DaytonDailyNews.com

For Paul Biancardi, the past 19 months of coaching limbo — a time in which he said "my professional world was turned upside down" — are over.

On Monday, St. Louis University basketball coach Rick Majerus will officially announce that the former Wright State head coach has been hired as one of his new assistants.

"I think I've gotten one of the great steals in the business," Majerus said. "I'm ecstatic to get him.

"I got to know Paul over the past few years, and we developed a friendship. I watched his team practice at Wright State, spoke to his players, went on his radio show and, through it all, we talked a lot of basketball. Now we'll have some fun together."

In joining Majerus — a protege of Dayton Flyers legend Don Donoher — Biancardi will be alongside one of the best-known figures in all of basketball, one of the game's most successful coaches and certainly one of the funnier guys ever to so corpulently grace a sideline.

"Paul has this genuine passion for the game and so do I. You could call it two passionate guys connecting. I guess I have kind of a man-crush on him," Majerus said with comedic pause, then a laugh.

"I better define that. As dismal as my love life is, I haven't turned to that point yet. But I do love guys who love ball."

As for Biancardi, his love affair with the Raiders hoops program came to an abrupt halt in March 2006 when he was forced from his job after the NCAA violations mess from Jim O'Brien's reign at Ohio State — where Biancardi had been a loyal assistant — splashed him, too.

Among the penalties the NCAA handed out was one that banned Biancardi from all recruiting activities until Oct. 1, 2007 — which is Monday.

Until now, Biancardi has refused to talk publicly about his ordeal, how it affected him, how his family and so many people here in the Dayton area stood by him, and how he quietly yearned to return to the college sideline.

"At first I felt devastated," he said. "When you lose something that meant so much to you, that's natural. To deal with it, I had to keep it in perspective. I had to separate things and remember that my personal world — my family, my friends — was still terrific."

But on the basketball side he felt a terrible sense of loss:

"I missed everything. Being with the staff, influencing young guys — yelling at them, loving them, coaching them.

"I missed road trips, games, the agony that comes with a loss, the highs you feel with wins, the recruiting, being on a college campus. I missed it all, big and small.

"Things like meeting with DaShaun Wood after a loss and he's down and you have to pick him up — those quiet, tender moments."

After Wright State, Biancardi worked as a recruiting analyst for ESPN's Scouts Inc., giving detailed reports on top high school basketball talent.

He tried to assuage his coaching jones with everything from teaching an Athletes in Action clinic in Ireland to working camps at Duke University, the ABCD and Eastern Invitational camps in New Jersey and an NBA camp for top college players.

"I certainly didn't do them for the money — what I made went into my airfare — but it was a way to go back to my roots and reinforce my love for the game," he said.

Last spring his wife — who'd been a soccer coach of note — initially agreed to coach the girls team at Bellbrook High.

"When a couple of schools took an interest in me and things started heating up, she made the ultimate sacrifice for me and our two girls," Biancardi said. "She gave up what she wanted to do so this could happen."

Majerus was hired at St. Louis in late April, and by May he was interested in Biancardi.

Because he regularly spends time in Dayton — he was here for two days this month on his annual trip to talk basketball with Donoher, the man he calls "my mentor, my guru ... the best teacher of the game I've ever been associated with" — Majerus knew what had happened at Wright State.

While he could have drawn on the Donohers' support of Biancardi — Don's son, Brian, coached for Biancardi — or perused Biancardi's final job evaluation at Wright State — the one signed by associate AD Paul Newman that said, "Our compliance director has indicated that your adherence to university, Horizon League and NCAA rules and regulations has been exemplary" —Majerus said he simply went with his gut:

"I feel bad for what happened to Paul, but his misfortune is my very, very good fortune. I think it's a tremendous plus that he was a head coach. He'll be able to save me from myself. When he says something, he'll get my attention."

Biancardi sees some similarities between the two of them: "I have a lot of old-school ways — the way the game should be played, the way kids should act — in me, too."

Biancardi hopes this will be the first step toward one day becoming a head coach again: "I want to finish what I started at Wright State. I think you saw some of the fruits of that this past year (when new coach Brad Brownell took a team made up mostly of Biancardi recruits to the NCAA tournament)."

Majerus has the same hope for Biancardi: "I think he'll be a very successful head coach again. I look forward to going to his practices again and watching his teams play."

In the meantime, the two join forces. In fact, Monday, as soon as he finishes his paperwork on the SLU campus, Biancardi jumps on a plane for his first recruiting trip.

His new job means he'll be living in an apartment in St. Louis. His wife and daughters plan to join him for long weekends a couple of times a month until they sell their home here.

In leaving this area, Biancardi said he goes "with a heavy heart. I loved my time coaching at Wright State, and I made some great friends here. Their loyalty warmed my heart. Those will be some life-long relationships."

As for this new relationship, Majerus said:

"I wrote a book called 'My Life On A Napkin,' and now I can see Paul and me in a restaurant, pulling out legal pads, scribbling on napkins, sharing thoughts."

And with that he started to laugh:

"The more I think about it, the more I see only one problem. His idea of a good time and mine are the same. We both like Italian food. We both like ice cream.

"Before this is over, I'll probably be sharing my Lipitor with him."

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2156 or tarchdeacon@DaytonDailyNews.com.