St. John's close to hiring Hicks for coaching staff

Maurice (Mo) Hicks, the Rice High school basketball coach and director of the highly regarded AAU New York Gauchos, is close to joining Steve Lavin's staff at St. John's, Gauchos general manger Rocky Bucano said Wednesday.

"He hasn't made it official yet but the word is he is probably going to take that job at St. John's,'' Bucano said. "I do believe he is leaning hard. I'm happy for him, it is about time that he moved on to a college-type of job. He's done all that he can with Rice High School and it's time for him to move on.''

Lavin has interviewed other coaches with ties to AAU programs but apparently has settled on Hicks to be his director of basketball operations.

"I believe everyone will be happy for Mo, that's my personal opinion," Bucano said. "It will be viewed favorably not just by the AAU community but his peers at the [High School] association. It's always nice when you can have one of your colleagues working for a prominent college or university.''

Hicks could not be reached for comment.

St. John's is still awaiting word from Mike Dunlap, the Oregon assistant who is seeking the head coaching job at Colorado, regarding his interest in becoming Lavin's lead assistant.