Thread Tools

Display Modes

**narek** · 04-29-2008, 04:34 PM

Quote:

Former Marquette University player Jim Boylan has emerged as the leading candidate to become the lead assistant to new Bucks coach Scott Skiles.

Boylan was Skiles' lead assistant with the Chicago Bulls for the past four seasons, and Boylan took over the Bulls on an interim basis after Skiles was fired Dec. 24. The Bulls went 24-32 under Boylan and finished 33-49.

The Bucks had no comment but Skiles did say recently that he hoped to have his staff in place by the end of the week.

Skiles also has an interest in former Indiana University coach Kelvin Sampson and former Bucks player Joe Wolf, who coached last season in the NBA's D-League.

At his introductory news conference April 21, Skiles said that he was considering all options in putting his staff together.

"My staff is very important to me," Skiles said. "I give my staff a lot of freedom to coach and do game plans and do their jobs. It's a very important issue that I want to give the necessary time to."

Last week, Skiles said that it was important to him to have someone on the bench next to him that had head-coaching experience and Boylan would qualify in that regard after coaching the Bulls for 56 games last season.

Skiles wants his staff to consist of three coaches who will be on the bench with him during games. Then, there would also a "player-development" or "big-man" coach who would sit behind the bench during games. Wolf would presumably fill that role.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=744595

**narek** · 05-01-2008, 06:00 AM

It's confirmed:

Quote:

On Wednesday, new Bucks coach Scott Skiles confirmed that Boylan, along with Lionel Hollins, Kelvin Sampson and Joe Wolf, are the coaches he would like to have on his staff next season.

Final contract details still have to be worked out but barring any last-minute snags, that is the group that will join Skiles on the Bucks' bench next season.

"Those are the four guys I'm after right now," said Skiles. "We're still in the process right now of trying to get it all sewn up."

Skiles said that Boylan had committed verbally to be his lead assistant, a position Boylan filled for the last four years in Chicago and during the 2000-'01 season when both were with the Phoenix Suns.

"Jim had made a commitment to be on my staff," said Skiles. "Now it's just a matter of the formalities of signing a contract. I'm looking forward to working with him again."

For Boylan, joining the Bucks' staff would not only mean being reunited with Skiles but also a return to a place where many fond memories were born. After all, Boylan was a starter on Marquette's 1977 national championship team.

"It's very appealing to come back to a place that you're familiar with and where you've put down some roots at some point of your life," said Boylan. "Whenever you're in college and you accomplish what we were able to do at Marquette, it's always a special feeling.

"Every time I come back to Milwaukee for a game, you come into the city and there's a feeling of a certain comfort. For me coming back to Milwaukee, it's going to be great for those reasons. I'm familiar with the city, I know a lot of people, and the memories that I have of my time there . . . it's one of the greatest times of my life."

While assembling his staff, Skiles has emphasized that he wants someone beside him on the bench with head coaching experience and he will have that in both Boylan and Hollins. Boylan was the head coach of the Bulls for the final 56 games of last season after Skiles was fired while Hollins has been the head coach and an assistant with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Plus, Skiles and Boylan know each other only too well after working together so much over the years.

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=745856

Thread Tools Display Modes

Thread Tools

Display Modes