May 10, 2001

STORRS, CONNECTICUT - Tom Moore, assistant men's basketball coach at the University of Connecticut for the past seven years, Wednesday was named to replace Karl Hobbs as a "recruiting" assistant at UConn and former Holy Cross and Seton Hall head coach George Blaney will also join the Husky staff as an assistant coach.

"As I looked out over the college basketball landscape to identify the best assistant coach choices for our Connecticut program, I realized the ideal two picks were very well known to me," said UConn basketball head coach Jim Calhoun.

"Over the past seven years, Tom Moore has played an integral part in the success of Connecticut basketball," added Calhoun. "He has been heavily involved in player development, scouting, game plan preparation, and various other administrative duties. He has performed exceptionally well in all of his duties and he is well prepared to take on added responsibility as one of our on-the- road recruiting assistants. Tom will be working along side one of the top recruiting coordinators in the nation in Associate Head Coach Dave Leitao. Together, Dave and Tom will be a superb team as our recruiting point men."

"George Blaney is a great addition to our UConn staff," said Jim Calhoun. " I competed against George for more than a quarter century and I believe he is one of the finest coaching minds in the nation. I have always considered George a friend and colleague and to now be able to utilize his great wealth of basketball knowledge for the betterment of Connecticut Basketball is a huge plus for our program."

The movement within the UConn coaching staff took place following the departure of assistant coach Karl Hobbs, who on Monday was named head coach of basketball at George Washington University.

The naming of Moore and Blaney to their new posts within the UConn men's basketball staff creates a unique situation at Connecticut as all four full time coaches have been collegiate basketball head coaches. Head coach Jim Calhoun will be entering his 30th year as a collegiate head coach in 2001-2002. Associate Head Coach Dave Leitao was head coach at Northeastern University for two years (1994-1996). Assistant Coach Tom Moore was head coach at Worcester (MA) State College for five seasons (1989-1994). Assistant Coach George Blaney spent 30 years as a college head coach, including 22 seasons at Holy Cross and three years at Seton Hall.

Moore, a 1987 Boston University graduate, began his coaching career as assistant coach at Worcester State during the 1987-88 season. He spent the 1988-89 season as an assistant coach at Assumption College before becoming the youngest head coach of a collegiate program in New England when, at age 24, he was named the Worcester State head coach in 1989. In five years in charge of the Worcester State program, Moore compiled a 76-59 record, the winningest five-year period in the school's history.

Moore joined the UConn coaching staff prior to the 1994-95 season and during his seven years at Connecticut the Huskies have compiled an overall record of 187-51, an average of 26.7 wins per season, including winning the 1999 NCAA National Championship, earning seven consecutive national post-season tournament berths, and claiming four BIG EAST Conference regular season titles and three BIG EAST Tournament crowns.

Blaney brings to UConn more than 30 years of coaching experience. He was an All-New England college basketball standout at Holy Cross who later played in the NBA for the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers. He began his distinguished career as a college basketball head coach at Stonehill (MA) College in 1967. After two years at Stonehill, Blaney spent three seasons as head coach at Dartmouth College before returning to his alma mater and coaching the Holy Cross program for the next 22 years. He posted seven 20-win seasons, earned eight national post-season tournament berths (NCAA & NIT) compiling an overall record of 357-276. In 1994, he joined the BIG EAST Conference, taking over as head coach at Seton Hall University and directing that program for three seasons.

In 30 years as a collegiate head coach, George Blaney compiled an impressive overall record of 459-382.