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SALT LAKE CITY - Jim Boylen, who recently took over as the head men's basketball coach at Utah, has completed the hiring of his staff. Jeff Smith, who worked at Oakland University the past five years, and Marty Wilson and Chris Jones, members of the Utah staff the past three seasons, have been named assistant coaches. Derek Deprey will serve as the director of player development, Jon Dykema has been named the director of basketball operations and Jason Larson will be the video coordinator.
Smith had been at Oakland since 2002-03 and was the associate head coach the past two seasons. He helped the Grizzlies reach the 2005 NCAA Tournament, where they lost to eventual national champion North Carolina in the first round. Oakland's 2005 recruiting class was ranked 23rd in the nation by Hoop Scoop.
Smith coached two Mid-Continent Conference players of the year at Oakland. Rawle Marshall recently finished his second year in the NBA with the Indiana Pacers. Mike Helms became Oakland's first Associated Press All-American and was the NCAA's third-leading scorer in 2003. Five of the players Smith worked with were named to the conference all-newcomer team.
Before joining the staff at Oakland, he was an assistant five years at Central Michigan. He coached two Chippewas who were named the MAC player of the year. Chris Kaman earned the honor a year after Smith left in 2003, and was the sixth pick overall in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Clippers.
Smith is a 1995 graduate of Alma College, where he played two seasons before a knee injury ended his career. He then worked with the program two years as a student assistant while earning a degree in history. Smith was named head junior varsity coach in 1994-95, leading his team to a 13-6 record. Smith then moved to Albion College, where he was an assistant from 1995-97. He is a native of Carson City, Mich.
Wilson joined the Utah staff in 2004 and has earned a reputation as one of the West Coast's top recruiters. Before coming to Utah, Wilson was as an assistant coach at UC Santa Barbara for six seasons. He helped direct UCSB to 54 wins in his last three years there, the Big West Tournament title and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2002, and the Big West regular-season title and an NIT bid in 2003.
Prior to his arrival in Santa Barbara, Wilson spent two seasons as an assistant at the University of San Diego, where he was the Toreros' recruiting coordinator.
Wilson began his coaching career at Pepperdine. He played for the Waves and earned a degree in communications in 1989. Wilson was elevated to the head assistant position in April 1995. In January 1996 he was named interim head coach for the Waves, replacing Tony Fuller who resigned in mid-season. Wilson is from Pacoima, Calif. He and his wife Mayra have a daughter, Jessica, and a son, Jalon.
Jones has been involved with the Utah program as both a player and a member of the basketball staff. Jones played at Utah for two seasons (1992-94) and was a part of the '92-93 team that won the WAC regular season title and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
After earning his degree in sociology from the U. in 1994, Jones then served as the team's video coordinator from 1995-97. Jones then worked at Champions Athletic Academy for three years and was an assistant coach at Westminster College for two seasons. He rejoined the Utah basketball staff as director of operations in 2004 and was promoted to assistant coach the following year.
Jones, a native of Salt Lake City, graduated from Judge Memorial High School in 1990. Jones and his wife, Emily, have a son, Rylan, and a daughter, Rendi.
Deprey will work closely with the director of basketball operations in orchestrating the day-to-day operations of the basketball program, coordinate video-scouting operations, and assist in the academic and personal development of the student-athletes.
Deprey worked with Boylen in 2004-05 when he was an assistant video coordinator for the Milwaukee Bucks. Deprey joined the Bucks in 2001 as the team's video-scouting intern and was promoted to assistant video coordinator before the 2003-04 season.
Deprey spent the past two years at Marquette. Joining the Golden Eagles' staff as the video coordinator in 2005, he was promoted to coordinator of basketball operations before the start of that season. A native of Manitowoc, Wis., Deprey earned his bachelor's degree in business administration from Wisconsin Lutheran College in 2002. Deprey played basketball for both Wisconsin Lutheran College and UW-Manitowoc. He earned his master's degree in sport management from the United States Sports Academy in 2005.
Dykema will receive his J.D. and M.B.A in Management from The University of Akron School of Law and Graduate Business Program later this month. He will be studying for the Utah Bar Exam this coming year. Dykema was a student manager for the Michigan State basketball team from 1999-2003, serving as the head manager the last two years. The Spartans won the 2000 NCAA Championship. As a part of his duties, Dykema was the team's film exchange coordinator for three seasons and assisted in arranging team travel.
Dykema has done two internships with the Detroit Lions. He was a football administration intern from June 2003 through June 2004, and was a legal intern in the early summer of 2005. Dykema then did a legal internship the latter part of the 2005 summer with KMG Sports Management in Cincinnati, Ohio, handling research, special projects and assisting with the recruitment of athletes to the agency. Dykema also worked three summers of training camp as a student intern for the San Francisco 49ers from 2000-02.
Dykema interned in The University of Akron athletics compliance office during the 2007 spring semester just prior to coming to Utah. He is a native of Grand Rapids, Mich.
Larson comes to Utah from Western Michigan, where he spent the past two years as a graduate assistant. His duties included film exchange, team travel, supervising the team managers, and assisting with the day-to-day operations of the program.
Prior to Western Michigan, Larsen spent five years as a member of the Grand Valley State basketball program. He was an assistant coach during the 2004-05 season after spending the previous four years as a student manager.
Larson graduated from Grand Valley State in the summer of 2004 with a bachelor's degree in broadcasting and a minor in spanish. Currently, Larsen is working on his MBA from Western Michigan.
