GW Hoops / Dwayne Lee leaving for VCU

**Posted by Florida Colonial** 5/01/2026 12:14 pm

$$ Talks

Jeff Goodman
@GoodmanHoops
VCU is hiring GW assistant Dwayne Lee, source told
@TheFieldOf68
.Lee played at St. Joe's and has also been an assistant at St. Bonaventure, Quinnipiac and FDU.

**Posted by dmvpiranha** 5/01/2026 12:49 pm

This feels like one of those moves that is beneficial for both parties. Lee helping us land Slim pretty much defined his tenure. His run as defensive coordinator at GW though was mediocre at best and I think some changes to the staff are welcome after this past year.

**Posted by Mike K** 5/01/2026 12:54 pm

Another assistant gone. That is 2 that have left. Gotta figure (hope) CC has a plan to replace and add coaches.

**Posted by GW0509** 5/01/2026 1:40 pm

It's time to bring Mike Hall home

**Posted by Florida Colonial** 5/01/2026 2:04 pm

Mike Hall and a experienced bench coach

**Posted by Alum1** 5/01/2026 6:47 pm

Mike K wrote:
Another assistant gone. That is 2 that have left. Gotta figure (hope) CC has a plan to replace and add coaches.

More isn’t necessarily better. Someone with some gray hair would benefit Caputo. My view was that we carried way too many staff and it wasn’t entirely clear they were all necessary. Half our bench seemed to be staff.

**Posted by Florida Colonial** 5/02/2026 5:57 pm

GW head coach Chris Caputo is bringing Aaron Thompson back as an assistant coach, source told @TheFieldOf68.

Thompson had been on Caputo's staff the last few years, left a few weeks ago to become director of player development at his alma mater, Butler, and now has returned to GW.

**Posted by Gwmayhem** 5/04/2026 10:23 am

This one's a bit tough to take. Lee interviewed for the head coaching job at St. Bonaventure and had he been offered and accepted that role, I would have been very happy for him. Instead, he moves to what should be considered a rival school in our conference, making a lateral move yet for undoubtedly more money. None of this is illogical and of course Dwayne should take more money if it's offered. It just doesn't sit well that we're competing against a school in our own conference who has the budget and program history to pull this off. Similar to Boisvert leaving for SLU. It's one thing to lose guys to P5 programs but it's another losing out on lateral moves to conference foes.

**Posted by GW0509** 5/04/2026 10:28 am

I think this is a going to be a trend. Schools like GW would rather put the marginal dollar into player vs. coach salaries. I mean, look at Bona hiring a D2 coach and publicly saying they were going to pay him a lot less than Schmidt.

**Posted by Gwmayhem** 5/04/2026 11:33 am

I do get that. It's not only more money but it also represents a more feasible path to move up the coaching ladder. Look at all of the VCU assistant coaches who eventually became head coaches at VCU and then at P5 programs...Shaka, Wade, Rhoades. Plus Grant and Odom who moved onto bigger programs after being a head coach at VCU. By contrast, how many GW assistants went on to eventually become head coaches at P5 schools? Other than Steve Pikiell, nobody else comes to mind.

**Posted by dmvpiranha** 5/04/2026 12:18 pm

Assistants move around all the time. We got Straughn from St. Joe's not too long ago which I guess could have been considered a lateral move (although he was also coming back closer to home). Lee's connections to the Martelli family makes the move make a lot of sense. Good luck to him and hopefully GW can try something new defensively.

At least we didn't have our AD poached by a conference foe, like La Salle just did. That's a lot more troubling.

**Posted by Florida Colonial** 5/04/2026 2:05 pm

dmvpiranha wrote:
Assistants move around all the time. We got Straughn from St. Joe's not too long ago which I guess could have been considered a lateral move (although he was also coming back closer to home). Lee's connections to the Martelli family makes the move make a lot of sense. Good luck to him and hopefully GW can try something new defensively.

At least we didn't have our AD poached by a conference foe, like La Salle just did. That's a lot more troubling.

Good point on the Martelli connection. Completely forgot about that.

**Posted by 22ndandF** 5/04/2026 3:31 pm

Like all the others who have left GW this year, glad to see Dwayne move on too. We didn't do well with any of them and we need a new start. Of course, this is the way it will be from now on so we all need to embrace it.

**Posted by ColonialNY** 5/06/2026 7:34 am

I second the call for Mike Hall on the bench. He has coaching experience now ... if that was an issue in the past. He'd be great at working with the team on defense as well. And I have to believe he would be great at recruiting.

**Posted by Gwmayhem** 5/06/2026 8:15 am

Mike would be an interesting call. My concern is that CC's staffs aside from Franklin, Boisvert and Lee have largely been comprised of younger coaches without much experience. It's both admirable and budget-friendly to bring younger guys into the fold but does CC have the sounding board he truly needs? Mike is not so young anymore and has yet to sit as a coach on a college bench but his attitude and enthusiasm for GW would be off the charts. He may also be more attainable for the right price due to his lack of college coaching experience.

Am curious as to whether you would rather see the position filled by Mike or by a more seasoned former head coach who would clearly become CC's top lieutenant?

**Posted by gwstudent2024** 5/06/2026 9:02 am

John Krikorian (D3 Christopher Newport head coach who led them to a national championship and 4 Final Fours) just took a job as an assistant at Elon. I would have loved to bring him in

**Posted by ColonialNY** 5/08/2026 6:18 am

Agreed, Mike doesn't have experience sitting on a bench for a college team. But he does have it in the G-League, which let's be honest isn't much different than college nowadays. In fact some players went from the G-League to college this past season! He DOES have experience developing players looking to move up to the NBA (and has done so). He also clearly has worked in scouting as part of his role as well. I think he would be an excellent fit.

**Posted by moneybox** 5/08/2026 3:15 pm

A new assistant coach that could help the team finish games down the stretch would be a welcome addition.