Spoon Jr. gets call to join Missouri

Steve Guiremand

Tuesday, July 27, 2004 | 8:52 a.m.

Jay Spoonhour has a new job.

Spoonhour, who was the UNLV interim basketball coach at the end of last season but was not retained on new coach Lon Kruger's staff, accepted a graduate assistant coaching position at the University of Missouri on Monday. His duties will include various administrative tasks such as scouting and recruiting video coordination.

Missouri's troubled program has been the target of a lengthy NCAA investigation focusing on alleged extra benefits and other improprieties from 1999-2003. Head coach Quin Snyder survived the scrutiny but two fulltime assistants, associate head coach Tony Harvey and assistant Lane Odom, resigned this year in the wake of investigation.

Snyder received a two years' probation and a public letter of reprimand.

Spoonhour was busy helping out with Tigers summer basketball camps on Monday and could not be reached for comment. He said in a school news release that he was looking forward to returning home.

"I have always had a great deal of respect for the history and tradition here at Mizzou and I am honored to now be a part of it," Spoonhour said.

Spoonhour coached UNLV to a 6-4 record after taking over for his ill father, Charlie Spoonhour, on Feb. 17. The Rebels rallied around his up-tempo style and came within a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Utah's Nick Jacobson of winning the Mountain West Conference tournament and earning an automatic NCAA tournament berth.

Two days later UNLV athletic director Mike Hamrick named Kruger as the new head coach.