Jim Molinari was officially named the new NIU men’s basketball coach at a press conference Friday morning.

A six-week national search ended Thursday night when NIU Athletic Director Gerald O’Dell selected Molinari, DePaul’s assistant basketball coach, to replace former coach Jim Rosborough, who was fired March 8. Rosborough will depart from DeKalb May 7 to begin his job as assistant coach to Lute Olson at Arizona.

Both Molinari and O’Dell were evasive when asked how long of a commitment Molinari had been offered.

“Let’s just say we’ve got it worked out,” O’Dell said.

Drawing a large portion of “familiar” Chicago media members, the former Blue Demon assistant of 11 years unloaded to everyone the reasons he came to NIU.

“I wanted to go to a strong academic institution,” Molinari said. “I wanted to go to a bigger school. I wanted to go to a school that had strong athletic tradition, that played a very competitive Division I schedule and, as a bonus, I really wanted to have the opportunity to be close to home.”

Molinari had his first interaction with the NIU players in an early-bird meeting Friday morning. Sophomore forward Donnell Thomas expressed his initial feelings about the new Huskie boss.

“(My) first impression was that he was kind of crazy, gettin‘ us over here at 7:15 in the morning,” Thomas said half-jokingly. “He seemed like he was a nice guy, but it’s too early to tell and make any judgments.”

It’s also too early for Thomas to decide if he will return to play for NIU next fall. When Rosborough was fired, there was talk that some of the players, including Thomas, might transfer if they weren’t satisfied with the next coach.

Thomas said he would have to “wait and see” if Robert Collins, Rosborough’s top assistant coach, will reclaim his former position. Thomas said it would play a big part in his decision to stay if Collins was rehired.

Molinari didn’t name any potential assistants, and he hadn’t talked with Collins as of Sunday. Collins said he and Molinari will meet today.

Working under the legendary Ray Meyer for six seasons and Joey Meyer for five at DePaul, Molinari brings a collective 260-73 record in as an assistant coach. O’Dell said he liked the fact that Molinari was coming from a fellow independent program at DePaul.