New Mexico State officially announced the hiring of Tony Delk to the Aggie men's basketball staff yesterday and also the promotion of Paul Weir to the associate head coach position. Congratulations to both. Tom Lewis will also move from his position as coordinator of player development to assistant coach.
We mentioned yesterday that the Aggie coaching staff is on the younger side in terms of experience coaching at the college level. Jason Groves also noted that through the first four years of his tenure Coach Menzies has always had an experienced assistant on the staff (John McMullen, Chris Pompey and Mick Durham). This coming season the most experienced assistant on the staff will be Paul Weir who will be entering his fourth year as an assistant coach. Tom Lewis will be entering his first year as an assistant with the Aggies and has a year at Cal State-Los Angeles and four years as Long Beach State as an assistant (according to his bio) and Tony Delk will be entering his first season as an assistant.
This led us to do a bit of research and as it turns out the three Aggie assistants have the fewest combined years of service at the college level (D1, D2, D3, NAIA, JUCO, etc) of any staff in the WAC. This is not meant to be an indictment against the Aggie coaching staff it's simply a matter of fact. In reality it could mean nothing at all come game time or it could mean a lot come game time, only time will tell. Like Jason Groves, we really like the hire of Tony Delk and Paul Weir has obviously earned the status of associate head coach and has proven himself as a strong recruiter.
For comparison's sake here are the combined years of service for the eight WAC assistant coaching staffs and the assistant with the most experience on the staff. We took only the assistant coaches (up to three per team) and the totals are based on what is listed on their school bios and only count years served as an assistant, associate or head coach (director of basketball ops and other positions were not included). It should also be noted that both Fresno State and Louisiana Tech are breaking in brand new head coaches for whom the school is their first Division I head coaching position.
Fresno State
30 combined years
Jerry Wainwright - 16 years of head coaching experience at the D1 level plus nine years as as an assistant at Wake Forest.
Hawai'i
39 combined years
Benjy Taylor - Six years as a head coach, 13 years as an assistant at various D1 schools
Idaho
47 combined years
Tim Murphy - 26 years as an assistant at six different schools
(Note: Idaho also has Ray Lopes who has 3 years experience as head coach at Fresno State and 16 years as a D1 assistant)
Louisiana Tech
27 combined years
Isaac Brown - 15 years as an assistant at the D1 level
Nevada
Note: Nevada only has two assistant coaches listed on staff
31 combined years
Doug Novsek - 23 years as an assistant at various schools (18 at the D1 level)
San Jose State
24 combined years
Brent Davis - 10 years as an assistant, 1 year as head coach at Bakersfield College
Utah State
35 combined years
Tim Duryea - 17 years as an assistant, 2 years as head coach at Hutchinson CC
New Mexico State
7 combined years
Tom Lewis - 4 years as an assistant at Long Beach State
Paul Weir - 3 years as an assistant at New Mexico State
Tony Delk - First assistant coaching position
On to today's links...
Aggie Men's Basketball
Jason Groves of the Las Cruces Sun-News has more on the Aggies' hiring of Tony Delk.
Jason Groves blogs more on Tony Delk.
The Kentucky athletic website reports on the hiring.
The Associated Press reports on the hiring.
The Herald-Leader has more on Tony Delk's hiring.
Aggie Football
Joe Stevenson of McHenry County Sports reports on former Aggie Mike Yocius who retired from football after a serious medical incident earlier this spring.
