The contract of University of Alabama men’s basketball assistant coach Bob Simon will not be renewed for the 2017-18 season.
Simon was not available for comment on Monday, and UA officials responded to questions by saying they would comment “at a later time.” However, Simon has not participated in UA team activities ranging from off-campus recruiting to attending the team’s postseason banquet since early April. He has also had no activity on his Twitter account since April 24 when he passed along a quote from television pastor Joel Osteen about “extraordinary challenges.”
Simon joined the Alabama staff as associate head coach soon after head coach Avery Johnson was hired in April 2015. Prior to joining the Alabama staff, Simon had coached for nine years as the top assistant to Ed Cooley in tenures at both Fairfield and Providence. He continued to hold the associate head coach title last season even after former Arkansas head coach John Pelphrey joined the staff last summer, also as an associate head coach.
Alabama landed a recruiting class ranked as high as No. 4 in the nation with assistant head coach Antoine Pettway spearheading those efforts.
No replacement for Simon has been announced, although Johnson is expected to conduct interviews for the vacancy before the upcoming weekend.
In other basketball news, ESPN reported that Alabama had agreed to a non-conference series with NCAA participant Rhode Island in the coming season. URI would visit Tuscaloosa on a December 2017 date to be determined, with Alabama returning the trip to Rhode Island in December 2018.
Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil@tidesports.com or 205-722-0225.
