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June 20, 2012

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Waugh says basketball hire likely next month

By Devin Golden devingolden@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen Wed Jun 20, 2012, 07:15 AM EDT

Dalton State College athletic director Derek Waugh had hoped to hire a men’s basketball coach by the end of this month.

The major moment for the school’s athletics rebuilding project won’t happen then, but it isn’t too far off.

While he stated in a previous interview with The Daily Citizen that he wanted to have a men’s basketball coach hired “by July 1,” Waugh said Tuesday it may be tough to make that happen.

“The original date that I thought, July 1, will be tight, but it will be some time in July,” Waugh said, noting that being a one-man athletic department his first four months on the job has put him behind in the search.

Waugh also said he wanted to make an administrative hire first; he has done that, bringing on board Richard Skeel as senior associate athletic director, who will begin work next month. Waugh said he didn’t want the men’s basketball coach to be his only go-to source for adminstrative help when the coach would need to be focused on recruiting.

“Our budget will not be huge, but the second half of July is a big recruiting time, so I’d like to have it filled in July,” he said.

The job opening is currently listed on the college’s website under the employment opportunities link.

Men’s basketball is slated to be Dalton State’s first sports program started, with the 2013-2014 school year targeted for its first season. The college is going back to the court 34 years after what was then Dalton Junior College shut down the men’s basketball program after a 10-year stint.

Waugh previously served as men’s basketball coach for 11 seasons at Stetson University, a Division I program, and has said in previous interviews he’s likely to serve as an assistant in the early days of the program.

Another item Waugh wanted to make headway in this summer was a future conference for the Roadrunners, and he has his eye on one in particular.

While he declined to provide the name of the conference the Roadrunners want to join due to still being in negotiations, in a previous interview, Waugh identified three — the Southern States Athletic Conference, TranSouth Athletic Conference and the Appalachian Athletic Conference — where the Roadrunners most likely will land.

“I would say as a safe bet that in our first year competing (2013-2014), we will be an independent. But with that, I look to be involved in a scheduling consortium,” Waugh said.

“The reason I am using that word is, for the league we’re trying to join, we’re coming under the minimum of core sports. So, if we’re not a member, then we’re looking for help with the schedule so we can get home games and all that good stuff.”

Waugh said the school will have the conference’s required number of core sports beginning with the 2014-2015 school year. In previous interviews, he has mentioned having women’s volleyball and cross country and tennis programs for men and women in 2013-14 as well.

“My plan is within five years that we have just about all the sports the NAIA sponsors, with the exception of football,” he said.

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Waugh says basketball hire likely next month

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