About to start his 20th season in college basketball, JD Pollock took a left turn this week.
He’s out.
The director of player development for the San Diego State men’s basketball program resigned and is moving to Fort Worth, Texas, to enter the business world with a trucking company owned by a TCU booster. Pollock has ties to the area — he played basketball at TCU, his wife played volleyball there and most of his wife’s family lives in the Dallas Metroplex.
“Pretty much came down to getting back by family, coach my kids one day, provide at a different level and have more time with them,” Pollock said in a text. “Fifteen years (coaching), it’s been one heck of a ride.”
Pollock came to SDSU in 2017 from Bakersfield, where he was a full-fledged assistant coach on a team that reached the NIT semifinals. Technically it was a step down and Aztecs head coach Brian Dutcher admitted he was “overqualified.” But Pollock’s wife was a pro beach volleyball player, and the move allowed them to live together given her training obligations on the coast.
He was twice passed over for a promotion to assistant coach at SDSU. NCAA rules changed this year, however, allowing additional staffers to “coach” on the court during practice and actively recruit; previously, only the head coach and his three designated assistants could.
“That was awful timing,” Pollock said of the opportunity for more coaching responsibilities, “but in the long run I decided I no longer want to be Brian Dutcher. And I’m definitely not going to bounce around two years at each school chasing the next $50,000 to move up. So I’m going to provide for the family at a different level, buy a house, put roots down.”
The move creates a void on Dutcher’s staff, but probably not for long. A logical candidate is Aguek Arop, the popular captain of last season’s NCAA finalist team who returned to San Diego from Nebraska this summer and is completing his thesis for a master’s degree in homeland security.
“I have chased my passion, and given back as much as I could to the game,” Pollock said in a Twitter post. “I am fulfilled, and I know I am ready to move on to my next phase of life.”
Gottlieb joins women’s staff
A familiar face is returning to Montezuma Mesa as an assistant coach, but this time with the women’s basketball program.
Gregg Gottlieb, who served as director of operations and assistant coach on Steve Fisher’s staff from 1999 to 2007, has been hired as an assistant under women’s coach Stacie Terry. He has been in college basketball for three decades, most recently on the women’s staff at Grand Canyon as director of operations and then assistant coach.
Before that, he spent a combined 13 years with the men’s programs at Cal and Oregon State. He was on Fisher’s initial staff at SDSU and was promoted to assistant coach in 2002.
“I’m excited to be part of what Stacie is building and looking forward to capitalizing on the team’s success from last year,” Gottlieb said in a news release. “I have fond memories from my time on The Mesa and am thrilled to be back in San Diego.”
MESA Foundation events
It is the basketball offseason, but the MESA Foundation, the NIL collective that primarily serves SDSU men’s and women’s basketball, has been busy nonetheless.
It sponsored two youth basketball camps featuring SDSU men’s and women’s players, one on the Pechanga reservation for Native Americans in June and another at Camp Pendleton for active military families in July. Last week, the players partnered with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and San Diego City Attorney on a social media campaign to promote fentanyl awareness and prevention.
Next month, there is a two-day blood drive on campus on Sept. 18 and 19 in partnership with the San Diego Blood Bank.
Last season, players received about $2,000 per month in exchange for their participation in about a half-dozen community service events.
Vegas tip times
The good news/bad news with tip times released for the Continental Tire Main Event at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in November: The Aztecs got the 6:30 p.m. game on Nov. 17 against Saint Mary’s, but it’s on subscription-based ESPN+. The 9 p.m. game between Xavier and Washington is on more readily available ESPN2.
The winners play at 7 p.m. on Nov. 19 on ESPN2, the losers at 4:30 on ESPN+.
More good news/bad news: Tickets start at $35, but hotel rooms are pricey (many are $400-plus per night on The Strip) with the Formula 1 race in town that weekend.