2006
  • Assistant coach at Marshall for three seasons
  • Assistant coach at Colorado for three seasons
Welcome to Marquette, gentlemen.

The net: Buzz Williams hires a pair of coaches with recruiting chops, with relationships in different parts of the country, and gets the added benefit of Benford's extensive experience as a top assistant at major programs.

According to Rosiak, Williams has one more assistant to hire -- perhaps one with a heritage and relationships in the Midwest. We shall see.

BTW, it looks like Scott Monarch, who's name did not come up in Rosiak's blog, might be the director of basketball operations (or a similar type of role).
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1 comment:

  1. OliverThursday, April 24, 2008 3:37:00 PM

    I didn't know anything about these guys before five minutes ago, but the hirings at least make sense. One to help him coach and one to recruit the east coast.

    From the comments, Benford seems to think he is co-head coach and Aki seems to be bragging, but I will reserve my judgement until we see the results. It would be nice to see some New York recruits again.

    ReplyDelete

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