Paul Hewitt hires first assistant, retains both 2011 incoming recruits

We learned that none of Paul Hewitt's from Georgia Tech are following him to Fairfax so that is three positions he needs to fill quickly.  Justin Young of National Hoops Report and Fox Sports says Hewitt has hired Chris Kreider of Georgia Southern as his first assistant.  Kreider worked with Hewitt as an admin at Georgia Tech is described by Young as "a star in waiting". Kreider is a labeled as excellent recruiter and will hopefully help fill the void of losing Chris Caputo. 

You may have read this elsewhere over the weekend but both incoming 2011 recruits, Corey Edwards and Vaughn Gray are honoring their intents to play at George Mason next season.

The National Hoops Report had a Q & A with Hewitt, check it out here.

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Breaking down the Paul Hewitt hire

Still hard to believe we will be seeing a different head coach on the sidelines next season.  The Jim Larranaga era is over and the Paul Hewitt era is about to begin. I'm going to start by saying I like the hire, and I think this is the best case scenario that Tom O'Connor could have brought to Fairfax all things considered. NCAA basketball props found at BetUS would have you think guys like Jeff Jones being brought in made me really wonder where they were going with this hire but at the end of the day we have a head coach with both mid-major and BCS experience.  He is known as a great recruiter, so much so that some media refer to it as over-recruiting during his time at Georgia Tech. Losing players to the NBA often is not something any coach at George Mason has ever had to deal with and Hewitt dealt with it a lot during his last few seasons in the ACC.  I won't sugar coat his falling out at Georgia Tech, he was given a $7.2 million buyout for a reason. Some coaches need a change of scenery and a new opportunity. I'm sure the George Mason administration is hoping his mid-major and ACC experience will be a perfect fit for them in the CAA. We'll have to wait and see.

Why Paul Hewitt is a good hire: 

-Despite his recent struggles at Georgia Tech he's still a coach that had mid-major success of going to the NCAA tournament and also took a BCS team to the national championship game.  That's a pretty impressive resume to bring into the CAA.

-George Mason is expected to be a strong team again next season with high expectations, they needed a coach who could take on this pressure.  Mason fans will be expected big things for this team next season regardless of the coaching change.  Hewitt is a better candidate to handle this than a young assistant with no head coaching experience.  

-Hewitt is an excellent recruiter and has dealt with a wide variety of talent. Remember that this guy did coach Chris Bosh and a number of other NBA players. Having recruiting success for both mid-major and a conference like the ACC is a valuable asset and certainly would be hard to come by from any other candidate they could have brought in.  

-Hewitt runs a motion offense with an emphasis on guard play, similar to what we have been seeing for years under Jim Larranaga. The emphasis on the guards will play into the strengths of what George Mason has already and should make the transition easier for the players.

Some concerns about the hire:

-While he has some nice highlights on his resume the fact remains that he had one season where he had a winning record in ACC play during his time at Georgia Tech. That was the year they went to the national championship game. His overall 189-160 at Georgia Tech doesn't quite wow you and he has only made the NCAA tournament three times in his last seven season.

-Local media in Atlanta said that "positive energy hasn't existed around Georgia Tech's basketball program for the past few years". Not exactly encouraging news to read for a guy that is replacing Jim Larranaga; who was a constant beam of positive energy in Fairfax.

-The same Atlanta writer notes that Hewitt did not respond well to criticism and often comes off as a very paranoid person.  Critics won't be as tough on him in Fairfax but this team doesn't make the NCAA tournament or be in the running for the CAA crown he'll get some flack.  At this point can he handle more criticism if things start off slow?

-John Feinstein wrote yesterday that "Hewitt is never going to become the kind of cult figure Larranaga became at GMU". Some of the Mason nation will need time to get used to this transition. A large portion of the fan base only knows Jim Larranaga as the programs head coach and ambassador. You have to hope that the difference in personalities between Hewitt and Larranaga won't hurt the fan base as a whole.

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News and Notes: Monday Edition

Last week marked the one year anniversary of Cornell's hiring of William "Bill" Courtney as the Robert E. Gallagher '44 Head Coach of Cornell Men's Basketball. Below, some news and notes for Monday...

• The threat of George Mason University hiring Cornell's Bill Courtney to replace Jim Larranaga as its new head coach is officially over. On Saturday numerous media sources reported that GMU hired former Siena and Georgia Tech head coach Paul Hewitt. A formal announcement is planned for today at George Mason. Meanwhile, Coach Courtney and his Big Red staff are still hard at work recruiting for Cornell, finalizing the schedule for '11-'12 and planning Cornell's annual Elite Cornell Basketball Prospect Camp for potential recruiting targets between June 25-26, 2011.

• Speaking of Jim Larranaga, his son Jay has signed a contract extension as head coach of the NBA D-League's Erie Bayhawks. Reported by the Erie Times News, Jay Larranaga was an assistant coach at Cornell for five months before taking his current post.
  

• Louis Dale ('10) and his Goettingen Violets team in Germany's premier league, the BBL, fell in game No. 1 of its first round playoff series with the Deutsche Bank Skyliners, 77-58. Dale shot 3/5 from the floor and finished with 6 points in 17 minutes off the bench. Game No. 2 is May 4. See our regular Cornell pro alumni updates further down below in this post.

