Now that the shock has worn off of James Dickey’s hire as the University of Houston’s men’s head basketball coach, Cougar fans are ready to see what sort of staff the new guy brings to Cullen.  Dickey may not have been a head coach since his dismissal from Texas Tech 12 years ago, but upon his arrival, he was quick to promise bringing in a team of assistants who were proven recruiters.  The trio of coaches Dickey has hired appear to have the resumés for the job, but will they have the hunger necessary to infuse some life into a basketball program hanging on by a thread?  Let’s meet them, shall we?

The most familiar face on the new coaching staff is also a face most Cougar fans thought they’d never see on Cullen Avenue again:  Alvin Brooks.  Brooks, 50, was named UH’s first black head basketball coach 17 years ago after spending the previous seven years as an assistant under Pat Foster.  Today, Brooks admits he wasn’t ready for the job.  He went 54-84 over the next five years before being fired.  It was a tumultuous time in UH sports; in those five years, Brooks worked for three different athletic directors, and he was one of a string of poor hires that helped to slowly kill basketball at UH.  Now he’s back.

But Brooks’ tenure as head coach is ancient history.  As an assistant under Billy Gillispie, Brooks was part of basketball resurgences at UTEP and Texas A&M before serving as director of operations at Kentucky during Gillispie’s brief time there.  He also served as Dickey’s assistant at Tech from 1999 to 2001.  Recruiting has always been Brooks’ strong suit, and he maintains many ties to local basketball programs.  Recruiting the Houston area will be Brooks’ primary responsibility on the new staff.

The Metroplex, on the other hand, will likely be recruited by new assistant Ulric Maligi.  Maligi comes to Houston from Stephen F. Austin University, where he served as an assistant coach for the past three years.  SFA was a real player in the Southland Conference during that time, making a trip to the NCAA tournament two year ago and falling to Sam Houston State in the conference title game last season.  Maligi is an up-and-comer known for his AAU recruiting ties in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area, where he’ll no doubt take the lead in the Cougars’ efforts to land a few of North Texas’ best young players.        

Rounding out Dickey’s staff will be Daniyal Robinson, a former assistant at Iowa State.  Robinson has also served as an assistant at Illinois State and UALR in his 11-year coaching career.  Robinson is another strong recruiter, and helped Iowa State sign Chris Colvin, one of the nation’s top 100 prospects last year.  To compete in the Big XII, Iowa State has had to develop pipelines across the country to get recruits into Ames.  Robinson will be expected to hit the trail hard at Houston, too.

With his recruiting team in place, Dickey has little time to waste.  The Spring recruiting period ends on May 19, and the Cougars have three scholarships to offer in hopes of replacing the scoring punch provided by the departing Kelvin Lewis and Aubrey Coleman.  It’s a tall order on short notice; his staff’s result on the recruiting trail may go a long way in determining the course of Dickey’s first couple of seasons at UH.