Friday, January 05, 2001
Kentucky loses recruits, gains coaches
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky's embattled football program continues to add new faces — and cut ties with some old ones.
In the midst of an internal investigation into alleged recruiting violations in the program, the staff has made several coaching changes and also has lost some highly regarded recruits.
Joe Dipre, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound linebacker from Pennsylvania high school powerhouse Cathedral Prep, said Wednesday that rumors regarding the alleged NCAA violations forced him to rescind his verbal commitment to the school.
Louisville Male wideout Montrell Jones, named Kentucky's Mr.Football on Thursday, also has backed off his verbal commitment and said he will visit Tennessee, Texas, Florida and Purdue.
Although UK has not made any official announcements regarding the coaching staff, Chris Lancaster and Brent Pease apparently have been hired as assistants to coach Hal Mumme.
Tony Neely, the school's football publicist, has said Mumme would not comment on his staff until it was fully in place. But as of Wednesday, both Lancaster and Pease had voice mail at Kentucky's football office.
Lancaster, 33, coached the offensive line at McNeese State for the past two seasons and spent time as an assistant at Sam Houston State and Baylor.
Pease spent the past two seasons as assistant head coach/offensive coordinator at Northern Arizona and spent eight years as an assistant at Montana.
With the additions come some subtractions.
Dan Lounsbury, tight ends and special teams coach at Kentucky last season, has been named quarterbacks coach at Texas Christian University.
Former defensive coordinator Mike Major, who resigned the week before the Wildcats' season-ending game at Tennessee and later was announced as the team's director of football operations, told the Lexington Herald-Leader he never assumed those duties. He declined to give a reason.
Kentucky Athletics Director Larry Ivy also told the newspaper his stepson, Rob Manchester, is being promoted from his role as a graduate assistant to a full-time job in the program.
Ivy said Manchester, 27, would fill an administrative role. His primary duties would be working with on-campus recruiting and UK's summer football camps.
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Kentucky loses recruits, gains coaches
