Taking timeout from the ever-riveting proceedings at the U.S. Open to note a couple releases from area schools. …
* George Mason extended athletic director Tom O’Connor‘s contract through 2014. O’Connor was previously signed through 2013, a deal he signed in 2009.
SEE RELATED:
O’Connor just presided over probably the biggest coaching change in his school’s history. Jim Larranaga, who led the Fairfax school to the Final Four in 2006, left for Miami in April. Less than two weeks later, O’Connor hired former Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt.
O’Connor’s extension means he will have two years remaining on his deal when long-time campus president Alan Merten retires next year.
* Navy completed its men’s basketball staff, with new coach Ed DeChellis hiring Kurt Kanaskie, Dan Earl and D.J. Black as assistants. All three worked with DeChellis at Penn State. Kanaskie, the former coach at Drake, was on DeChellis’ staff the last eight years. Earl spent six years as an assistant in State College, while Black was a video coordinator and later director of basketball operations over the last four years with the Nittany Lions.
DeChellis also retained assistants Jason Crafton and Aaron Goodman from former coach Billy Lange‘s staff.
—- Patrick Stevens
