Dalonte Hill Accepts Position As Lead Maryland Basketball Assistant Coach, According To Report

It's been a while since Mark Turgeon was introduced as the Head Coach of Maryland. He has spent that time landing his first recruit (Seth Allen) making some phone calls, and attempting to solidify the rest of his staff. We have heard reports that Bino Ranson will be retained, but nothing official has been said on that front. Today, Turgeon reportedly filled out another spot with Kansas St. assistant Dalonte Hill.

I think we all learned during the search for a head coach that we can't take these reports at face value, but we have heard that Maryland was showing some serious interest in Hill, and that he was interested in moving closer to home. So this report does have some merit.

Hill would be a huge get for Turgeon. He has very close ties to D.C. Assault, one of the best AAU teams and producers of talent in the area, and had opened up a mini pipeline to Manhattan, Kansas that included the likes of Michael Beasley. He hadn't been quite as effective recently, but one has to assume that College Park is a little bit of an easier sell, considering it's proximity to the region he will be targeting.

Hill would help Turgeon lock down the D.C. area, which has seen a lot of talent go places other than Maryland during Gary Williams' tenure. With Bino Ranson recruiting Baltimore, Hill would go a long way in solidifying Maryland's recruiting in the region.

Hill was the highest paid assistant coach in the Nation at Kansas St., but he will reportedly take a pay cut to head back East, and join Turgeon's staff at Maryland. This likely means that current assistant and fan favorite Rob Ehsan is out of a job, but he won't be unemployed for too long one would imagine. It now appears that Turgeon's staff will be made up of Ranson, Hill and Scot Spinelli, who coached with Turgeon at Texas A&M, but we are expecting a formal announcement on that front later this week.