Avery Johnson first met Bob Simon at one of Johnson's coaching clinics when Alabama's new head coach was working in the NBA.

"I was immediately impressed with his basketball I.Q.," Johnson said in a statement Monday night.

Years later, Simon is joining Johnson's staff with the Tide as associate head coach.

Alabama announced the hiring of Simon Monday night.

The 52-year old Simon had been at Providence since 2011. Simon was an assistant coach for three seasons before taking over as the Friars' associate head coach last August.

Providence made the NCAA tournament each of the last two seasons. With help from Simon, the Friars also compiled recruiting classes ranked among the top-25 in the country two of the last three years.

Alabama's Avery Johnson has hired vastly underrated Providence assistant Bob Simon, sources told ESPN. Terrific evaluator, recruiter. — Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) April 19, 2015

A former women's head coach at Wayne State, Simon was an associate head coach at Toledo from 2003-06 and at Fairfield from 2006-11.

Simon began his coaching career as the boy's junior varsity coach at Thurston High School in Michigan in 1981.

Simon was a high school coach for 10 years before moving on to Wayne State, where he was an assistant coach from 1991-94, the associate head coach from 1994-99 and the women's coach from 1999-2000 prior to taking over as an assistant coach at Toledo in 2000.

"Bob brings a tremendous coaching resume to our program, along with a vast amount of experience in the area of recruiting and talent assessment," Johnson said. "He has done an incredible job under head coach Ed Cooley at Providence over the last four years, helping them reach the NCAA tournament on a regular basis.

"Bob is a man that has a high level of character and integrity. He also shares the same vision we have of being the best program, not only for the athlete but also for the student. We are excited to welcome Bob and his wife, Donna, along with their adult children, Devin and Bobbie."

Johnson and Simon met in Tuscaloosa last week.

"I was super excited about getting the opportunity to work at the University of Alabama and especially with coach Johnson," Simon said. "I felt his passion when I visited Tuscaloosa last week. He has a vision for the program. He wants to win, and he wants to do it the right way. That's exactly what I am about. He is going to be a tremendous recruiter. The way he recruited me convinced me of that. All I need to do is get him in front of the right people and he will close the deal. I am eager to get down there and get to work."