FORMER SE ASSISTANT WEAVER NAMED NORTHER IOWA COACH

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- Two years after leaving a head coaching job to become an assistant, Sam Weaver is back in charge again.

Weaver, the associate head coach at Iowa State, was introduced Thursday as the new basketball coach at Northern Iowa. He was selected over five other finalists to succeed Eldon Miller, who resigned last month.

Weaver, 39, is regarded as a hard worker and relentless recruiter. He has worked under Iowa State's Tim Floyd the last two years after three seasons as head coach at Alcorn State, where he was 20-60.

Before that, Weaver worked as an assistant at Drake, Southern Illinois, Missouri Southern and Southeast Missouri State.

"He was a part of two turnarounds that took schools to their pinnacle," Floyd said. "He was at Southeast Missouri when they had their best five-year run in school history. He was at Southern Illinois when they had their best five-year run in school history.

"And I don't think it's coincidental that we had the second-best recruiting class in the country with him on our staff. I think he's as good as anybody I've ever had. He's just terrific."

Weaver had been a finalist for the coaching jobs at New Orleans and Southeast Missouri last year. He also had been mentioned as a possible successor to Herrin at Southern Illinois. Herrin resigned last week.

Weaver played college basketball at Three Rivers Community College and at Henderson State.