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    By hhcmatt

    hhcmatt

    By hhcmatt •

    Phil Beckner named the next assistant coach at Nebraska

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      Phil Beckner and Damian Lillard

    The last time Tim Miles had to fill an assistant position back in April, the 2014-15 season had just ended and Miles had plenty of time to fill the position. Less than a month later Miles tabbed former Florida assistant Rashon Burno and the Huskers had roped in an up and coming assistant with an impressive resume and pedigree. After exactly 50 days as assistant (is this the shortest coaching tenure in Nebrasketball history?) Burno jumped ship as the Hurley family turned their assistant problem into our assistant problem. While July isn't exactly an optimal time to find an assistant, you have to wonder how short our list was last April that we haven't been able to simply pick the next guy on the list for this year's staff. Wonder no more as Phil Beckner has been tabbed for what hopefully will be the last assistant hire this season.

     

    After a college basketball career at NAIA Kansas Wesleyan, the Arizona native worked his way up the ranks to assistant under Randy Rahe at Weber St. During his time at Weber St it was Beckner's work with current NBA star Damian Lillard that has gained him a bit of notoriety. Beckner and Lillard's relationship has continued with references to Beckner being dropped on Grantland in addition to still training the former NBA rookie of the year.

     

    When Beckner's name started popping up on our forums, it wasn't a shock to find out that he'd been in Lincoln a couple of weeks ago about the position. While he's obviously scored major street cred working with Lillard, he wasn't the one who recruited Lillard to Weber St. Can he recruit high level talent to a school like Nebraska? Will he branch the Huskers into his reputed area of recruiting in the Southwest? Is Damian Lillard going to be showing up on the Husker's Instagram account in the near future?

     

    One thing we do know for sure
    https://twitter.com/PhilBeckner/status/623632923791527936

     

    The Huskers don't need to worry about whether or not he has an active passport for the Spain trip.

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    bobcat402

    I wonder if Lillard can/will work out at Hendricks ever since he still works out with Beckner. If ncaa rules allow, that'd be pretty sweet for our players/future players.

    i dont see why not, football team is doing it all the time. 

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    Huskerpapa

    ...and let me clarify my earlier "concern" post.  I will again state that I trust Coach Miles and I trust this will be a good hire.  I further hope that we have caught a rising star.  When I read his Weber State bio, there is not significant mention of his recruiting prowess.  His forte seems to have been with player development.  Hence my concern about recruiting.  If we get them, we can develop them...but do we have the ability to get them.  Sorry, it is a concern until history tells us differently.

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    HB

     

     

    It would seem that Beckner was originally in the running when we first were looking for an assistant.

    If that's true, then why was the spot open for so long after Burno quit?

     

     

    Burno's departure went public on July 3, so this job wasn't even open a month.  Doesn't seem "so long" to me.  Anyway, would the University's policy on posting the job be in play?

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    ajb5856

    https://twitter.com/RobinWashut/status/628306358811652096

    It would seem that Beckner was originally in the running when we first were looking for an assistant.

    If that's true, then why was the spot open for so long after Burno quit?

    Maybe just the timing of everything? Coaches being busy tidying up from the final July evaluation period? Maybe Miles just thought it was better to have Eaton finish it up since he was in house already and knew what was going on with their recruiting.

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    hhcmatt

     

     

    https://twitter.com/RobinWashut/status/628306358811652096

    It would seem that Beckner was originally in the running when we first were looking for an assistant.

    If that's true, then why was the spot open for so long after Burno quit?

    Maybe just the timing of everything? Coaches being busy tidying up from the final July evaluation period? Maybe Miles just thought it was better to have Eaton finish it up since he was in house already and knew what was going on with their recruiting.

     

     

    I wondered the same thing myself. However, a month was approximately the same time frame for the hiring of Burno.

    We knew about Burno well before it became official so it's pretty obvious that Beckner knew he was being hired days before it was tweeted out by the U. When they were filling the spot for Burno, it wasn't in the middle of recruiting for 16 out of 21 days. Finally, I'm sure he asked around and/or interviewed other guys. I'd have to look up the timelines for the Molinari and Hunter hires but I'd suspect there was a decent amount of lead time for those as well.

     

    Beckner retweeted Craig Smith on July 7th. Coincidence?

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    AuroranHusker
    Putting aside any grievances some may have with A.B., this is great to have what he considers the 'best in the business' in Lincoln. A.B. works with coaches/players all over the country. Wait til we see Damian Lillard in a Husker Hoops hat to show his Bechner support! GBR


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