• Former American University men’s basketball player Justin Perez has been hired as the Director of Men’s Basketball Administration at Louisville, the school announced in early August. Perez and new Louisville coach Kenny Payne both worked for the New York Knicks last summer, where Payne was an assistant coach and Perez was an intern in the front office. Since leaving AU, Justin has also earned a JD from Columbia and worked with Roc Nation Sports, a subsidiary of Jay-Z’s entertainment agency. (Fun fact: Justin’s mother, Desiree, is CEO of Roc Nation, and his father, Juan, is president of Roc Nation Sports. Look for Justin to keep making waves and moving up the ranks in the sports & basketball community.)

• Josh Alexander has signed a pro contract, per an Instagram post by his new team, BC Šilutė. They are the oldest participant in NKL, the second-tier league in Lithuania. Alexander played in nearly every game since he arrived on campus in 2018, mostly on the second unit. He totaled 431 points, shooting 51.5% from the field for his career.

• Speaking of pro Eagles, Stacy Beckton Jr‘s social media indicates that he’s made his way to Europe. Training camp with Feyenoord Basketball, his pro team in the Netherlands, started this month. See the previous post on his signing.

Meanwhile, On Campus:

• This isn’t directly related to AU athletics, but is worth mentioning: the AU Staff Union went on strike August 22-August 26, due to university leadership being unable (or unwilling) to meet demands for higher wages and a fair labor contract. Student move-in at Letts & Anderson was disrupted on Wednesday, and students marched out of Friday’s convocation in protest & solidarity. The Eagle has had good coverage of the happenings. Thankfully, the union reached a resolution with AU leadership at the end of the week.

• The men’s basketball team received a commitment from local 2023 wing Gibraltar Coleman. Coleman attends Flint Hill School in Oakton, VA, about 20 miles from DC. He recently did a sit-down with the NOVA Legends podcast, which is worth a listen. It’s clear that Coleman is an ambitious player with an athletic pedigree – he has the potential to have an exciting career as an Eagle.

• Women’s volleyball coach Barry Goldberg achieved career victory #800 on August 27 in a Bender Blue-out against George Washington.

• The AU athletic department has posted an opening for Director of Basketball Operations for the women’s team. It’s unclear what this means for Nicole Scarff (née Krusen), as the website still lists her as director of operations.

Edit: One more story from The Eagle about the staff strike last week.