Some unexpected summer college basketball news: LIU has fired Derek Kellogg and is hiring ex-Knicks guard Rod Strickland as its new head coach, according to 247 Sports.
Strickland — a Bronx native who is also Nets star Kyrie Irving’s godfather and someone Stephen A. Smith loves and profoundly respects — has been serving as the G-League Ignite program director. Before that he was an assistant coach at South Florida and served in administrative roles at Memphis and Kentucky under John Calipari.
It’s a strange move at first take.