You may or may not have already learned that new Bucks head coach Scot Skiles has verbally agreed to hire former Indiana Hoosiers coach Kelvin Sampson as one of his assistants. You also may have also heard rumors that Jim Boylan, who acted as Chicago’s interim head coach following Skiles’ departure this past December, would tag along as well. As of today, the Milwaukee Bucks have officially filled out their coaching staff, which is headlined by the aforementioned duo of Sampson and Boylan.

MILWAUKEE — Former Chicago Bulls coach Jim Boylan and former Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson were two of four assistants hired Wednesday by Milwaukee Bucks head coach Scott Skiles.

Skiles also hired former NBA players Lionel Hollins and Joe Wolf.

“I’m excited to be able to assemble this strong coaching staff in Milwaukee,” Skiles said in a statement. “Jim, Lionel, Kelvin and Joe all bring experience to the Bucks bench, as well as diverse coaching skills.”

ESPN.com reported on May 2 that Sampson had agreed to join Skiles’ staff.

Sampson brings some baggage to his NBA job.

He resigned as Hoosiers coach on Feb. 22 and accepted a $750,000 buyout after an NCAA report charged him with five major NCAA rules violations.

Sampson took the Indiana job in March 2006 and two months later was penalized by the NCAA for making 577 impermissible phone calls between 2000 and 2004 while coaching Oklahoma.

The second wave of charges emerged last October when a university investigation found Sampson and his staff made more than 100 impermissible calls while still under recruiting restrictions. Sampson also was said to have participated in at least 10 three-way calls, another violation of the NCAA’s punishment.

At the time, Indiana athletic director Rick Greenspan called the violations secondary, imposing a one-year extension of the NCAA’s recruiting restrictions and pulling a $500,000 raise for Sampson. The Hoosiers also took away one scholarship for the 2008-09 season.

However, an NCAA report released Feb. 13 by Indiana said Sampson provided false and misleading information to investigators from the university and the NCAA, failed to meet the “generally recognized high standard of honesty” expected in college sports, and failed to promote an atmosphere of compliance.

Sampson has since been replaced at Indiana by Marquette coach Tom Crean.

Boylan played at Marquette, winning an NCAA title in 1977, and spent four seasons on the Bulls’ staff. After Skiles was fired as head coach in December, Boylan replaced him on an interim basis for the remaining 56 games.

Hollins, a 10-year NBA veteran, has been an assistant coach with Phoenix; an assistant and interim head coach with Vancouver; and an assistant with Arizona State. He was drafted sixth by Portland in 1975 and voted to the All-Rookie First Team. He won a title with the Trail Blazers in 1977.

Wolf averaged 4.4 points and 3.3 rebounds in his 11 seasons in the NBA, including the 1996-97 season with the Bucks.

Bill Peterson has been retained from last season’s coaching staff.

Posted By: Dustin Chapman

By: Dustin Chapman

Milwaukee has already begun the internal implosion by recently firing General Manager Larry Harris and head coach Larry Krystowiak, who lasted just one year. Replacing Krystowiak is former Chicago Bulls head coach Scott Skiles, who was fired this past season himself. Skiles may very well be the no-nonsense coach that the Bucks need to kick the butts of their players and motivate them to play night in and night out. That, perhaps, has been Milwaukee’s biggest problem of recent seasons. It seems as though they are in “tank mode” at all times, and very seldom show any form of desire to win on a given night.

It’d be nice to see Skiles get this group to show up mentally, but the front office needs to make an effort to help him out. Bottom line, this roster is extremely unbalanced and does not have what it takes to make big steps in a positive direction as currently constructed.

First of all, their cast of big men are made of marshmallows. From Andrew Bogut to Charlie Villaneuva to Yi Jianlian, the Bucks are interiorly speaking one of the least intimidating teams. If this organization ever feels as though they have a chance to bring in a bruiser of any kind, they need to pounce on the opportunity.

Another ironic anecdote about this roster’s instability involves the point guard position. For the past two years, Milwaukee has been in dire need of a true playmaker… an initiator, a reliable guard to set up the offense and get the team into sets. The ironic part is that they had just that in 2006. T.J. Ford represents exactly what Milwaukee is begging for from the point guard position, but Larry Harris ruined those possibilities by shipping him to Toronto for Charlie Villanueva, who hasn’t lived up to expectations. Milwaukee’s current point guard is Mo Williams, who is a more viable fantasy basketball option than a real-life starting point guard. He can put up numbers in a hurry, but he has shown that he is completely incapable of running an offense. When the ball is in his hands, there is very little flow and the offense stagnates. For a team looking to improve their playoff hopes, they need someone that can ignite the offense.

Late-blooming second round rookie Ramon Sessions showed promising signs of potentially being that type of guy, however. As a starter in Milwaukee’s final seven games of the 2007-2008 season, Sessions held averages of 13.1 points, 13.6 assists, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per game. His most notable effort came on April 14th’s home finale, where the former Nevada star dropped 20 points and 24 assists. It may be a bit premature, but it’s more than clear that Sessions knows how to move the ball and set up the offense. It’ll be interesting to see if he can enter his sophomore year with the same confidence level and production rate.

Regardless, it’s going to take a lot of work to fix this franchise and bring it back up to respectability. It is evident, however, that this current cast of unmotivated, soft players will not be the ones to get it done. As previously stated, the Bucks have made changes in the front office and on the bench, but it’s time for a “fire sale.” Let’s hope the Bucks’ new GM, whoever it may be, can take this team in the right direction. God knows Larry Harris did everything but that.