Evansville adds 2 former Butler players to Lickliter’s staff

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) - Evansville coach Todd Lickliter has hired two former players - Brandon Crone and Thomas Jackson - to be assistant coaches.

Both played for Lickliter during his six-year stint Butler’s head coach.

The moves come less than a year after the Purple Aces pulled a stunning upset at then No. 1 Kentucky and just six months after Lickliter took over for Walter McCarty, who was suspended and later fired following an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and Title IX violations. Evansville went 0-19 without McCarty, the last 13 under Lickliter.

Jackson spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach in the NBA’s G-League after playing 12 seasons in Europe.

At Butler, Jackson scored 1,334 points, broke the school record for career assists (547) and helped lead the Bulldogs to a then school-record 26 wins in 2002. He’s tied for the school record in steals with 207 and is the only player in school history to top 1,000 points and 500 assists. Jackson was inducted into Butler’s Hall of Fame in 2013.

Crone spent the last six seasons as the Bulldogs coordinator of basketball operations, going to four NCAA Tournaments and the NIT in 2019.

He was named the team’s MVP in 2006-07 after leading the Bulldogs to a 29-7 mark and a Sweet 16 appearance. Crone finished his career with 997 points and 493 rebounds. He also was an assistant coach at Park Tudor High School in Indianapolis and Nova Southeastern, a Division II school in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Lickliter also hired Ryan Combs as a graduate assistant. Combs spent the previous four seasons as a student manager with Evansville. He graduated in May with a degree in statistics & data science.

Evansville women’s coach Matt Ruffing also completed his staff by hiring former Indiana star Tyra Buss as an assistant and Tanaeya BoClair as director of basketball operations.

Buss finished her college career as the Hoosiers’ career scoring leader with 2,364 points and led Indiana to the 2019 WNIT title. She also won two Miss Basketball Awards while playing at nearby Mt. Carmel High School in Illinois.

BoClair spent the past two seasons working at Utah, where she scored 1,030 points.

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