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Reports: Yanni Hufnagel to join Cuonzo Martin’s staff at California

Cuonzo Martin

Cuonzo Martin, second from right, smiles as he poses for photographs with, from left, chancellor Nicholas Dirks, athletic director Sandy Barbour and vice chancellor John Wilton after Martin was introduced as the new men’s basketball coach at California at a news conference in Berkeley, Calif., Tuesday, April 15, 2014. California hired Tennessee’s Cuonzo Martin as its coach Tuesday, charging him with taking over another program after a successful run by his predecessor. Martin replaces Mike Montgomery, who retired last month after six seasons in Berkeley. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

AP

With Cuonzo Martin making the decision to bring two of his assistants from Tennessee with him to California, there was a need to add a coach familiar with recruiting California and the rest of the west coast. And according to multiple reports Sunday, Martin’s taken care of that with the addition of Yanni Hufnagel to the Cal coaching staff.

While there’s been no official announcement with regards to the move, it was confirmed by Jeff Lockridge of The Tennessean.

Hufnagel’s making the move to Berkeley after spending a season on Kevin Stallings’ staff at Vanderbilt, and his impact from a recruiting standpoint was felt immediately in Nashville. The hope for California is that this occurs in Berkeley as well, with the state being home to a number of the nation’s best high school prospects.

While this is both a positive and important development for Cal, which currently has just one commitment in the 2014 class (center Kingsley Okoroh), it’s a tough one for Vanderbilt. Hufnagel is the second assistant to leave Stallings’ staff this offseason, with David Cason making the move to VCU last month. Hufnagel’s move west leaves Vanderbilt with one assistant at present time in Tom Richardson, who has been a member of Stallings’ staff since the 2003-04 season.

The positive for Vanderbilt is that these moves are occurring in May, giving Stallings time to find replacements ahead of the three critical July open periods.

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