Sixers Assistant Billy Lange Heading to St. Joe’s

Sixers assistant coach Billy Lange will become the next basketball coach at St. Joe's, a spot vacated by the recent dismissal of long-time coach Phil Martelli, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

"The pairing of Billy Lange as the head coach of the St. Joe's basketball program is an incredibly natural fit," Sixers head coach Brett Brown said in a press release by the team.

Tonight was his final game on the bench for the Sixers.

Lange was a former college head coach at Navy,  and an associate head coach at Villanova under Jay Wright.

"As a Philly native, Billy’s basketball experiences as a head coach at Navy, an assistant at Villanova and six NBA seasons on our bench, provides a great base to develop, recruit and stamp his vision on a storied basketball program," Brown said.

Lange was hired by the Sixers as a player development coach for the 2013-14 season,  and has been with Brett Brown ever since.

"He has been with me from day one and to see where he started and now where he has ended up, is a fantastic human and basketball story," Brown stated.

"We will be following him closely. Go Hawks."

Lange ran much of the Sixers defense, which is No. 1 in the NBA in 3-point defense. With Lange leaving the team, former Sixers head coach Jim O'Brien takes on the task of running the teams defense.

O'Brien has been a team adviser, and will now move back to the bench for the remainder of the season.