• The Columbia Spectator is impressed with Harvard's incoming recruiting haul, although Evan Daniels of Scout.com refused to comment as he acknowledged he did not know enough about the rest of the league's incoming recruits to make comparative statements.
  

• Below is an updated directory listing of some Twitter feeds associated with the Cornell basketball program. You can also follow The Cornell Basketball Blog on Twitter.
  

-Josh Wexler ('88)
-Steve Cobb ('05)
-Andrew Naeve ('07)
-Jason Canady ('08)
-Khaliq Gant ('09)
-Conor Mullen ('09)
-Ryan Wittman ('10)
-Pete Reynolds ('10)
-Jon Jaques ('10)
-Louis Dale ('10)
-Alex Tyler ('10)
-Geoff Reeves ('10)
-Jeff Foote ('10)
-Andre Wilkins ('10)
-Max Groebe ('10)
-Aaron Osgood ('10)
-The Cornell Rebounders Club
-Max Groebe ()
-Andrew Ferry ()
-Peter McMillan ()
-Errick Peck ()
-Dominick Scelfo ()
-Jake Mathews ()
-Dwight Tarwater ()
-Manny Sahota ()
-Dave LaMore ()
-Shonn Miller ()
-Devin Cherry ()
-Assistant Coach Ricky Yahn ()
-Assistant Coach Mike Blaine ()
-Assistant Coach Marlon Sears ()
-Brian Delaney, Ithaca Journal ()
-Cornell Daily Sun Sports ()
-Slope Sports ()
-WVBR Sports ()
-Former assistant coach, Jay Larranaga ()

• Throughout the season we will provide periodic updates on Cornell's eight (8) overseas alumni playing professionally. Below, some updates:

-John McCord ('97) (SIG Strasbourg, Pro A France)-Through May 1, the 6'6" forward and long time veteran of the European leagues is averaging 11.0 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. Strasbourg sits at 10-18 and in 14th place in the 16 team league. During his roughly fifteen year pro career, McCord, a former 1st Team All Ivy League selection, has played in France's pro leagues, Venezuela and in the United Kingdom.

-Jeff Aubry ('99) (Halcones Rojos, LNBP Mexico/Arecibo Capitanes, Puerto Rico Basketball League)-Through May 1, the 6'11" Aubry is averaging 6.0 points and 8.1 rebounds per game for Arecibo (5-6, 7th place out of 10 teams). Aubry splits his time in both the Mexican and Puerto Rican professional leagues. He played several seasons in the NBA D League in the early part of his career with the Fayetteville Patriots and Florida Flame. During his more than a decade of pro experience, Aubry has also played professionally in the ABA and abroad in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Poland, Argentina, Uruguay and Peru.

-Cody Toppert ('05) (Forli, LegaDue Italy)-2010-2011 season concluded. Toppert, a 6'4" shooting guard was averaging 9.9 points and 2.3 rebounds per game for Forli before the franchise terminated his contract during March. Toppert previously also played this season with the Plymouth Raiders of the British Basketball League where he was averaging 14.2 points per game before moving to Italy. Like Aubry, Toppert is a veteran of the NBA D League, a former Albuquerque Thunderbird. During his pro career, Toppert has also played in the CBA as well as in Germany, Portugal, and New Zealand.

-Jason Hartford ('08) (Ginasio, LPD Portugal)-2010-2011 season concluded. The 6'9" Hartford concluded his season averaging 14.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game. Ginasio finished the year 10-12 and in 6th place in the 12 team league and was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. During his career, Hartford has played professionally in Finland and Africa (Mozambique).

-Louis Dale ('10) (Gottingen, Bundesliga Germany)-2010-2011 season concluded. Dale completed the regular season averaging 8.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. Goettingen ended up 17-15 on the season and in 7th place out of 18 teams in the Bundesliga.

-Ryan Wittman ('10) (Ft. Wayne Mad Ants, NBA D-League)-2010-2011 season concluded. With the season finished, Wittman averaged 7.1 points and 2.3 rebounds in 18.3 minutes per game for the Mad Ants of the NBA D-League. Ft. Wayne finished 24-26 on the season and in 3rd place in the Eastern Conference. Before moving to the D-League during January, Wittman averaged 14.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game for Forli in Italy's LegaDue this season.

-Jeff Foote ('10) (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel Winner's League/Melilla, Spanish 2nd Division)- 2010-2011 season concluded. Foote averaged 7.7 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.0 blocks per game while shooting 52.7 percent from the floor. Melilla did not qualify for the playoffs finishing with a 14-20 record and 11th place finish in the 18 team league. Foote is on loan to Melilla from Israel's Maccabi Tel Aviv.

-Jon Jaques ('10) (Ashkelon, Israel Winner's League)-2010-2011 season concluded. Jaques finished his season averaging 3.3 points and 1.9 rebounds per game. Ashkelon was 6-21 and ended in 10th place in the 10 team Israeli league.

And a few reminders....

Visit The Cornell Basketball Blog's Community Forum and Message Board to interact with other fans of Cornell and Ivy League basketball. Membership is free! You may also follow us on Twitter.

Blueprint for Success, the yearbook commemorating Cornell's 2009-2010 season is now on sale and available for delivery. Visit the Cornell Athletics website to order your copy today! Or pick up a copy sold in the Cornell Store on campus.

Fans of the basketball program in the Ithaca area should not miss the opportunity to join the Cornell Rebounders Club.

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