With all the national attention lately, we had a feeling this was going to happen soon.
Ross Hodge, one of the greatest recruiters we’ve seen in Fort Collins for years, is leaving Colorado State Rams men’s basketball, according to sources with knowledge of the move. CSU’s SID had no information on Hodge when we reached out to him, so nothing is official through CSU nor Arkansas State, yet.
The story was originally reported by the Rocky Mountain Collegian and their report has Hodge leaving to be associate head coach for Arkansas State. That was confirmed by our source. Arkansas State recently hired Grant McCasland as head coach and he hired Hunter Taylor as Director of Operations yesterday, so an announcement on Hodge has not happened, yet.
Also relayed to us by our source is that Leonard Perry is leaving the school to coach at Pacific under Damon Stoudamire, who was hired March 16. After reaching out to Pacific, the school declined comment as the hiring process is ongoing. Our sources originally said Perry was going to leave, then said he would stay for one more year, and now it looks like he will indeed leave.
If they indeed both leave, it will mean Steve Barnes will be the new highest level assistant coach.
Ross Hodge is a stellar recruiter, landing Stanton Kidd, J.J. Avila, Gian Clavell, Antwan Scott and so many more instrumental players to the program. Two of those young men, Devocio Butler and Leon Gilmore III, were recruited to play for the Rams by Hodge and are set to join the team for 2016-17. Will they still?
Also, Pape Diatta, who was recruited by Hodge, was set to visit Fort Collins tomorrow. Will he still?
Hodge originally joined Larry Eutachy’s coaching staff in 2012 with Southern Miss, coaching there for one season before moving onto Colorado State together from 2013-present. Before joining Eustachy at the DI level, Hodge was the head coach at Midland College for two years, which is where his roots and renowned recruiting the JUCO level began.
Rumor has it the Rams will reach out to assistants at the JUCO level to fill Hodge’s void. One possibility is Tra Arnold of Odessa, or Mike Scott of Paris Junior College.
Certainly, Hodge’s departure leaves more questions than answers for the future of CSU hoops. Like, will any of the players he landed decide to transfer? More on that in the coming days and weeks.
Hodge was recently named a top 10 recruiter outside the Power 5 as well as a top 20 recruiter from a mid-major; that attention has landed him a new job.
Freshmen Prentiss Nixon and Jeremiah Paige reacted to the news on Twitter:
Its going to be a long day!!
— JDPaige__ (@JeremiahPaige22) April 6, 2016
Tell me about it 🖕🏽 https://t.co/aNB8VTcGJe
— Prentiss. (@2prent_) April 6, 2016
😣😣😣
— Gian Clavell (@clavelito04) April 6, 2016
