A look at UCLA basketball assistants

Duane Broussard: Broussard, the first to join the new UCLA staff, has on the New Mexico staff even before Steve Alford started there after coaching at Iowa. One of his main responsibilities with the Lobos with advance scouting and game preparation, so his duties under Alford with the Bruins could be similar. He also recruited Danny Granger to Bradley, but incurred secondary NCAA violations for making contact with the star before he eventually transferred to New Mexico.

Ed Schilling: He’s the most reputed basketball mind out of the three, and was featured in the New York Times for working with Creighton’s Doug McDermott. His recruiting ties to Indiana as well as Adidas Nation are a bonus, but this hire seems to be geared toward his success developing players. Schilling most recently coached at Park Tudor High, where he won two Class 2A Indiana state titles, but was also an assistant for John Calipari at UMass, Memphis and the New Jersey Nets.

David Grace: Grace, an Oregon State assistant for the past five years has the most interesting life story on the new UCLA staff — an Air Force vet who refueled planes during Operation Desert Storm. He’s also the most exciting UCLA hire when it comes to local recruiting. His ties to AAU are perhaps the strongest point on his basketball resume: he used to coach for the Compton Magic, which produced players such as Jahii Carson and Allen Crabbe, and also co-founded the Arizona Magic program. USC was also looking to hire him, but he cancelled a Monday interview to join the Bruins.

Grace has been invited to Villa 7, the networking event between assistants and athletic directors that helped launch the careers of coaches such as Shaka Smart (VCU), Buzz Williams (Marquette) and Dave Rice (UNLV). Grace started his career in 1997 with Boo Williams AAU in Hampton, Va., and bounced to a Phoenix high school, Sacramento State and the University of San Francisco before landing in Corvallis — where he’s credited with getting Jared Cunningham out of San Leandro High.