Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 8, 1990 TAG: 9005080044
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO (HEADSHOT) ELLERBE
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Neither Ellerbe nor Jones was available for comment Monday, but sources told the Roanoke Times & World-News on Monday that the school could make an announcement on the hiring as early as today.
Ellerbe, a native of Washington, D.C., played at Rutgers from 1981-85 and later served as a graduate assistant for the Scarlet Knights under ex-UVa assistant Craig Littlepage.
Ellerbe moved from Rutgers to Bowling Green, where he spent two seasons under another former Virginia aide, Jim Larranaga. Ellerbe also coached at George Mason for one season before joining the South Carolina staff last August.
"When I interviewed Brian, the first thing I noticed [in 1986] was that he was very young," Larranaga said. "But despite the fact that he was young chronologically, he had a great degree of confidence. He was comfortable in almost any social setting.
"I think he was only 23 at the time, yet he jumped into recruiting as a veteran. He painted an accurate and favorable picture of the school without exaggerating. He helped us sign our players who are now juniors and, basically, we're a junior team."
Larranaga said Ellerbe was successful in getting home visits for mid-major Bowling Green with blue-chippers Steve Smith and Anderson Hunt, although Ellerbe's responsibilities weren't limited to recruiting. Smith went on to Michigan State and Hunt went to Nevada-Las Vegas.
"The players on the team immediately took to him because of his knowledge of the game and ability to communicate," Larranaga said. "I felt in the long run he would make an outstanding on-court coach. The only thing he needed was a little more experience."
Jones, named April 16 to succeed Terry Holland, already has decided to keep two other members of the former staff, part-time assistant Tom Perrin and graduate assistant Greg Domecq.
Perrin, 32, will be entering his ninth year as a member of the UVa staff, but there was some concern about promoting him because that would leave the Cavaliers with a first-time head coach and a first-time recruiter.
Prospects for the other full-time position are said to include ex-George Washington coach John Kuester, who visited Virginia's campus Friday; Richmond assistant Pat Dennis, and Connecticut assistant Dave Leitao.
Jones has received hundreds of applications and phone calls for the full-time assistant's jobs he and Littlepage filled under Holland. Littlepage turned down an offer from Jones and has said he will accept a position elsewhere in UVa's athletic administration.
The Virginia job will be the fifth in six years for Ellerbe, but Larranaga said all of his former assistant's moves were easy to justify.
"I think he always wanted to coach in the ACC," Larranaga said, "and each step got him one step closer. When he went to George Mason, he practically doubled his salary. Anybody would have taken that. This is the closest thing he's made to a lateral move and yet this is what he's been pointing toward."
by CNB