Although the 6-foot-9 Percy Gibson of Detroit Southeastern High School has opted out of his letter-of-intent, his mother hasn’t gotten rid of her UD garb just yet.
She said Wednesday her son is still interested in the Flyers but needs time to re-examine his decision. Gibson was rocked by the unexpected departures of coach Brian Gregory and his assistants, and he wanted to start the recruiting process over with new coach Archie Miller.
Gibson had offers from Minnesota, Temple and Southern Cal before committing to UD, according to Rivals.com, but he could be targeted by higher-profile schools after leading his team to the Class A (big school) state title game and being a “Dream Team” selection by both the Detroit News and Detroit Free Press as one of the five best players in Michigan.
“We want to see what the possibilities are,” Sandy Gibson said. “Percy is a more dominant force than he was six months ago.”
But she added: “He was excited about coming to Dayton. The things that were exciting are still exciting things. It’s within a radius where I can get back and forth to games. More than that, the academics are good. It’s not important that I make every game. If I’m here, I’m not going to make every game. But the things that are sexy about Dayton are still sexy.
“He wants to be an architect and they have that program. It’s just a good fit. For those reasons, it’s still a good fit. But he has to buy into it.
“In fairness to him, that’s why we asked for the letter — not to disassociate ourselves. When we asked (athletic director Tim Wabler) for it, we asked that Percy still be a candidate for recruitment.”
Lansing Eastern’s LaDontae Henton also asked to be released from his UD letter-of-intent. The 6-foot-6 forward told the Lansing State Journal he’ll take four college visits over the next two weeks, but will still consider Dayton.
“I’m open to everyone right now,” said Henton, who was runner-up in the Michigan Mr. Basketball voting. “I’ll take my visits, weigh my options and make a decision after that.
“I’m excited now. (But) it was kinda hard to leave.”
STAFF ADDITION: Bill Comar has been hired by Miller as director of basketball operations, sources told the Dayton Daily News. He replaces Matt Farrell, who held the job for the last five seasons.
Comar worked on Oliver Purnell’s staff at UD from 1997-2001, two years as an assistant and two as director of operations.
The 1993 Kenyon College grad has spent the last two years at ProCamps, which trains elite athletes. Before that, he was an assistant at Loyola University in Chicago and spent seven years at Xavier as director of operations for Thad Matta and Sean Miller, Archie’s older brother.
A UD spokesman said the school wouldn’t make any announcements on new staff hirings until next week.
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