New Arizona State coach Randy Bennett had to reschedule his initial press conference for Monday because he is dealing with an undisclosed medical issue.
“Last week, when I arrived in Arizona, a health situation came up that I was dealing with right now,” Bennett said in a statement released by the university on Monday. “I’m in good hands, we feel good about the plan, and I’m incredibly grateful for the care I received from the team at the Mayo Clinic. Everything is under control, and I’ll be back to full strength very soon.”
Bennett, 63, was originally scheduled to be introduced last week, but athletic director Graham Rossini said the Sun Devils’ new coach “feels under the weather dealing with illness.”
Despite him not being available yet, Bennett is still working on his staff, adding Cal Baptist head coach Rick Croy as one of his associate head coaches on Monday.
Kroy will join Joe Rahn, who was part of Bennett’s staff at St. Mary’s in that role at Arizona State.
Crowe has spent the past 13 years at Cal Baptist, leading the Lancers to a school-record 25 wins this season, their first Western Athletic Conference Tournament title and a No. 13 seed in the NCAA Tournament. He previously spent three seasons at St. Mary’s as Bennett’s head assistant.
Rahn played under Bennett for two seasons and began his coaching career as a Gaels graduate assistant. He coached five seasons at St. Mary’s, most recently as associate head coach.
“What I want people to know is that nothing has changed about our momentum,” Bennett said in a statement. “We’re moving forward and I’m excited to announce our two associate head coaches, a duo I have a lot of confidence in and who really want to be at ASU. They both bring great experience, strong relationships and real energy as our program continues to grow.”
Bennett was hired on March 23 to replace Bobby Hurley, who was fired after 11 seasons. Bennett has coached at St. Mary’s for 25 years and repeatedly turned down opportunities at bigger schools, but the opportunity to coach closer to where he grew up was too great.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
