By Danny Waldo
The John Stockton era is over in Bozeman. Last season, NBA Hall of Famer John Stockton agreed to spend the 2015-16 season as an assistant on coach Tricia Binford’s staff, providing him the opportunity to be a little closer to his daughter, Lindsay, during her senior season and provide stability to the staff following the departure of longtime assistant Amy Starr, who left to take a position at Pacific University. While his tenure may have been short, Stockton’s impact could last for years to come as MSU compiled one of its greatest regular seasons in program history, winning 21 games and capturing the regular season title. Now, it will be up to newly hired assistant coach, Julian Assibey, a former women’s assistant basketball coach at the University of Colorado of the PAC-12, to keep the momentum going and help push the Lady ‘Cats past the first round of the conference tournament. At Colorado, Assibey assisted head coach Linda Lappe with defensive schemes, while also being responsible for game film breakdown and strategies, player development, recruiting, academics and the CU scout team. “Going through the process of finding the right person for our program we knew Julian was the perfect fit as soon as the staff and team met him,” Binford said. “He brings enthusiasm and a background that will make him a terrific recruiting coordinator. Julian has recruiting experience at many levels, specifically the Pac-12 level the last two seasons.” “We feel that Julian’s ties and knowledge of the northwest extending out to the Midwest will push our recruiting efforts to the next level,” Binford continued. “Julian will also oversee our point guard development as he has the ability to connect with student-athletes, while challenging them to reach their full potential.” Montana State will be Assibey’s fourth stop in his college coaching career. The native of Downey, California has coached at Western State College and his alma mater William Penn before joining the staff at Colorado. Assibey was a four-year letter-winner at William Penn and is among the school’s top five in career steals. Assibey will begin his duties at Montana State on June 1st. •