2 Down, 2 to Go

Josh Pastner made his first two hires for his staff this week. This leaves only 2 more positions for him to fill on his staff (which have some promising prospects). When looking at Willis Wilson and Glynn Cyprien, the excitement should be growing for Tiger fans and the panic fading away. We got a recruiter and a teacher. Let's look at the resume's of the two. Glynn Cyprien is the recruiter. He has been on staffs at UNLV, Oklahoma State, New Mexico State, Arkansas, and his latest coaching stop was at Kentucky (interesting..). With the combined recruiting efforts of Pastner and Cyprien, I expect little, if any, recruiting drop off in the coming years. Cyprien is also very connected with Kentucky recruits C Daniel Orton and PG Eric Bledsoe. Orton has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI), but Bledsoe has not. Of course, since when has Calipari cared about LOI's. It has to work both ways right? This may be wishful thinking, but it just displays the possibilities.

Now let's look at Willis Wilson, the teacher. His coaching resume consists of spending 16 years as head coach at Rice, 2 years assisting at Stanford, and 4 years assisting at Rice. Wilson has coached at 2 schools since 1987. Talk about loyalty! Wilson is not coming here as a stepping stone. I believe the only way we lose him is a head coaching offer. This is the stability this program needs right now. It also gives players confidence that they will be given all the tools to reach their full potential.

Pastner now has 2 positions left to hire. One assistant coach and director of basketball operations. The two rumored to be up for this position are Jack Murphy of the Denver Nuggets' scouting department as a coach, and Greg Heiar, head coach of Chipola Junior College. Murphy brings the NBA connection that recruits like, and Heiar brings another vital recruiting connection. If these are the guys that round out the staff, we should be celebrating as Tiger fans. I know I will.

Jack Murphy

Greg Heiar

- Blake