After serving as associate head coach for the entirety of the Steve Pikiell era at Rutgers up to this point, Karl Hobbs is leaving. It was reported first by Jeff Goodman that Hobbs is being hired in the same role at Georgia Tech under new head coach Damon Stoudamire.
Hobbs won the 1999 and 2014 national titles as an assistant at UConn. As a head coach, Hobbs took George Washington to three straight NCAA Tournaments from 2005-2007. Pikiell served as an assistant to Hobbs at GW during the first four seasons of his tenure including one trip to March Madness.
He has served as associate head coach throughout his time at Rutgers. Hobbs was an important part of the program’s transition under Pikiell when he began at Rutgers in 2016. His experience as a bench coach and how to build a program was a key asset. Hobbs was the assistant who ran the offense and had key recruiting contacts in the DMV area and New England. He is credited in recruiting wins for Mawot Mag and Jaden Jones, both of whom played at Prolific Prep in California.
How Pikiell chooses to replace Hobbs could be very much in line with how he envisions the offense moving forward. Hobbs signed a two-year extension last summer. He was scheduled to make $380,000 in the 2023-24 season.
Brandin Knight was promoted to the same title as associate head coach two years ago. His presence allows the program to remain in a stable position.
One name to keep an eye on as a potential replacement for Hobbs is current Princeton associate Brett MacConnell. He is a Rutgers alum and former team manager. MacConnell was instrumental in the Sweet 16 run for the Tigers this past March. He is a key recruiter, runs the offense at Princeton and would be a great hire by Pikiell. No word as to whether he is officially a candidate after being under consideration for multiple low major head coaching jobs already this offseason.
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pj43
April 12, 2023 at 7:54 pm
Due to Pikiell’s admirable loyalty, I doubted that there would be any coaching movement unless an assistant coach left of his own volition. That now being the case, the opportunity is there to take a fresh look at Rutgers’ half court offense. I like the idea of Brett MacConnell as a replacement, assuming he’d be interested. His reputation is that of an excellent recruiter who also coaches the Princeton offense. Princeton doesn’t play the pure Pete Carril deliberate “Princeton offense” anymore. But, they do emphasize spacing, player movement without the ball and passing to set up catch & shoot opportunities for the 3pt shot. Whether it’s MacConnell or someone else, I’m hoping that the replacement is an offensive minded coach with a skill set that emphasizes and can implement an effective half court offense.
thevinman
April 13, 2023 at 2:48 am
Sounds good to me.