– @HoopDreamsMag
UCONN assistant Karl Hobbs will be named the Associate Head coach of Rutgers University per source.
Pretty strong staff for RU there actually, with Pikiell and now Hobbs. Maybe they do have a chance to improve things there?
Karl Hobbs is leaving UConn to become the associate head coach at Rutgers, working for new coach Steve Pikiell, multiple sources have confirmed.
It's a natural move that has been in the works since Pikiell, from Bristol and a former UConn captain, moved from Stony Brook to Rutgers two weeks ago. Pikiell was an assistant on Hobbs' staff at George Washington.
Hobbs, who played at UConn, was an assistant on Jim Calhoun's staff from 1993-2001, then went to GW for 10 seasons. He returned to UConn, first as director of operations in 2011, then as an assistant coach under Kevin Ollie the following season. He has been a part of three of the Huskies' four national championship teams.
Hobbs' hiring at Rutgers was first reported by HoopDreamsMag.com. The move from assistant at UConn to associate head coach at Rutgers will mean a significant raise in salary for Hobbs.
For the past few seasons, UConn's entire staff has been made up of former Huskies — Ollie, Glen Miller, Hobbs and Ricky Moore, with Kevin Freeman as director of operations. Hobbs' departure could open the door for Freeman to become an assistant coach. Or the Huskies could look outside for a coach with front-court experience. Ollie, Hobbs, Miller and Moore were all guards.
Hobbs, 54, was a high school teammate of Patrick Ewing at Cambridge (Mass.) Rindge and Latin before coming to UConn to play for Dom Perno from 1980-84. He began coaching at Boston University before returning to UConn in '93, after making a name for himself at BU as a strong recruiter. He helped land players such as Emeka Okafor, Rip Hamilton and Khalid El-Amin.
Former Huskies forward Donyell Marshall was one of the names first mentioned as a possibility to join Pikiell's staff, but Marshall, an assistant at Buffalo, is in the running for the head coaching position at Central Connecticut, as is Jay Young, who was Pikiell's assistant at Stony Brook.
Hobbs did not return a call seeking comment.