May 28, 1998

PROVIDENCE, R.I.- Providence College head basketball coach Tim Welsh announced today the members of his coaching staff for the 1997-98 season.

Joining Welsh from his staff at Iona is Steve DeMeo who will be one of the Friars' top recruiters. Alongside Demeo on the recruiting trails will be King Rice, the former North Carolina standout, who had been an assistant coach at Illinois State since 1993. Bob Walsh, who served as an administrative assistant at Iona for two years (1994-96), will take over the third assistant coach's spot, a position he held last year at the University of San Diego. The graduate assistant position has been taken by Vince Cautero, a former assistant at Florida International University.

In making the announcement on his coaching staff, Welsh said, "I really like the staff that we have assembled here. It is a very enthusiastic group that has hit the ground running in all facets of the job. We look forward to the challenge of bringing PC back to the top where it has always been." Welsh added, "I was really pleased that I could fill all four positions with my first choices for each spot. That doesn't always happen. I really like their enthusiasm and the ability they have to work together."

DeMeo has been on the job at Providence since April 2nd, the day Welsh took the position. A 1987 graduate and former player at SUNY-Buffalo, DeMeo was an assistant at Iona for three seasons and has an outstanding reputation as a recruiter. He was instrumental in getting the Gaels two of their best recruiting classes the past two seasons.

Prior to going to Iona, DeMeo served as the head coach at Monroe Junior College in the Bronx. In two seasons there, the Mustangs compiled a 53-8 record and ranked in the top 10 in each of those seasons. Following the 1994-95 season, Monroe was ranked as the top JUCO team in the country. Following each season, DeMeo was selected as the Region XV Coach of the Year.

The New York native has also served as the head coach at Bronx Community College (1990-93), as an assistant at LIU-C.W. Post (1989-90), and as an assistant at Queensborough Community College (1988-89). He has also worked with the Westchester Stallions of the USBL during the 1994 season.

Rice comes to Providence after spending five years as an assistant to Kevin Stallings at Illinois State University where Rice has guided the recruiting efforts for the highly successful Redbirds. Prior to joining the staff at Illinois State, Rice started his college coaching career at the University of Oregon in 1992.

Success has followed Rice wherever he's been. At Illinois State he played a key role in the development of the Redbird's point guards. As a player at North Carolina, Rice started as a junior and senior and finished his career ranked third on the Tar Heels all-time assist list (629) behind Kenny Smith and Phil Ford. He is 11th on the all-time ACC assist list and he averaged 6.2 assists in 140 career games. As a senior in 1991, he led North Carolina to the Final Four and was voted the team's outstanding senior by his teammates.

Following a three-month pro career in England, Rice returned to North Carolina where he received his degree in radio, television and motion pictures in 1992, while handling some administrative duties in the NC basketball office.

The 29-year-old Rice is a native of Binghamton, New York where he was one of that state's all-time great schoolboy players.

The Friars' third assistant coach is Walsh who served as an administrative assistant at Iona from 1994-96 while getting his Master's Degree in Mass Communications and Public Relations.

Last year, Walsh served as a restricted earnings coach at the University of San Diego. A 1994 graduate of Hamilton College, he has a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology. During his years at Hamilton, Walsh served as a student assistant basketball coach with the Continentals.

Cautero comes to Providence after spending the past six years as full-time assistant at Florida International University. A 1988 graduate of Florida State University, Cautero got his start in college basketball with the Seminoles.

After graduating from Florida State, where he was a basketball manager as an undergrad, the 33-year old Cautero spent four years (1988-92) as graduate assistant/volunteer assistant and then assistant coach under Pat Kennedy. He was instrumental in the recruiting of current NBA players, Sam Cassell, Charlie Ward, Doug Edwards, George McCloud and Bob Sura. Between 1988 and 1998, his teams were 174-113 with five NCAA Tournament trips and one NIT visit.

A native of Mt. Arlington, New Jersey, Cautero grew up in Coral Springs, Florida.