One of the obvious early tasks for any new head coach is quickly assembling a quality coaching staff. New TU head basketball coach Eric Konkol plans to do so by first considering assistants that helped him build a winning formula at Louisiana Tech, such as Duffy Conroy.

Conroy was an assistant under Konkol for the past seven seasons and is expected to interview for the post Konkol just vacated.

“We’re going to look first and foremost at guys that I’ve been with,” Konkol explained. “I know one of them is in the running for the head coaching job at Louisiana Tech, and I would love that for him and his family.”

Conroy joined Konkol at Tech after 10 seasons as an assistant at Milwaukee. Their relationship dates back to the late 1990s, as Conroy and Konkol were camp counselors in 1998 under the direction of Ed Conroy, who is Duffy Conroy's older brother and the new head coach at The Citadel. Tulsa fans may remember Ed Conroy as the Tulane head coach from 2010 to 2016.

Konkol is also likely to bring current Louisiana Tech assistants Desmond Haymon and Josten Crow, along with director of basketball operations Josh Wolfe.

Haymon and Crow are both Texas natives, helping recruit six Texans to the current Louisiana Tech roster.

Haymon has been at LA Tech for three years after playing and coaching at Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches (TX). Crow, a Houston native that played at Sam Houston State, just completed his first season at Tech. He played pro overseas for three years, then spent five years on the Louisiana-Lafayette staff before going to Tech.

“We’re going to talk to a number of guys, but we’re going to be focused first on the guys that are there (LA Tech) because I’ve got great familiarity with them,” Konkol said. “I think this is such an important time to have consistency with a staff, so we’re able to hit the ground running with our team here and also in recruiting.”

Other possible candidates for Konkol’s staff are Texas Tech assistant Talvin Hester and Vanderbilt basketball general manager Andy Fox.