from the A10 board:

http://www.basketballforum.com/atlantic-10-conference/456810-kevin-clark-leaving-uri.html

It also spells his name Ronald..... let's hope he stays on

 I have no idea about these rumors but I think the team would have legitimate cause to not let Copes out of his LOI if they worried about him going to URI. Doubtful this will happen though. 

Temple also has an ast coaching spot open with Matt Langel getting the head job at Colgate.  I wouldn't let Houston and Copes leave for another A10 school if GW has any say in the matter. 

 Possible, however I don't think Roland would take title demotion and/or pay-cut. The move last season to Associate Head Coach was a career-decision.

 http://www.projo.com/uri/content/Clark_URI_Rams_Baron_04-27-11_4RNP5F6_v3.d39bb2.html

DEA, my concern is that GW's track record for being "the nice guy" is extensive.  We allowed NC State to change their date with us without any real compensation to speak of.  We allowed Providence to break an agreement with us.  We agreed to playing Navy two years in a row at the BB&T (sorry but that never should have happened).  We will gladly accept one-and-done road games against teams who are ahead of us in the pecking order but when it comes to teams below us, we'll do home-and homes with anyone (see: Howard).  So if Copes should academically qualify, my sense is that if he indicates he'd like to play elsewhere, we would not stand in his way.

 That was under JK , Dom and Chernak. Nero, Levine, Ramsey and Siegel run the show now. Totally different ball-game.

However, not releasing a kid form an LOI after a coaching change is like putting "syphillis" in your match.com profile.

The Providence Journal writer is just speculating.  The three names he throws out are all former URI players and that is the main reason they are mentioned.  Houston was named since he is a grad and his current job status is in question.  Wheeler and Reynolds-Dean are looking to move up and Wheeler's mentor at Fairfiled just left and he has a new coach to work for.

The departing Kevin Clark was the most senior assistant coach at URI.   He is joining a fellow former URI assistant Pat Skerry's staff at Towson.

Herve is 100% correct. If Copes or the others want out they will be let out or GW will poison its recruiting for years to come.

 That's not necessarily true. Providence did it this year I believe and other teams have done it in the past. I think it would be bad to not let him out if he wanted to go to say West Virginia, but the school wouldn't be blamed if he wanted to go to another A10 school. It's a big business and he signed. 

Maybe so, DEA. But I'd rather be the sap school that acted in a way I would considerable honorable than be the cold-hearted hard ball school that insisted on its rights. GW and its new coach should make its best pitch to all 3 recruits if it wants to keep them; it should also let all 3 go if the change in coaches alters their decision to attend GW.

 I agree with you Poog, I would feel bad about the school doing that as well. Seeing how they've handled this past month however makes me think that the new guys would have no problem with it.(having a coach recruiting players who he was not going to get the chance to coach)

Conditional resease like VT did with Munson? (even though he was a transfer)

I like that there's been no announcements on the ast coaches being let go yet.  I would think the new head coach should make a strong pitch to Houston to stay.  If Houston goes, I would prevent a move to another A10 school.   I think Marshall can get a nice job as an ast at a BCS school now that he has some coaching experience to go along with this long NBA career.  Collucci is a coaches's son and knows the deal.  He's a grinder and will wind up somewhere. 

Lonergan and Houston could form a solid team if they can get together.  Hopefully Nero can talk all the parties involved into forming a marriage.

It is one thing to play hardball with someone who makes more than $500K a year.  After all, you only need one coach every few years.  But you need 13 players to make a hoops team, and these are teens when they come to you.  Plus, they have networks where they could poison the well.  Don't think it is the same.

You could see a slight distinction between J. Davis on the one hand and T. Davis and Copes on the other. Clearly, unless GW is crazy T. Davis gets his release. When your VP admits it was a University decision which means it had been in the works, it seems unethical to demand that a kid who was recruited/signed AFTER the decision was made but before it was known honor his LOI. As for Copes there are 2 issues - first is he going to be admitted? If he is not capable of being admitted then this is a moot point. If he is capable of being admitted, then you would also have to question the propriety of making a kid honor his LOI when his uncle was just let go (assuming Roland does not stay because if he stays then obviously Copes is coming). As for J. Davis, he signed early. You could make the case he signed with the intent of attending GW regardless of who was the coach because there was no guarantee in November that KH would be back. I would not make that argument but to me it is the strongest of the three.

