Last week, I mentioned that Tom Herrion and Danny Hurley were candidates for the lead assistant coach job in basketball. Well, with Hurley declining, Herrion gets the chance according to the e-mailed story from Pittsburgh Sports Report.

Herrion, 39, is back in the coaching ranks after losing his head coach coaching job at the College of Charleston after the 2005-06 season despite a four year record of 80-38. Herrion found it difficult to live up the expectations of replacing John Kresse, a coach so popular and successful that the new College of Charleston arena was named after him. Herrion was 25-8 in his first season, including an NIT appearance, but the wins declined each season. The Cougars were 17-11 in ’05-’06, when he was fired despite having four years left on his contract. He negotiated a buyout of $787,000.

Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski has called Herrion “one of the most energetic coaches I’ve ever seen.” His intensity and fire may not have been a good fit for the laid back city of Charleston, however, as he was seen as abrasive and alienating to some fans, who were used to the more affable Kresse.

Prior to coaching at Charleston, Herrion was an assistant for Pete Gillen for eight years; four at Providence and four at Virginia. He was Gillen’s lead assistant during his final three years at Virginia. Prior to joining Gillen, Herrion was an assistant at his Alma Mater, Merrimack College in North Hanover, MA.

There was also some issue with player behavior off the court as well that pissed off the alum.

Yes, I would have preferred Hurley, but that didn’t work. I happen to think this is a very good “fall back” hire. I like it better than any of the other names that had been mentioned. Herrion is still young, and wants to get his rep back and another shot as a head coach. He has been a successful recruiter all along the East Coast.

From the description of Herrion as intense and energetic, he may be an excellent counterweight to Coach Dixon’s more laidback demeanor. There has been the lingering undercurrent of complaints that Dixon was always Ben Howland’s “good cop” with the players and that Dixon needs to have a “bad cop” to provide balance as head coach.

WPIAL football has always been a place where big colleges recruit and where many great players are born. Two of the five most popular in the area could be headed to Pitt.

The most talked about players are Terrelle Pryor, Lucas Nix, Andrew Sweat, Shayne Hall and Baldwin. The good news for Pitt fans is that PSI believes the Panthers have a very good chance to land 2 of the 5 players.

There has been a little bit of uneasiness about Nix not making any type of commitment, even a soft verbal. I’m not worried yet because no matter what we’ve seen on the field the last two years, we know Wannstedt is a master recruiter and won’t let any player slip through easily. It’s also not uncommon for a young player to want to go through the entire experience (in stead of committing too quickly then dropping out).

Baldwin, the WR with a 4.4 40, also might elect to stay close to home.

Recently, the 6-6, 215 wide receiver spoke to Allen Wallace from Scout.com and said, “I’m just giving everyone an opportunity to recruit me. I want a good education and that’s a main priority for me. I also don’t want to redshirt. I would like to jump right into it.”

Heh, a high school athlete who cares about his education. Mr. Baldwin, may I show you the good things about our school? Get a good education and plenty of playing time if you stay close to home.

Somewhere along the line someone really missed this, and now it’s a bit embarrassing.
The Cincinnati Enquirer has a list of top donors to college athletics in the area and why. This one jumped out like a big frickin’ neon sign.

MAX AND JUDI REDLICH

Occupation: Founders of PENCO Inc. Max is retired, but plays professional poker.

Booster activity: The Redlichs, who are University of Pittsburgh graduates, have been UCATS members since 1995 and longtime Cincinnati residents. They are part of the George Smith Society and give about $20,000 per year. They have decided to leave their seven-figure estate to UC with 75 percent going to athletics and 25 percent going to the College-Conservatory of Music. Currently the value is about $4 million.

Why they do it: “Pitt never asked us,” Max said.

The Redlichs’ children took over the family business and are financially well off.

“So you sit down and you say, what are you going to do with your money when you die?” Max said. “We just evolved into this idea of planned giving. We are both big advocates of a college education.”

They’re also big basketball fans. They have second-row seats at Fifth Third Arena and have traveled to some of UC’s big games. Max even recalled playing blackjack with former UC player Ruben Patterson in Puerto Rico. They’ve also gotten to know UC President Nancy Zimpher through dinner parties and UC basketball coach Mick Cronin.

“The whole athletic department is getting to know the UCATS members better,” Max said.

“A big part of it is the people,” Judi said. “We know Mike Thomas, and these people have been so nice to meet. That’s been a big part of us doing this as far as I’m concerned.”

[Emphasis added.]

Next time. Ask. AD Jeff Long might want to consider reaching out personally on this one.

In the USA Today final rankings of the top-100 high school seniors, two are Pitt commits. DeJuan Blair was ranked 18th and Darnell Dodson pushed into the rankings at #71, after not being ranked until this point. Blair, especially, was noticed.

Elsewhere in the top 100, many of the elite players held steady throughout their season seasons. Perhaps the most notable exception was DeJuan Blair, a powerful big man who had ranked in the top 75 range prior to the season, only to blow up at several national events and arguably deserve All-American recognition by the end of the season.

Players who broke into the top 100 were No. 65 Mike Holmes, No. 67 Jeremy Hazell, No. 71 Darnell Dodson, No. 75 Justin Burrell, No. 76 Malcolm Grant, No. 83 Jason Henry, No. 88 Malcolm Delaney, No. 89 Sam Muldrow, No. 95 Mike Scott, No. 96 Julian Gamble, No. 99 Alvin Mitchell and No. 100 Cameron Tatum.

The most difficult player to place was No. 30 Herb Pope. A potential star out of Pennsylvania, Pope was shot four times earlier this spring, suffering severe damage to his left (non-shooting) wrist. He’s expected to make a full recovery, but obviously any wrist injury is a concern.

Assuming no injuries to the freshmen and redshirt freshmen (always a tough assumption), Tyrell Biggs, Keith Benjamin and Sam Young are going to find their minutes squeezed. I only feel certain about Levance Fields, Ronald Ramon and Mike Cook for next year. Gilbert Brown (RS Fr, g/sf), Austin Wallace (RS Fr, c), Cassin Diggs (Jr. Transfer, c/pf), Gary McGhee (Fr, c), Darnell Dodson (Fr, sf), DeJuan Blair (Fr, pf) and Bradley Wanamaker (Fr, sg) are going to push to start or be coming off the bench first.

Wanamaker and McGhee will be likely candidates to redshirt, even if McGhee was one of the top players out of Indiana. McGhee’s position is just too deep, and he could stand to put on more muscle for the Big East. Wanamaker, unless he shows ability to create his own shot at guard, is also likely to take a redshirt simply because of keeping the rotation just a little closer to manageable. Even so, that’s likely 5 players pushing for playing time.

Young, especially, will be feeling some pressure. He was unable to handle playing small forward — limiting where he can play on the court — and was battling the tendinitis in his knees all year. While he came on late in the season, it’s hard to shake the feeling that his game actually took a step backwards as consistency was also an issue. His progress will be watched closely.

Benjamin is an energy guy that comes in for around 10 minutes a game. I don’t see that changing. His shooting is too inconsistent, he’s not a great defender and he doesn’t shoot free throws well. Other than that, he’s fine.

Biggs, and this may surprise some, I think he still has a good chance for real minutes in the rotation. He’s still improving his physical conditioning and has something of a scoring touch. He needs to go at the rim, though, and not act like he’s a guard taking jumpers and shots falling away from the basket. It nearly goes without saying that his defense, however, really needs to improve. He has the advantage of knowing the system better than the newcomers.