Pitino Completes Cardinals' Men's Basketball Staff
May 04, 2005 | Men's Basketball
May 4, 2005
Audio Clips
- Head Coach Rick </~nbsp>Pitino - May 4, 2005
- Assistant Coach Marvin Menzies - May 11, 2005
- Assistant Coach Steve Masiello - May 11, 2005
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - University of Louisville men's basketball coach Rick Pitino has added three experienced assistants and made two changes to complete his staff for the 2005-06 season.
- Vince Taylor, an assistant coach at U of L for the past seven years, has been elevated to Adminstrative Assistant on Pitino's staff.
- Marvin Menzies, an assistant coach at UNLV last season, and Steve Masiello, an assistant coach at Manhattan for the past four years, have joined the Cardinals' staff in a similar role.
- Dan McHale, administrative assistant at Manhattan for the past year and a former U of L staff assistant, has joined the men's basketball staff as Director of Video Operations.
- In another staff move which was previously announced on April 8, Kevin Willard was elevated to Associate Coach after serving as an assistant coach on the Cardinals' staff for the past four years.
The moves complete the staff for Pitino, who had two assistants move on to collegiate head coaching positions this year. Reggie Theus, an assistant coach at U of L for the past two years, was named head coach at New Mexico State University on March 28 and Scott Davenport, a member of the U of L basketball staff for the past nine years, was named head coach at Bellarmine University in Louisville on April 29. Pitino has had 21 former assistants or players advance to collegiate head coaching positions.
Marvin Menzies
Menzies has coached at the collegiate level for 14 years, including last year at UNLV under coach Lon Kruger. The Runnin Rebels were 17-14 in the 2004-05 season and reached the NIT in the first year of a rebuilding project. He helped UNLV sign an incoming class that has been rated as high as fourth in the nation.
Before his time at UNLV, Menzies spent one year as an assistant coach at USC (2003-04) and four seasons (1999-03) at San Diego State, where he helped the Aztecs reach the postseason in back-to-back years (2002-03) for the first time since 1975-76. In his one season at USC, he helped the Trojans produce a recruiting class ranked as high as third in the nation. As the chief recruiter at San Diego State, Menzies signed nationally ranked recruiting classes in 2001 (top 25) and 2000 (top 40) and signed the program's first-ever McDonald's All-American.
Prior to coaching at San Diego State, Menzies coached at Santa Monica (Calif.) City College as an assistant coach and associate head coach from 1991-94, 1995-96 and 1997-99. He served as the school's head coach in 1994-95, guiding the Corsairs to a 24-8 record and the Western States Conference title while earning conference coach of the year honors. Santa Monica City College was a collective 181-46 with Menzies on the staff while sending 38 players on to NCAA schools during that period. The Corsairs produced a school-record 27-game winning streak and a school-best 32-2 finish in 1996. Menzies recruited the top three scorers in the program's history.
Between his stints at Santa Monica, Menzies served as an assistant coach at Cal State Sacramento in 1996-97 where he served under current San Antonio Spurs assistant Don Newman as the Hornets' transitioned from Division II to Division I.
Menzies began his coaching career at his prep alma mater, Hamilton High School in Los Angeles, Calif., where he served as an assistant coach for eight years.
The native Californian was a three-sport letterman at Hamilton. He went on to earn an economics degree from UCLA (1987) and earned a master's degree in education from Cal State Sacramento in 2003. He and his wife, Tammy, have a daughter Andreanna, their son Andre and their niece Aja.
Steve Masiello
Masiello was an assistant the past four years at Manhattan, including the last two as head coach Bobby Gonzalez's top assistant. During his four years there, the Jaspers compiled an 83-36 record (.697) with two Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Championships, a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and one visit to the NIT. In 2003-04, Manhattan produced a 25-6 mark, won the MAAC Championship with a league-record 16 wins and advanced to the NCAA Tournament second round after a 75-60 victory over fifth-seeded Florida.
Prior to connecting with the Manhattan coaching staff, Masiello served as the Administrative Assistant under Tulane Head Coach Coach Shawn Finney for one year (2000-01).
A 2000 graduate of the University of Kentucky with a degree in Communications, Masiello joined the Wildcats' basketball team as a walk-on during Pitino's final year at Kentucky (1996-97) as the Wildcats lost in the national championship game. He played an additional three years at UK under Tubby Smith, earning a scholarship his senior season, and was a member of the Wildcats' 1998 NCAA Championship team. He was the Wildcats' co-captain as a senior in 1999-2000.
Masiello hails from White Plains, N.Y. and attended Archbishop Stepinac High School. He moved to the Harvey School in Katonah, NY as a junior, when he averaged 19.9 points and six assists in helping Harvey win the New England Prep School Athletic Association Championship. He scored 38 points, ahd nine assists and grabbed three rebounds in the championship game to earn MVP honors. He was among the nation's high school scoring leaders his final year at Harvey, averaging 34.5 points and eight assists. He was a ball boy for the New York Knicks when Pitino was head coach there.
Dan McHale
McHale spent the past year as Administrative Assistant to Gonzalez at Manhattan where he assisted with video analysis and coordinated team travel among his duties. He will be responsible for advance scouting video of Cardinal opponents as well as evaluation video for U of L players.
Before his stint at Manhattan, McHale worked one year in the private sector for the MAP Group. He was a staff assistant for the Cardinals during Pitino's first two years at U of L. His primary duties then included assisting in opponent scouting through extensive film breakdowns, game preparation, and assisting in on-campus recruiting efforts.
He was a student manager for four years at the University of Kentucky (1997-2001), where he earned a bachelor's degree in business administration in 2001 and graduated with honors as a marketing major.
A native of Chatham, NJ, McHale was a high school letterman in basketball, track and cross country. He was married on April 30 to the former Jackie Hering of Lexington.
