It for sure, to me, is pretty amazing to see how SDSU's profile skyrocketed like this since Fisher. Some great assistants on board (Velasquez is more of an SDSU native/homegrown story and even he is looking like a hot commodity).
GO BEACH
Nothing too new here, but an interesting read especially Dutcher's comments.
Per Ziegler's article today:
Chris Acker is considered the lead candidate for Long Beach State and new AD Bobbi Smitheran, who spent the previous 15 years in athletic administration at SDSU. Smitheran reached what was termed as a “mutual agreement” to part ways with longtime coach Don Monson before the Big West tournament, only for Beach to win it and face Arizona in the Big Dance.
But Beach was eliminated Thursday, and the fact that Smitheran hasn’t named a replacement given the urgency of the transfer portal is a pretty good indication he’s waiting for someone currently coaching in the NCAA Tournament, like, perhaps in Boston this week.
Also Monday, Stanford hired Kyle Smith from Washington State. Dave Velasquez, the architect of SDSU’s top 10 defense, is a logical candidate there as well as the vacancy at Utah State.
Pacific also needs a head coach. JayDee Luster was Damon Stoudamire’s lead assistant when they won 23 games and finished third in the WCC in 2019-20 (and things went downhill quickly after they left).
“That’s part of wanting to be an assistant here, because you know you can get a head job from this program,” Dutcher said. “You don’t have to be at a power conference school to get a head job. You can get a head job from San Diego State because of the success we’ve had and the reputation we have.”
In the meantime, they’ll stay up late watching game film of UConn. Maybe their season ends Thursday. Maybe it ends Saturday. Maybe it doesn’t end until after the Final Four again.
For now, they’re still Aztecs.
“That’s part of hiring good people,” Dutcher said. “We don’t hire self-promoters, we don’t hire boastful talkers. We hire guys who go to work every day. And then if they’re rewarded for that, that’s a great thing. But they’re not losing sight of the task at hand.”
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