Neal Onboard

UNM has officially hired Craig Neal as Steve Alford's top assistant, at a whopping salary of $250,000. Why is an assistant coach worth so much money? Well, Craig Neal is thought of as one of the top assistant coaches in the nation, and many have speculated that Iowa's turnaround the past three years is largely because of Neal's coaching. In addition, Neal is regularly mentioned as a candidate for various head coaching jobs across the country. He has extensive scouting experience from his time in the NBA as well, and he was an assistant coach for the Toronto Raptors. What strikes me as mildly amusing is that Utah basically hired a Craig Neal-type as their head coach while Neal is the top assistant at UNM. Not to bash on Boylen or Utah any more than necessary, but the way Ute fans are talking right now you'd think they just brought John Wooden out of retirement.