Roese Named Asst. Hoops Coach, plus more Sallie fallout

For the last week in May, it's been a surprisingly busy and hectic week for Husker Hoops.  The week started with some unexpected chaos surrounding top recruit Roburt Sallie, but at least has finished on somewhat of a high note.

Thursday, Doc Sadler had a press conference to name Walter Roese as an assistant coach.  Roese speaks three languages (English, Spanish, and Portuguese) and has extensive international recruiting ties, which could be essential for Nebraska to find its recruiting niche with sporadic local talent and not much tradition to draw on.  Roese was an assistant at San Diego this year, after a stint at BYU.

Doc also used the press conference to speak publicly for the first time about the Sallie situation, and things started to become a little clearer.  Apparently, back in 2006, Associate AD Dennis LeBlanc, when counseling Sallie about his status, explained the process and what would need to happen.  Sallie told LeBlanc that he didn't think going to Junior College would be an option, and said he would likely head overseas to try to get on a club team if he failed to qualify.  LeBlanc enrolled Sallie in classes (which is all electronic at UNL), and the rest is history.

Sadler did not find out about the potential problem with Sallie until May 15, when faculty representative Jo Potuto conducted a compliance audit and came across Sallie's name.  She informed Sadler about the situation, but seemed confident that the Big 12 would grant a waiver (which did not happen).  Tom Osborne told the AP  that he has adopted new athletic department policies that will make sure that a Head Coach is notified about any compliance or academic issues with an athlete or recruit, "no matter how mundane," in hopes of preventing this sort of fiasco in the future.