New Big East might add another top recruit

[TheHall]

After a major shake up of SHU's staff, there was a 3rd Assistant Coach & a DOBO position vacant.
Oliver Antiqua was hired as an asst. coach. He had worked w/ Delgado on the Dominican national team, but was not his coach. He was actually an asst. @ Manhattan College last year.
Tiny Morton IS Whitehead's direct coach & therefore cannot be hired as DOBO, but can be hired as an asst. coach.
The rumor/assuption/whatever is that Antiqua will be made the DOBO (@ the same salary) & Morton will be hired as the asst.
Not pretty, but certainly 100% legal. It happens all the time, but it is Very unusual to make 2 of these type of hires in the same year.
Although Morton would not be hired until 2014-15, leaving an open slot on staff for 2013-14.
Compared to what was going on @ The Hall 6 months ago, I ain't complaining!

Wanted to add a minor note because I think it's a great layout of the situation. First, we are only talking about NCAA rules not laws. Too many people (not you) use the terms "legal/illegal" conveniently when trying to shed a negative light on certain activities. Lastly, It's not that Willard is skirting the rules, it's actually what the rule was intended to do. This isn't some kind of loophole exploitation.

The NCAA didn't want schools hiring coaches and stashing them in imaginary positions just to get players every year. So they upped the ante & said if a school is willing to use one of its key staff positions responsibly or not it's up to the school. Which is the decision that all schools make with their hiring, regardless. SJU hired Moe Hicks, was that a responsible pick or put another way, has that move "paid off" yet or not? I think just like Morton (possibly), we'll judge it by the recruits he brings in.

The NCAA is walking a fine line in restricting a schools ability to hire whoever they want, which is typically how it works in this country. (not aimed at you QR just commenting)

Agree with everything in this post. Just to comment on one point. Correct me if I'm wrong (and I may be), but I don't believe that the Hicks hire at St. John's was accompanied by recruiting one of his players. If I'm correct then that puts it in a whole different category than the Morton hire at Seton Hall.

It's good practice for a head coach to hire a local AAU or HS coach or even two to assist with recruiting and to give the program credibility with the local HS coaches. It's common practice to do that. Let's face it, Lavin had no recruiting contacts in NYC and any contacts he had anywhere were old. Roberts had all of the recruiting contacts and he didn't work out, so they obviously had different priorities in selecting a HC when thy hired Lavin. But he needed help with recruiting and he made some smart hires in that area.

Morton is a completely different story. To target a recruit and then to hire a coach to help lock up that recruit is something else entirely Seton Hall didn't to anything wrong in terms of breaking rules or even breaking the spirit of the rule. I'm just saying that I don't believe that the Hicks hire at SJU, which has been mentioned by several posters, is a good comparison or is even in the same category.

Quid pro quo on the back end vs. on the front end...other than that no different. When Creighton hired Sellers (A good guy that got a bad rap) does anyone think the clock didn't start ticking the day he was hired to deliver recruits from the northeast. Same with Moe Hicks. Neither one of these guys was brought in for player development or X's & O's and that's fine, but the clock is ticking. So for me whether you walk in the door with a recruit or they come in behind the expectation of the program is the same of them So the only difference is semantics.

[anXUfan]

“@BSnowScout: As it stands right now, four/five star commits by conference ACC (17), Big East (13), B1G/Pac 12 (11), SEC (9), American (5), Big XII (2)”

[anXUfan]

“@BSnowScout: As it stands right now, four/five star commits by conference ACC (17), Big East (13), B1G/Pac 12 (11), SEC (9), American (5), Big XII (2)”

Big East is 2nd overall and first on a per school basis.

[SJU87]

Whitehead chose Seton Hall because St. John's is loaded with excellent guards and he didn't think he'd get alot of playing time as a freshmen. You think Harrison would sit on the bench ? Then Jamal Branch ( ranked 65 in the top 100) and Rasheed Jordon and Phil Greene who's really turned into a good guard for SJU.
I'm very happy for Seton Hall and the new BE needs a strong SH. Maybe they can be strong again like they were in the late 80's .
It's a shame that 2 local schools can't even get a game at Madison Square garden and play each other. That'll change very quickly when SH gets better, imagine a packed Madison Square Garden filled with SJU and Seton Hall fans ? It'll be awesome for the BE to have 2 local teams strong at the same time.

[TheHall]

Whitehead chose Seton Hall because St. John's is loaded with excellent guards and he didn't think he'd get alot of playing time as a freshmen. You think Harrison would sit on the bench ? Then Jamal Branch ( ranked 65 in the top 100) and Rasheed Jordon and Phil Greene who's really turned into a good guard for SJU.
I'm very happy for Seton Hall and the new BE needs a strong SH. Maybe they can be strong again like they were in the late 80's .
It's a shame that 2 local schools can't even get a game at Madison Square garden and play each other. That'll change very quickly when SH gets better, imagine a packed Madison Square Garden filled with SJU and Seton Hall fans ? It'll be awesome for the BE to have 2 local teams strong at the same time.

This...

[JOPO]

Whitehead chose Seton Hall because St. John's is loaded with excellent guards and he didn't think he'd get alot of playing time as a freshmen. You think Harrison would sit on the bench ? Then Jamal Branch ( ranked 65 in the top 100) and Rasheed Jordon and Phil Greene who's really turned into a good guard for SJU.
I'm very happy for Seton Hall and the new BE needs a strong SH. Maybe they can be strong again like they were in the late 80's .
It's a shame that 2 local schools can't even get a game at Madison Square garden and play each other. That'll change very quickly when SH gets better, imagine a packed Madison Square Garden filled with SJU and Seton Hall fans ? It'll be awesome for the BE to have 2 local teams strong at the same time.

This is the way it should be...SHU and SJU at MSG for both the regular season matchup as well as the tournament championship (with SHU winning both of course!). Before the football dregs were added the SHU vs SJU match ups decided championships. The Big East tried to destroy the rivalry but this is a rivalry that will be very important to the success and future of the Big East.

[nathanhm]

Whitehead chose Seton Hall because St. John's is loaded with excellent guards and he didn't think he'd get alot of playing time as a freshmen. You think Harrison would sit on the bench ? Then Jamal Branch ( ranked 65 in the top 100) and Rasheed Jordon and Phil Greene who's really turned into a good guard for SJU.
I'm very happy for Seton Hall and the new BE needs a strong SH. Maybe they can be strong again like they were in the late 80's .
It's a shame that 2 local schools can't even get a game at Madison Square garden and play each other. That'll change very quickly when SH gets better, imagine a packed Madison Square Garden filled with SJU and Seton Hall fans ? It'll be awesome for the BE to have 2 local teams strong at the same time.

This is the way it should be...SHU and SJU at MSG for both the regular season matchup as well as the tournament championship (with SHU winning both of course!). Before the football dregs were added the SHU vs SJU match ups decided championships. The Big East tried to destroy the rivalry but this is a rivalry that will be very important to the success and future of the Big East.

Lol - y'all both got a long way to go before the rest of the league sees Seton Hall vs St. John's as a prelude to the big east championship.

[SJU87]

It's a good start for them. Seton Hall fans can't expect instant success next year because they got 2 top recruits. St. John's had about 7 or 8 top 100 recruits in one recruiting class and that was 2 years ago and now their on the verge of winning.

[JOPO]

Obviously nothing happens overnight but at least now we are moving in the right direction!

[TheHall]

Top 5 recruiting class!!