After a search with more than 120 applicants, Caltech got its man in MIT's associate head coach, Oliver Eslinger who has spent that past six years as the top assistant men's basketball coach at MIT. He takes over at a school that has more Nobel Prize winners than men's basketball victories: the Beavers were 1-24 last season, 1-24 the year before and 0-25 the previous year.

Caltech has not won a SCIAC game in men's basketball since 1985, a span of 273 games. MIT, which has similar academic constraints, has gone 87-73 (.544) since Eslinger joined the staff in 2002. He replaces Roy Dow, who went 4-144 in six years at Caltech.

"Oliver is an ideal fit for Caltech as his MIT background really allows him to hit the ground running here at Caltech," said athletic director Wendell Jack.

&&g-boxl&&Nearly every season under Eslinger, MIT has ranked nationally in the top 10 in field goal percentage defense, scoring defense, rebounding margin or free throw percentage. He coached the 2006 team when it traveled to Taiwan and won the Kainan Invitational International Tournament Championship.

Prior to MIT, Eslinger previously served as head coach at Boston University Academy and as an assistant coach at Bethlehem Central High School in Delmar, N.Y.

Eslinger played at Clark, where he was a starting guard and majored in psychology. Eslinger holds a doctorate in counseling psychology-sport psychology and masters degree in counseling from Boston University.