Barton Community College athletic director Trevor Rolfs spoke for the first time on Friday about the resignation of women’s head basketball coach Keith Ferguson and the hiring of former New Mexico State University head coach Darin Spence.
Two days earlier, Spence tweeted on his Twitter internet account that he had been hired as Barton’s women’s coach.
 “Pending board approval (by the Barton trustees) on Aug. 18, Darin Spence will be the new women’s basketball coach at Barton,” Rolfs said in a cell phone interview.
Ferguson’s untimely departure and Spence’s appointment has fueled a wide range of speculation as the Cougars embark on the 2011-12 school year.
“Truthfully, I have no idea what a tweet is,” Rolfs said. “I guess I’m technologically and socially challenged, for a lack of better words.
“This late in the game (for recruiting) and with the school year coming up, it’s going to be a tough situation. Spence’s record speaks for itself and a situation of this magnitude, I’m sure he can handle it.”
Ferguson said he was asked to resign on Thursday, July 28. He formally turned in his resignation on Aug. 1.
Asked if he asked Ferguson to resign, Rolfs replied, “No comment.”
As far as anyone knows, all but one of Barton’s returning women’s players or incoming recruits will be on campus this month.
According to Spence, Marlisa Braxton, a 5-7 guard and one of Ferguson’s out-of-state signees, from Pershing High School in Detroit, revealed to Spence her intentions of not coming to Barton.
“Her mother didn’t want her to come at all in the first place,” Spence said on Thursday. “Marlisa told me that she’s not coming.”
Crystal Bradford, a 5-10 standout forward from Inkster, Mich., which won a state championship this past winter, intends on coming to Barton this month, according to Spence.
Ferguson led the Cougars to a 21-11 record this past season, including a tie for second place in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Western Division with Cloud County at 12-4. The Cougars lost to Independence in the second round of the NJCAA Region VI tournament at Koch Arena in Wichita.
In the aftermath of his resignation, Ferguson released his 2011-12 signings list, which also includes Erin Copleland, a 5-7 point guard, out of Shawnee Mission West; Clifton-Clyde’s Blair Bloomfield, a 6-0 forward; Linda Hamilton, a 6-1 post player, from East Orange, N.J.; Brittany Miller, a 5-7 shooting guard from Larned; and Jennifer Allende, a 5-5 guard and defensive specialist, from Great Bend.
Allende is planning on being a two-sport athlete at Barton as she is also on BCC’s women’s soccer roster.
Spence was a highly successful junior college coach at Cowley County and Butler County during an 11-year stretch, compiling a 288-73 won-loss record.
He left Kansas and the juco ranks for New Mexico State, where he compiled a 109-136 record in eight seasons in Las Cruces.