Howland continues the Buffalo connection
Pittsburgh coach Ben Howland (right) picked up his second recruit for 2002-03 last week, continuing the Panthers connection to the upper New York area. Howland also completed his coaching staff.
As Mike and Russ reported last week, that recruit is 6-6, 180-pound wing Ed Turner from Turner-Carroll High School in Buffalo, NY. He is an ex-high school teammate of Panther's super-sophomore Julius Page. Turner averaged 18 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals last season.
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Turner, a fourth-team All-Western New York selection last season, transferred from Nichols School after his sophomore year. He is the son of former Texas A&I (now Texas A&M-Kingsville) star Ed Turner Sr.
Other schools in the recruiting hunt included Massachusetts, Seton Hall, Rutgers and Siena. Turner competed at the adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas with Donyell Marshall Foundation I which lost to the New York Ravens in the Sweet Sixteen round.
(The Ravens were defeated by eventual champion Long Island Panthers, another New York-based team.)Turner joins 6-10 center Daryl Jacobs of Buffalo Traditional, who signed a letter of intent in April. Jacobs will be attending Maine Central Institute this season in order to meet the NCAA academic standards. At this point, Howland has two more scholarships available for next season.
In other news from Oakland, Howland also completed his coaching staff with the hiring of ex-Bowling Green assistant Ernie Zeigler and Chris Carlson. Carlson has been an assistant coach at Northern Arizona for the past three years, including Howland's final one at the Big Sky Conference school. Zeigler was the head coach of Team Detroit AAU from 1992 through 1997.
Zeigler replaces Patrick Sandle as assistant coach; Sandle accepted a job at UCLA last month. Carlson will be the Director of Basketball Operations. He replaces Barry Rohrssen, who moved into the No. 2 assistant spot when Lenny Parham left at the end of last season.