By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
Elon is going the route of adding a general manager for its men’s basketball program.
That comes with Al Seibert taking that position, which is combined with duties as an assistant coach.
Seibert spent the last 14 years on the Iowa men’s basketball coaching staff, including the past three seasons as chief of staff and general manager. Elon coach Billy Taylor, prior to joining the Phoenix, was an assistant coach at Iowa.
“Having worked alongside Al at Iowa, I have witnessed his ability to impact a program in countless ways,” Taylor said.
Taylor said the general manager’s position is vital because of the evolving landscape in college athletics. Many other college programs have created that position as well.
Elon had a vacancy because of the departure this spring of assistant coach Greg Herenda. Seibert’s hiring is unrelated to the death this month of staff member Stacey Palmore.
Seibert worked under now-former Iowa coach Fran McCaffery, who’s also an ex-UNC Greensboro coach. Iowa won 20 or more games in eight of the past 12 seasons.
Seibert was head coach at New Haven from 2005-10 after early stops as an assistant coach or staff member at Hartford, Western Kentucky, Duquesne and Pittsburgh. He graduated from Fredonia (New York) State.
Elon women add assistant
Kelvin Long Jr. has been hired as an assistant coach for the Elon women’s basketball team. He’s a former head coach at Division II North Greenville.
He also spent three seasons on the staff of College of Charleston, which like Elon is in the Coastal Athletic Association. He had two previous seasons with Charleston Southern. Long’s stops include time on staffs at Kennesaw State and East Tennessee State.
Also, the program added Melody Prichard as director of basketball operations.
She came after a season as a graduate assistant at Winston-Salem State, her alma mater. She’s a former Winston-Salem State player who played in high school at Knightdale.
