Heath completes staff with ex-UK coach Cox

USF men's basketball coach Stan Heath has completed his coaching staff, announcing Friday that former Kentucky assistant Jeremy Cox has been hired as his third and final assistant.

Cox, who coached under Billy Gillispie at Texas A&M and Kentucky, was head coach at Arkansas-Fort Smith while Heath was head coach at Arkansas. He joins former Towson assistant Eric Skeeters as the new additions on Heath's staff.

"His experience at Kentucky and Texas A&M was something that is impressive to me, in addition to his ability to coach, to work with the players and to recruit," Heath said in a statement. "He definitely will be an asset to the program. I feel very fortunate that we have him on our staff.”

Cox's hiring means Heath will not be promoting former USF guard and assistant Tommy Tonelli, who has worked as the Bulls' director of basketball operations for the past two seasons.

It's the second time in three years Heath has hired an assistant who came available after a coaching change at Kentucky. Current assistant Reggie Hanson joined the Bulls after he wasn't retained when Gillispie took over at Kentucky, and now Heath has landed Cox after he wasn't kept by new coach John Calipari.

We'll have more from Heath's new hires on Monday ...

Comments

[G.A.]

Hey, thanks on the Twitter issue -- have it figured out (hopefully). Much appreciated ...

[G.P.]

Hey GA, you may want to check your twitter feed, I think your account may be sending spam out.

[Ken]

Hope you're right, Champ. That all sounds very good.

[Steve O'Neal]

Another step forward for Heath and the USF BB program in my opinion. Great comments Champ. GO BULLS!

[The Champ]

Let me tell you about Coach Cox now. He is a great X's and O's coach and a great recruiter which is a bonus. Coach Cox runs a motion offense similar to the one Hipsher ran here but Coach Cox's offense is more of the true motion with parts of the Flex we saw ran by Coach Odom at Wake and USC. Jones', Howard's, Crater's, Gilchrist's and Burwell's games will go to another level under Coach Cox. If Gillispie had listen to him more he might still be at UK, lol. I doubt Stan will be as stubburn, particularly since Heath is more of a defensive coach anyway.

Coach Cox is well respected in the coaching profession and he won't be limited in recruiting as Hipsher was. He'll be able to recruit successfully in the JC ranks and we'll get on both JC and HS players that are located in the Big 12 and SEC region.

We have a much stronger staff going forward then what we had under Heath his first two seasons here. I think we will come to a appreciate Coach Cox while here because he is destined to be a D-1 head coach someday.

[The Champ]

Rick you and some of the others are thinking with your heart instead of your mind. Yes Tonelli is a nice guy and a good coach, but let's be honest his resume just doesn't match up with some of the candidates Heath interviewed. If Stan went with his heart Tonelli would've gotten the job no doubt, but he had to choose the best fit to what he was looking for. Remember I wanted Coach Price because he's an outstanding coach with a great resume of success, but Heath didn't go that way.

[Rick]

I think this is a big mistake by Coach Heath by not promoting Tonelli. Tonelli has the only Florida connections on the staff and also is strong in X's and O's....while Coach Heath is not. You can't just run, press and play street ball to win consistently. We saw that with Greenie here a few years ago.

[Ken]

Thanks for the update, Greg. Have a great weekend. Some time, I'd be interested in what this means careerwise for Tonelli--will he be looking for other assistant coaching positions or be content to stay where he is? My impression--from a distance--is that he and his family like Tampa.

[Joe]

Did Tonelli get a raw deal? Were the two hires better candidates for the gig?

[JT (Atlanta)]

It looks to me like CSH went with two heavy recruiters instead of just one. I like the staff he's put together now, we'll see if it brings any success.