When you look at the transactions in the sports pages, little things of note pop up.

For example, Pittsburgh recently lost Mike Rice as an assistant coach, because he went on to become head coach at Robert Morris. Mike's dad was the head coach at Duquesne years ago before he went into broadcasting.

Jamie Dixon found his man to replace the younger Rice, choosing Tommy Herrion. You may remember Herrion was an assistant coach at Virginia under Peter Gillen before becoming head coach at College of Charleston for several years. He did a heckuva job at Charleston before leaving as Bobby Cremins took over.

Herrion is a perfect hire as the Panthers assistant coach.

Look at what Florida has done winning two national titles. Billy Donovan has done a phenomenal job recruiting, motivating and inspiring his team. Why am I talking about the Gators? Donovan brought in Larry Shyatt as an assistant coach and it made a big difference.

Shyatt was a solid head coach at Wyoming and Clemson, and he has been an asset for the Gators. More and more former head coaches are popping up as assistants because they can't get back to the same high-level positions. Let me tell you, these guys have a chip on their shoulder an attitude as they want to prove that people made mistakes. They work so hard to move back up.

It is a good hire when a smart man brings in a former head coach to be a second lieutenant. These guys are competitive, goal-oriented winners. They will work 24-7 to get the job done.

Look at some of the ex-assistants recently hired across America who were former head coaches with the name of their current school and where they coached previously.

Rod Baker, Long Beach State, UC-Irvine

Jerry Dunn, Michigan, Penn State

Rob Evans , Arkansas, Ole Miss/Arizona State

Shawn Finney, Marshall, Tulane

Billy Hahn, West Virginia, LaSalle

Tommy Herrion, Pittsburgh, College of Charleston

Dan Hipsher, South Florida, Akron

Ron Jirsa, Minnesota, Georgia/Marshall

Dale Layer, Liberty, Colorado State

Porter Moser, Saint Louis, UALR/Illinois State

Dick Vitale coached the Pistons and the University of Detroit before broadcasting ESPN's first college basketball game in December 1979. Send him a question for possible use on ESPNEWS.