TAMPA, Fla. — South Florida offered Ben Fletcher as period in-between basketball educator on Tuesday, pronouncing he’s the appropriate guy to manage the Bulls following the demise of Amir Abdur-Rahim.
Fletcher, a similar buddy of Abdur-Rahim who helped the past due educator flip round suffering systems at Kennesaw State and USF, promised to assistance grieving gamers take care of the loss and guard a untouched usual for good fortune on the American Athletic Convention faculty.
“He will spearhead us through the season, I know. We will not try to forget or put emotions to the side. This is real life, you know?” Fletcher mentioned.
“Those guys will have to grieve at their own pace. But what we want to do is continue to pour into those young men and make sure they have all the support they need. But as far as basketball, we will keep his name alive.”
Abdur-Rahim, 43, died Thursday from headaches that arose moment he was once present process a process at a Tampa-area health center.
The Bulls, who received a school-record 25 video games and captured USF’s first convention championship in Abdur-Rahim’s lone season guiding this system, play games an exhibition sport in opposition to Edward Waters on Wednesday night time. The steady season opens nearest Monday in opposition to Deny. 21 Florida in Jacksonville.
“We’ve done everything in our power to make sure and ensure that they have had the proper counseling that they need,” Fletcher mentioned.
“They wanted to play. They wanted to practice [last] Saturday. I was steadfast, ‘You guys tell me when you’re ready.’ The last thing I want to do in this situation is force those guys to do something when they’re grieving as well. … We’re going to uphold the standard that he left behind.”
Fletcher started his training occupation at his alma mater Troy, which he helped achieve the NCAA event as a participant in 2003 and once more as colleague educator in 2017.
He served on Abdur-Rahim’s personnel for 4 years at Kennesaw Shape, which went from successful one sport of their first season there to going 26-9 and making the NCAA event in 2022-23.
He adopted Abdur-Rahim to USF as an colleague in 2023. The Bulls went 25-8 closing iciness, received the AAC regular-season identify and celebrated this system’s first-ever score within the AP Manage 25 alongside the best way. Abdur-Rahim was once a unanimous variety as convention educator of the occasion.
“Ben was with us last year. He was with Coach Amir for the four seasons at Kennesaw State and the incredible transformation they had there. And, he had a highly successful career at Troy, both as a player and as a coach,” USF vp for athletics Michael Kelly mentioned.
“There’s no question in my mind that Ben is the right man to lead our program forward. … Guys are eager to do what they love and what coach wanted to do, both as basketball players and as men. And so they are eager to get on with that transition.”
