Official: Kentucky bringing in Barry "Slice" Rohrssen to replace Orlando Antigua

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Even though it still hasn’t been confirmed or announced, Barry Rohrssen may become Kentucky basketball’s newest assistant. Nicknamed “Slice”, Rohrssen is a big time recruiter in the New York metropolitan area. Having coached at Manhattan, his ability to successfully recruit in the northeast region may be the reason Calipari is bringing him to UK. While he didn’t see much success as the Jaspers’ head coach (58-95 overall record), his time as an assistant with Pittsburgh did.

Rohrssen had been an assistant with the Pitt Panthers prior to last season (1999-2005), helping them to achieve a 133-33 record over a five year span. During that period, he helped guide players to four Big East Championships and three sweet sixteen games in the NCAA tournament. His key to success was directly establishing a recruiting pipeline from New York City to Pittsburgh. To name a few, Rohrssen was the main recruiter for players such as Chris Taft, Levance Fields, Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin. Many within the Pitt Panthers’ organization consider Rohrssen the main contributor to the turn around of their basketball program. The pipeline formed by him in the mid-2000's still exist today, and has helped Pitt remain a competitive program.

Rohrssen is also a quality big man coach. He has helped develop some of the little known recruits, such as the Sacramento King’s center Aaron Gray, into NBA draft picks three-four years later. With his low-post coaching background, he would fill in nicely as Antigua’s replacement. From all the buzz on Twitter, it seems like this hire would make perfect sense. Rohrssen is highly regarded as one of the nation’s top recruiters, and his possible addition to UK’s coaching staff would prove to be very beneficial.

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After hitting the recruiting trail independently (in UK gear) for a few weeks, Barry “Slice” Rohrssen officially became Orlando Antigua’s replacement on the Kentucky bench today. UK made it official with a press release naming him John Calipari’s new assistant coach.

“It’s an honor to be part of a program that has the greatest tradition in the history of college basketball,” Rohrssen said in the release. “I was humbled when John Calipari asked me to become a member of his outstanding staff. Coach Cal embodies the meaning of the word ‘success.’ The way he prepares young men for their future, in both basketball and life, is remarkable. Additionally, I’m grateful to represent the most passionate fan base in sports, the Big Blue Nation.”

Coach Cal had this to say: “Barry has been part of my coaching family for the past 30-some years. We roomed together at Five Star as counselors, still in college, and have followed each others’ careers on the court closely. I’m thrilled with what he brings to our staff, both on court and off, in terms of coaching, recruiting and mentoring these young men.”

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