From USF to Providence: Six coaches follow Bryan Hodgson to Friartown

Bryan Hodgson repeatedly said during the just-completed USF basketball season that he had the best coaching staff in the country. So, it was no surprise Monday when it was announced that six members of that staff will join him at Providence.

Hodgson named Tee Butters associate head coach/general manager, Jamie Quarles, Derek Rongstad, Logan Ingramand Alex Harris as assistants. Tyler Pacheco will serve as the director of basketball operations

"I am excited that we were able to keep our staff together and we will have this talented group working in Friartown," Hodgson said.  "Tee, Jamie, Derek, Logan, Alex and Tyler all played a key role in our success last season.

"I am confident that they will work tirelessly to help us build one of the top programs in the Big East.  The passion and dedication they bring every day will be reflected in our team and how we compete on and off the court."

While that transformation is now official, we wait for the inevitable news of how many USF players who have entered the Transfer Portal will wind up at Providence.

Freshman Tristan Beckford announced on Sunday that he will join soon-to-be former Bulls Wes Enis, De`Ante Green, CJ Brown, Onyx Nnani, and Xavier Brown in the portal.

All of this was to be expected, especially in the portal era. Because it doesn't have a football team, Providence is able to allot more NIL money to basketball.

But Bulls fans shouldn 't overly stress on this. When Hodgson came to USF last year, there was a near-total roster makeover. USF had 13 new players from the portal and recruiting and things worked out OK.

Aside from the departures, there hasn't been a lot of news or even speculation about players who might be headed to Tampa to join new head coach Chris Mack.

While the official USF web site mentions only Mack on the coaching staff, reportedly he is bringing Dante Jackson on board as assistant. Jackson played for Mack at Xavier and later was an assistant coach there.

Jackson posted a farewell tweet to Xavier fans, but didn't mention USF.

Mack also reportedly is bringing assistant coaches Jeremy Grove and Christen Cunningham with him from the College of Charleston. 247Sports reported that Seth Tatum is joining Mack from Charleston as well to serve as Director of Basketball Operations.

We should start hearing more news about player destinations when the men's portal opens on Tuesday.