Hopefully, the new coach can convince all 3 to stay but I agree that is a longshot unless Roland is retained.

Anyone "in the know" care to divulge what they know about Houston's status?

Put another way, Houston, do we have a problem?

Hard to know right now. There are many conflicting signals at the moment.

Where is this flood of "Copes didn't qualify" information coming from?  One day nothing and then all of a sudden, it's a 50/50 thing it seems.  Did I miss some breaking news?

This is not a VT situation.

A) Nigel Munson decided to not go to VT after the horrible shooting episode AND having a pregnant girlfriend in DC.

B) The coach of VT believed that GW had tampered with Munson as they believed that GW had tampered with Wynton Witherspoon before that.  That is what was motivated the limited release given to him.

As to Houston - I imagine that there is some possibility that Houston could stay.  But don't confuse that with some notion that Houston is either a good coach OR a good recruiter, because he is neither.  He adds VERY little to anybody other than a shot at getting Erik.  If he stayed - it would be an awkward arranged marriage where everybody knew that the couple was going to be sleeping in different bedrooms from the start.

 In the Hatchet article (nice job on that by the way) it says that GW people reached out to him to come down and visit the campus again. This doesn't sound like somebody who hasn't qualified. I haven't heard anything about him not qualifying but as Herve said that's something which only a select few people would know about. Still, I find it hard to believe that the school would be essentially recruiting him again at this stage if he hadn't gotten in. 

I will assume that Copes committed because of Houston, not Hobbs.  I will also assume that there aren't very many better jobs out there for Houston than at GW.  Unless he is willing to accept a low D-1 coaching job (if any are available), he would be looking at a lateral move.  My point is that there is probably good reason for us to want to keep Houston and for Houston to want to stay. (He knows the team, he would not have to relocate, etc).  My gut feeling (or should I say my hope) is that we have known who the next coach is going to be for some time but we have to go through the charade of an interviewing process out of respect for the departing coach and to avoid tampering allegations.  My further hope is that if this is correct, the feelers have already been made to Houston/Copes.    My fingers are crossed.

 If it's DI openings you're interested in, Seth Davis says there's 5 left:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/seth_davis/04/26/coaching.carousel.best.worst/

List:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/basketball/ncaa/03/07/coaching.changes/index.html 

It's sad that Coach Houston has been reduced to the status of an uncle. I still remember the Hatchet article giving him much credit for getting Pops and others to think and carry themselves like big men. Coach Marshall may carry bigger professional credentials and be better known (or publicized) but Coach Houston appears to have served as a quiet and dignified presence and role model on the bench. He's far more than just an uncle of a highly sought recruit.

poog, nice post. i like LSF's scenario for Coach Houston to return. i dont care what the reason. Roland got here long before his nephew committed. his return would signal some continuity in the program perhaps convincing one or more of thhe recruits to come to GW. the new coach may want or needs someone who relates to our current players, especially given the unfortunate timing of this mess.

Roland's return with a well-qualifed nephew in tow would be the best scenario for everyone involved, 

Erik sounds like he really likes the school and understands its special nature and location.

Anyone know what Houston's relationship with Hobbs was like?  Hobbs' on court demeanor and off-court relationship with students gave me the impression that he would be a difficult boss to work for. 

Dootie, my understanding was that there was a time when KH was feeling pressure to make a change or changes among his assistant coaches and KH stood by Roland in particular.  Also, Roland's promotion to Associate Head Coach (i.e. Lead Assistant) was strongly advocated by KH.

Hobbs and Houston's relationship was quite adversarial to the extent Houston was closer to the chopping-block prior to this season than he possibly knew.