Source: Rico Hines To Join Steve Lavin's Staff At St. John's

Adding Dunlap Would Bring West Coast Feel To NYC

By JOHN P. WISE
One Great Season

Rico Hines, who played his college basketball at UCLA under coach Steve Lavin, will be an assistant coach under Lavin at St. John's, according to a source with knowledge of the Red Storm basketball program.

The tipster texted OGS late Thursday afternoon saying Hines, who just completed his season as an assistant coach with the NBA's Golden State Warriors, will be Lavin's next hire, but didn't specify when an announcement was expected. Hines, whose bio already has been taken down from the Warriors Web site, played for the Bruins from 1997-2002.

The source also confirmed that Mike Dunlap, who's been rumored to be one of Lavin's hopeful hires since Lavin was hired at St. John's, will take the job in Queens if he doesn't get the head coaching job at Oregon or Colorado. Dunlap, an Alaska native known as a strong Xs and Os guy, has spent much of his coaching career out west, including the 2009-10 season as the associate head coach at Oregon.

Lavin added Tony Chiles, with strong New York ties, to his staff last week and is hoping to lure Maurice Hicks as well.

Hicks is the coach at New York's powerhouse Rice High School, but is interested in the St. John's director of basketball operations job, the source told OGS.