Paul Cormier Introduces Basketball Staff for 2010-11

HANOVER, N.H. — Dartmouth men's basketball head coach Paul Cormier today announced the hiring of his initial staff in his return to the Big Green for the 2010-11 season. Former UConn standout Ricky Moore, Joe Gallo, and Patrick Beilein have been brought on as assistant coaches, while Jordan Watson has been named the director of basketball operations.

“The first step of rebuilding our basketball program is in place with the hiring of these four tremendously talented and energetic coaches,” Coach Cormier stated. “I am confident that this staff will be terrific in player development and recruiting. And by putting together a couple of solid recruiting classes, our goal of winning an Ivy Championship will be within our grasp.”

Gallo comes to Dartmouth after serving last year as the assistant director of Hoop Group Elite in Neptune, N.J. He was responsible for recruiting over 2,500 players for summer camps and more than 1,500 players for fall and spring clinics between Boston and Virginia. In this capacity, Gallo was able to establish and maintain relationships with some of the top high school and AAU coaches on the East Coast.

Prior to working with The Hoop Group, Gallo was a full-time assistant coach at his alma mater, Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., for four years. His biggest responsibility came as the recruiting coordinator, and he came through by bringing in the Northeast 10 Conference Rookie of the Year in consecutive years (2006 and '07), not to mention a member of the All-Rookie team in 2008. All three of those players went on to be all-conference performers, including one who was a two-time All-American and a Bob Cousy Award finalist. During Gallo's final two seasons at Merrimack, the Warriors went 39-20 and made consecutive trips to the Division II NCAA Tournament.

Moore brings an impressive collegiate and professional playing career to the Big Green, having served as a co-captain for the University of Connecticut for three seasons, including 1999 when the Huskies won their first national championship. In his four seasons at UConn, Moore helped his squad win the Big East title three times. He was the runner-up for Mr. Georgia Basketball as a prep in 1995, and went on to be the National Defensive Player of the Year as selected by Basketball News in 1999. In the championship run, Moore was named to the All-West Region Team as well as the All-NCAA Tournament Team. For his career, he averaged 6.9 points and 3.8 assists while playing close to 29 minutes per game, plus was selected as one of the 10 guards for the 25-member UConn Basketball All-Century Team.

After graduating with a degree in social and political history, Moore played professionally in numerous places, including tryouts with the Detroit Pistons (twice) and the New Orleans Hornets. First came a season with the Connecticut Pride of the CBA before a year in the German Bonus League with DJK Wurzburg where he averaged 19.4 points and 3.8 assists over 26 games. Moore returned stateside playing for the Roanoke Dazzle in the NBDL and the Sioux Falls Sky Force in the CBA. In 2004 he went back overseas, playing in the Austrian League, the Ukraine and then Sweden with the Sodertalje Kings in 2006. From March through August of 2008, Moore served as an AAU coach with the Charlotte Royals before returning to Austria with his former team, WBC Wels, which he helped win the league championship in 2009. During his stays in Europe, he spent countless hours coaching basketball to the local youths as well.

Beilein has a familiar name in college basketball as his father, John Beilein, is the head coach at the University of Michigan and has guided four different schools to the NCAA Tournament. Patrick Beilein comes to Dartmouth after serving as the graduate assistant for his father at Michigan for the past two years. In his first season with the team, the Wolverines advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 11 years, defeating 24th-ranked Clemson in the first round. Among his duties were preparing scouting reports on upcoming opponents for the coaching staff, supervising office operations and cataloging countable athletic-related activities to ensure the program's compliance with NCAA rules and regulations. Beilein also served as a camp coach and counselor at the Michigan basketball camps.

A 2006 graduate of West Virginia, Beilein also played for the Mountaineers under his father, scoring 1,001 points in his career while seeing action in 128 games. He still ranks second at West Virginia with 242 career three-point field goals — one of only three players in school history to amass more than 200 — and holds the school record with 675 three-point attempts for a career percentage of 35.9, 10th all-time for the Mountaineers. As a junior, he was named to the All-Albuquerque Region team in the NCAA Tournament as WVU reached the Elite Eight. The following year as a senior catpain, Beilein helped the Mountaineers advance to the Sweet 16.

After graduating, Beilein played in the NBA Summer League for the Houston Rockets before playing overseas with Landstede Zwolle in Holland. He spent the following year competing in the Ireland SuperLeague for UCD Marian, and also coached for a local amateur league.

Watson was an assistant coach at Barton Community College for the past three years, and was promoted to associate head coach for the 2009-10 season. The 2009 Cougar squad went 28-5 and was ranked as high as seventh in the NJCAA as the team won its first Jayhawk West Conference Championship in seven years. During his three years at Barton, the team registered 67 victories and just 28 defeats.

Watson is a 2005 graduate of Augustana (Ill.) College where he played for Grey Giovanine for two seasons after transfering from the University of Evansville, where he led the Missouri Valley League in three-point shooting as a freshman. An injury cut short his senior campaign, but he was able to serve as a student assistant, helping the coaching staff in practices and during games.

From Augustana, Watson went to Illinois State where he earned his master's degree in sports management and served as the volunteer graduate assistant for the Redbirds. While working on his degree the following year, he interned with the Memphis Grizzlies as a basketball operations assistant for head coach Mike Fratello. Watson was involved in the daily operations of the team, plus helped the coaching staff with scouting reports and assisted in individual workouts. He also assisted the Director of Player Personnel, Vice President of Basketball Operations and the video coordinator.

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