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Miami Herald
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Miami Herald
HBCU basketball program hires proven winner
There aren't any coaching trades in college basketball, but two HBCU programs in the same conference got pretty darn close. Bluefield State University, a Division II program in the CIAA, has announced Luke D'Alessio as its new head men's basketball coach. D'Alessio replaces Devin Hoehrn, who resigned his position at BSU to take the head coaching job at Fayetteville State - replacing D' yet? 'We are thrilled to welcome Coach D'Alessio to the Big Blue family,' said Dr. Darrin Martin, Bluefield State University President. 'His extensive experience and proven track record of developing competitive programs make him an ideal leader for our men's basketball team.' During the 2024-25 season, D'Alessio led Fayetteville State to a 23-9 record, a CIAA Southern Division title an appearance in NCAA Atlantic Region Tournament. D'Alessio was also named the CIAA and HBCU All-Stars Clarence 'Big House' Gaines NCAA Division II Coach of the Year. He led Fayetteville State to the 2022 CIAA championship - its first in nearly 50 years. 'I would like to thank President Dr. Darrin Martin, Brodderick Tucker and Ryan Bailey for giving me this great opportunity,' said D'Alessio. 'I am honored, blessed and privileged to represent Bluefield State University and I'm excited to build on the recent success of the men's basketball program. I can't wait to get started and be a part of the Big Blue family!' D'Alessio's coaching career includes head coaching stops at HBCU programs Bowie State University and Jackson State University in addition to Fayetteville State. His most notable success came during a decade-long run at Bowie State, where he amassed a 199-96 record and led the Bulldogs to three CIAA championships and six NCAA Division II Tournament appearances. Under his guidance, Bowie State reached the NCAA Elite Eight and the South Atlantic Region Championship, establishing the program as a perennial contender on the national stage. In addition to his head coaching roles, D'Alessio has served in assistant coaching positions at several NCAA Division I programs, including Chicago State, South Alabama, UMBC, Canisius, and Tennessee State. His teams have consistently ranked among national leaders in scoring, assists, and defensive efficiency. Throughout his career, he has demonstrated a consistent ability to recruit, mentor, and develop high-caliber student-athletes while maintaining a strong commitment to academic success and character development. Bluefield State is coming off a 19-win season which saw it make the CIAA title game - knocking off D'Alessio's FSU squad in the semifinals. The post HBCU basketball program hires proven winner appeared first on HBCU Gameday. Copyright HBCU Gameday 2012-2025
Fox Sports
19-05-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Texas Tech extends Grant McCasland's contract again, through the 2030-31 season
Associated Press LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech men's basketball coach Grant McCasland has agreed on a new contract that goes through the 2030-31 season, the school announced Monday. The Red Raiders were 28-9 this past season and made the NCAA Elite Eight before losing to eventual national champion Florida. They finished second in the Big 12 standings behind national runner-up Houston, and were the only team to beat the Cougars in conference play. Tech was eighth in the final Associated Press poll. McCasland is 51-20 at Texas Tech, and has gotten a contract extension after each of his first two seasons. He went 23-11 with an NCAA Tournament appearance in his 2023-24 debut with the Red Raiders. He initially got a six-year deal when he was hired two years ago after going 135-65 in six seasons as head coach at North Texas. 'Coach McCasland immediately built upon our men's basketball program's established success and continues working to raise and deliver on high expectations,' athletic director Kirby Hocutt said. The school didn't release financial terms of the contract. ___ AP college basketball: and in this topic
Winnipeg Free Press
19-05-2025
- Sport
- Winnipeg Free Press
Texas Tech extends Grant McCasland's contract again, through the 2030-31 season
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech men's basketball coach Grant McCasland has agreed on a new contract that goes through the 2030-31 season, the school announced Monday. The Red Raiders were 28-9 this past season and made the NCAA Elite Eight before losing to eventual national champion Florida. They finished second in the Big 12 standings behind national runner-up Houston, and were the only team to beat the Cougars in conference play. Tech was eighth in the final Associated Press poll. McCasland is 51-20 at Texas Tech, and has gotten a contract extension after each of his first two seasons. He went 23-11 with an NCAA Tournament appearance in his 2023-24 debut with the Red Raiders. He initially got a six-year deal when he was hired two years ago after going 135-65 in six seasons as head coach at North Texas. 'Coach McCasland immediately built upon our men's basketball program's established success and continues working to raise and deliver on high expectations,' athletic director Kirby Hocutt said. The school didn't release financial terms of the contract. ___ AP college basketball: and
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Texas Tech extends Grant McCasland's contract again, through the 2030-31 season
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Texas Tech men's basketball coach Grant McCasland has agreed on a new contract that goes through the 2030-31 season, the school announced Monday. The Red Raiders were 28-9 this past season and made the NCAA Elite Eight before losing to eventual national champion Florida. They finished second in the Big 12 standings behind national runner-up Houston, and were the only team to beat the Cougars in conference play. Tech was eighth in the final Associated Press poll. Advertisement McCasland is 51-20 at Texas Tech, and has gotten a contract extension after each of his first two seasons. He went 23-11 with an NCAA Tournament appearance in his 2023-24 debut with the Red Raiders. He initially got a six-year deal when he was hired two years ago after going 135-65 in six seasons as head coach at North Texas. 'Coach McCasland immediately built upon our men's basketball program's established success and continues working to raise and deliver on high expectations,' athletic director Kirby Hocutt said. The school didn't release financial terms of the contract. ___ AP college basketball: and
NBC Sports
