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Marshall leaves TV job to coach at George Washington

Marshall

By PHIL JASNER, jasnerp@phillynews.com

Posted: July 02, 2010

Coaching has been in Donyell Marshall's blood. The University of Connecticut has been in his blood. Karl Hobbs, the basketball coach at George Washington, offered the perfect combination.

Marshall, 37, left his position as a basketball analyst for Comcast SportsNet, to join Hobbs' staff as an assistant. Hobbs is a former assistant at UConn.

"[Marshall] was definitely going to go into coaching at some point," said Andy Miller, Marshall's agent. "UConn ties run deep. This heated up in the last 2-3 weeks."

Marshall, who appeared in 25 games for the 76ers in 2008-09, replaces Brian Ellerbee, who accepted a similar position at DePaul.

"Coaching is something I've been wanting to do for a while, and when I became aware of this opening I felt it was a good situation," Marshall said in a GW news release. "Having known coach Hobbs since our days at UConn, he helped me get into the NBA. I felt I owed it to him to try to help his program get better. I bring several years of firsthand experience at both the collegiate and professional levels that I can pass along to these players and help them get to the next level. I followed GW when they made their run to No. 6 in the country [in 2006] and I'm going to try to help us get back to that."

Marshall, from Reading, played for eight NBA teams in a 15-year career, finishing with the Sixers. He then did pregame and postgame analysis last season for CSN.

"We appreciate the insights that Donyell shared with Sixers fans last season. We wish him the best as he pursues this next chapter in his successful basketball career," said Brian Monihan, CSN's senior vice president and general manager.

Coaching staff set

The 76ers announced yesterday what has been known for weeks: Michael Curry, Brian James and Quin Snyder will assist head coach Doug Collins in his first year with the team. Collins had already announced that Aaron McKie would be retained.

Curry, who was given the title associate coach, was the head coach of the Detroit Pistons during the 2008-09 season, leading them to the playoffs. He was an assistant coach for the team the prior seasons. He played 11 seasons in the NBA, including a 10-game stint with the Sixers in 1993. He played for Collins in Detroit in 1995-96.

James has been coaching in the NBA for 11 seasons, including stints as Collins' assistant in both Detroit and Washington, and Snyder most recently coached the Austin Toros in the NBA D-League for three seasons after a 7-year stint at the University of Missouri.

McKie will be entering his fourth season as an assistant with the Sixers.

Off to Orlando

The Sixers' summer league team will work out today and Sunday in Orlando before opening summer league play Monday at 7 p.m. against New Jersey.

The Sixers, who also will play Boston, Oklahoma City, Charlotte and Utah, have added former La Salle forward Vernon Goodridge to the roster, replacing DeVon Hardin.

Brian James and Aaron McKie will share coaching duties.