Whirlwind week lands Tony Delk at New Mexico State University

LAS CRUCES - It took less than a week for Tony Delk to decide New Mexico State University was the next step in ultimately becoming a head college basketball coach one day.

Delk spoke with Aggies head coach Marvin Menzies on Monday for the first time regarding a vacant assistant coaching position. On Saturday, NMSU announced that the former University of Kentucky guard and 10-year NBA veteran will join Menzies' staff for the 2011-12 season.

"I was just enjoying the summer and watching basketball," Delk said. "When this job became available, I talked to a lot of people and mentors and everyone that I talked to said it was the best opportunity at this stage of my career."

Delk had resigned his position as assistant to the Director of Basketball Operations at Kentucky in order to pursue the next step in his career. He said he was watching a summer tournament in Memphis when former Kentucky teammate and former Louisville assistant Walter McCarty called him and told him about a position with NMSU. Fifteen minutes later, he was on the phone with Menzies. He interviewed on the NMSU campus on Wednesday.

"It happened really, really fast," Delk said. "I knew that I was excited about the job and it was a good match once we actually met in person."