Greensboro Swarm round out coaching staff

The Greensboro Swarm announced today that they’ve added four new faces to the team’s coaching staff. Dale Layer, Corsley Edwards, Haime Vathielil, and Aaron Karkow will take on various responsibilities for Swarm head coach Noel Gillespie.

Layer will be first assistant coach after a two decades of coaching in the NCAA. He was also the athletic director at Queens University in Charlotte, where he started the school’s first men’s basketball program. He has strong ties to North Carolina basketball, according to Gillespie.

Edwards comes from the Denver Nuggets’ coaching staff and will serve as second assistant coach with the Swarm. If his name sounds familiar, that’s because it is — Edwards was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in 2002 and even played for the New Orleans Hornets back in 2005. His ability to relate to players on a personal level should help the Swarm immensely with player development.

Vathielil’s history is varied, but he’ll be joining the Swarm as third assistant coach. He spent some time as the associate director of basketball operations at the University of Miami, as well as a video intern with the Miami Heat and a player development assistant with the renowned ATTACK Athletics based in Chicago.

Karkow will be the team’s strength and athletic trainer. He recently had a similar position at the University of Mount Olive, where he handled players of many different disciplines in addition to basketball.

Now that the Swarm have filled out their coaching staff, they can begin to plan for the upcoming season, which tips off on Nov. 12. The team isn’t done with its roster just yet — there’s an open tryout on Oct. 2 — but the Swarm is getting ever closer to its final iteration.