I’ve heard from various industry sources that Memphis head coach Josh Pastner is trying to hire Miami-Dade College coach Matt Eisele to help fill out his staff.
“I talked to one of [Eisele’s] assistants this week and he alluded to the fact that it’s going to happen,” a junior college source said.
Memphis spokesman Lamar Chance said Saturday no one had yet been officially hired and that Pastner had been out on the road recruiting since Thursday. Eisele was not immediately available for comment.
If Eisele (pictured) does go to Memphis, Memphis would likely keep the two recruits it has from Eisele’s program, Will Coleman and Darnell Dodson. Coleman is a 6-9 power forward and Dodson a 6-7 small forward. Memphis could also bring in highly regarded point guard James Beatty, whom Rutgers and others are involved with.
Memphis has already lost unsigned commit DeMarcus Cousins to Kentucky and signed recruit Xavier Henry could be headed to Kansas or Kentucky.
It would be a good move by Pastner, who currently has no one on his staff because John Calipari took all the assistants to Kentucky — John Robic, Orlando Antigua and Rod Strickland — with him.
Baylor assistant Jerome Tang also turned down a job at Memphis to remain at Baylor. And Carl Henry, the father of Xavier and C.J. Henry, said he would not work at Memphis, either.
CAROLINA NOT RECRUITING WALL
Even though North Carolina coach Roy Williams called John Wall from the Final Four in Detroit, Wall says that North Carolina is not recruiting him and that his college list remains the same.
“North Carolina is not recruiting me now,” Wall, a point guard who is the No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2009, told The News & Observer.
Asked if he would be interested in North Carolina if the Tar Heels started to recruit him, Wall said, “That’s something I would have to look into.”
Wall continued to list N.C. State, Duke, Memphis, Baylor, Kansas, Miami and Kentucky as his schools.
Wall is in Portland, Ore. for the Nike Hoop Summit and comes to New York next week for the Jordan Brand Classic. He will visit Miami officially the weekend of April 24.
(Photos courtesy Miami Dade College and News & Observer)
