How South Region coaches got their start,

Bruce Weber, Kansas State

Bruce Weber entered the profession in 1979 as a 22-year-old graduate assistant at Western Kentucky, following his parents’ mandate that he and his siblings go into education or coaching.

Weber ran errands and did “a lot of stuff that we didn’t want to do,” said his boss, basketball Hall of Famer Gene Keady, who then was at Western Kentucky before his 25-year run at Purdue. Keady called Weber the most organized coach he ever worked with, finishing work ahead of schedule, making sure players were going to class and anticipating Keady’s needs.

Keady was so impressed with Weber that when he was hired at Purdue at the end of the season, he took Weber with him, making him an assistant coach in the Big Ten at 22. Weber stayed with him until 1998, a 19-year partnership.

John Calipari, Kentucky

In 1982, then-Kansas coach Ted Owens watched a young John Calipari, just out of college at Clarion, work his basketball camp for four weeks and was overwhelmed by his enthusiasm and intelligence. So he created a job for him — volunteer basketball coach for the Jayhawks.

“And I said, ‘Well, how much does a volunteer make?” Calipari said Wednesday.

Calipari, then 23, worked (for free) for Owens for a year before Owens was fired, and then was hired by his replacement, Larry Brown. Among other things, he met his wife, Ellen, during his time at Kansas, where she was a university employee.

“John was willing to make that sacrifice to get started in coaching,” Owens said. When people ask him if he knew Calipari would become a coaching success, a Hall of Fame inductee, Owens responds that he knew he’d be successful in whatever field he chose, “because he had energy and creativity and so forth, and that’s what he’s done. I’m very proud of him.”

Porter Moser, Loyola-Chicago

As coach at Creighton in the late ’80s, Tony Barone got to know Porter Moser as a dead-eye shooter and a player who would do anything he could to get better.

As Moser’s playing career ended, Barone didn’t need to talk him into accepting a graduate assistant job, which he accepted in 1990. Even as a GA, Barone said, Moser scouted opponents and helped run practice. “I wanted them to learn the game, and he was very bright at it,” Barone said. “He picked it up very quickly.”

Moser moved with Barone to Texas A&M and stayed with him a total of seven years. He has been at Loyola, his third head job, since 2011.

Eric Musselman, Nevada

In 1988, Eric Musselman, then 23, became general manager of the Rapid City (South Dakota) Thrillers, a team in the now-defunct Continental Basketball Association. Within two weeks, Musselman had traded every member of the team that had finished 16-38. And with players culled from NBA cut lists and Flip Saunders as coach, the Thrillers flipped their record to 38-16. He later coached the team to a championship.

After a long run in the CBA and then the NBA, Musselman moved to colleges in 2012 and has been the Nevada coach since 2015. Pat Hall, who hired Musselman way back when with the Thrillers, is not surprised by the Wolf Pack’s success. Said Hall, “One of a kind.”