Tennessee basketball: Vols keep key assistant, lose another

Tennessee basketball looks like it will keep Desmond Oliver on staff. But the Volunteers are losing Kyle Condon to Rob Lanier’s Georgia State Panthers.

The transition surrounding the Tennessee basketball program is not over yet. Even after retaining Rick Barnes and hiring Kim English to replace key assistant Rob Lanier, who took the head coaching job of the Georgia State Panthers, things keep moving around.

More news came in this week for the Vols regarding the program, one signaling more stability and another showing more transition. The stability was the bigger key, though, as it involved another top assistant.

Desmond Oliver, who was another one of the three assistant coaches on last year’s team, was a candidate for the Kennesaw State job. However, it appears the school instead hired Georgia Bulldogs assistant Amir Abdur-Rahim. As a result, Grant Ramey of GoVols247 then reported that it appears Oliver will remain with Tennessee basketball.

Following that news, however, came more news surrounding another assistant. This one is Kyle Condon, who was an assistant to the coach, not necessarily an assistant coach. Anyway, he is leaving to join Lanier’s staff at Georgia State, Ramey reported on Thursday. Condon, who is 30 and has been with the Vols since 2009, will be the school’s director of basketball operations.

Although that is more transition, it’s safe to say that UT kept the more important person. Oliver was a key assistant, and he could potentially become associate head coach now with Lanier gone. Condon’s value, given the fact that he was with the program since 2009, can’t be understated, but he did not have as key of a role.

Now, the Tennessee basketball staff consists of Oliver, English and Michael Schwartz as their three assistants. At this point, it doesn’t appear that there will be anymore changes, but the Vols have had a crazy two weeks as a program ever since the season came to an end.