04-04-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Jon Scheyer followed a legend in Duke's Coach K. It took him just 3 seasons to reach the Final Four
SAN ANTONIO — The camera sneaked up behind Jon Scheyer as he started the long walk into the Alamodome's cavernous center, a route that crossed a sea of black carpet and eventually required stairs onto college basketball's grand stage. 'It's the best,' the Duke coach said as looked back over his left shoulder, pointing with the manila folder carrying his practice plans toward the Final Four court. Scheyer knows a thing or two about this moment. He was the senior scoring leader for a Duke title-winner that made a similar walk in 2010. An assistant who did it twice under Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski. But this is a first: Now he's the head coach, the successor who keeps bucking a long-held axiom that you never want to be the guy who follows a legend. No, Duke is still thriving. Only now, it's unquestionably the 37-year-old Scheyer's blueblood program. 'It's special,' Scheyer said. 'You feel a great deal of responsibility to be the head coach at Duke. You want for your players to be able to experience this.' Duke's new era In many ways, it feels decidedly unremarkable that Duke (35-3) is back in the Final Four. It's a place the program has been 18 times to rank among the sport's all-time leaders, as well as being one of only six programs — UCLA, Kentucky, UConn, Indiana and rival North Carolina are the others — with at least five NCAA championships. And yet, so much has changed since Duke's run to its last national title in 2015 or its most recent Final Four three years ago. Krzyzewski is gone, retired in 2022 after winning 1,202 games to set a men's college basketball record along with winning five titles and reaching 13 Final Fours. And Scheyer has won big and quickly, including becoming the first coast to win two Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament titles in his first three seasons and reaching last year's NCAA Elite Eight. Now he's got the Blue Devils back in the national semifinals, with a date against Houston looming in an all-chalk finale to March Madness with four 1-seeds. 'I'll tell you how good Jon Scheyer has been,' Houston coach Kelvin Sampson said. 'Nobody talks about him replacing Coach K anymore. He's Jon Scheyer. He's got his team in the Final Four. I think that speaks volumes for him.' The handoff Scheyer was an assistant in those last two Final Four trips, for the '15 title and the 2022 trek to New Orleans as the coach-in-waiting — a designation coming months before Krzyzewski began his farewell-tour season. That run ended with a loss to North Carolina in the semifinals, the final horn in the Superdome completing Krzyzewski's handoff to Scheyer. And it's worked. 'He's executing the succession just absolutely perfectly,' athletic director Nina King said, backed by the evidence of under her feet: a confetti-covered court after Duke won the ACC title. Associate head coach Chris Carrawell believed in Scheyer, too, partly the product of working alongside him under Krzyzewski. But he also pointed back to the COVID-19 pandemic, when the two lived close to one another and would meet for lengthy walks. 'Some guys just have it,' Carrawell said after that ACC title win. His mentor has also credited Scheyer for his approach, namely in avoiding getting caught up in living up to his predecessor. 'He's an outstanding coach and is his own man,' Krzyzewski said on an episode of 'Basketball & Beyond With Coach K,' his SiriusXM show. 'He's not trying to be anybody, but he is trying to be Duke.' Direct approach There is at least one thing that hasn't changed under Scheyer: The Blue Devils still haul in top-level talent. The succession plan offered clarity about the program's future for recruiting, where Scheyer was key in stacking elite classes as an assistant and continued Duke's record of churning out NBA players — particularly with one-and-done talents — during his own tenure. Going back to the 2022 class that would arrive in time for Scheyer's first season, Duke ranked No. 1, No. 2 and No. 1 nationally for recruiting by 247Sports over the past three seasons — the last being the one that brought Associated Press unanimous first-team All-American Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and rim-running big man Khaman Maluach. And Duke already has secured the No. 1 freshman class for next year, too, headlined by twins Cameron and Cayden Boozer. Kelly Flagg, Cooper's mother, told The Associated Press she had wanted her son to play for someone who coached him hard, pushed him and didn't try to appease. She wasn't sure if Scheyer had that edge early in the recruiting process. She has no doubts now. One example stands out: a first-half timeout during a January home game against N.C. State, with Scheyer jumping on his players — and telling Cooper repeatedly that he was playing soft — during an animated timeout with Kelly Flagg watching from a few rows back. 'I couldn't look away because I was just enjoying it so much,' she told the AP. 'But that's what I wanted. I wanted him to go play for a coach who would always tell the truth, good or bad. I wanted him to play for somebody who was going to be honest with him and push him and get him to the next level. 'I think Jon has done a masterful job of that. Jon has never lied to us.' Scheyer's tough love worked, sparking her son to a huge second-half performance in that win. The coach's approach has also worked with the older recruits looking for a new home through the transfer portal. 'There was just kind of a steadiness about him the whole time,' fifth-year graduate transfer Sion James said, adding: 'He was never really trying to sell anything, which was nice.' Program updates There's still plenty that's familiar with Duke's program, notably its tradition-rich home arena, Cameron Indoor Stadium, and the rowdy 'Cameron Crazies' known for their antics inside it. Yet Scheyer has been installing his own touches. Some of that is by necessity, namely due to a changed landscape with players able to move freely through the transfer portal and profit from name, image and likeness deals. Others have been by choice, such as the 'Kid Captain' program he and wife Marcelle started to honor current and former patients of the Duke Children's Hospital with a gameday Cameron experience. Scheyer leans into all of it. This is home, both Duke and its place at the Final Four. 'Walking out there today for practice, I was just soaking it in like when I was 22 years old walking out for the first time,' Scheyer said. 'The Final Four is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. ... It's something I'll never take for granted.'
