Ex-EWU star Dean has brain surgery

Former Eastern Washington University men’s basketball standout Glen Dean, who transferred to Utah following his sophomore year last spring, underwent surgery at a Salt Lake City hospital Wednesday to repair a ruptured blood vessel in his brain, according to former EWU coach Kirk Earlywine.
Earlywine, who recruited Dean to Eastern and coached him for two seasons before being fired last March, said he first learned about the ruptured blood vessel on Saturday after noticing Dean, who is redshirting at Utah this winter under the NCAA’s transfer rule, did not return to Utes’ bench for the second half of …

Former Eastern Washington University men’s basketball standout Glen Dean, who transferred to Utah following his sophomore year last spring, underwent surgery at a Salt Lake City hospital Wednesday to repair a ruptured blood vessel in his brain, according to former EWU coach Kirk Earlywine.

Earlywine, who recruited Dean to Eastern and coached him for two seasons before being fired last March, said he first learned about the ruptured blood vessel on Saturday after noticing Dean, who is redshirting at Utah this winter under the NCAA’s transfer rule, did not return to Utes’ bench for the second half of their televised game against Brigham Young.

“When I saw he wasn’t there, I started calling around,” said Earlywine, who went on to learn that Dean had originally experienced some dizziness after lifting weights on Dec. 7, and then got extremely dizzy again, and started losing vision in one of his eyes, during the BYU game.

According to Earlywine, Dean underwent a series of medical tests on Sunday, when the ruptured blood vessel was first discovered. Utah flew Dean’s mother, Judy Sinclair, to Salt Lake City on Monday and she was at University Hospital during her son’s lengthy surgery.

Following the surgery, doctors told Dean’s mother everything went well and that there were no surprises. But they also said it was too early to make a prognosis on Dean’s vision problem or his basketball future.

“But I can tell you that kid is going to have a wonderful life whether he plays basketball or not,” Earlywine said of Dean, a 5-foot-10 junior guard from Seattle, who was named the 2009-10 Big Sky Conference Freshman of the Year and led Eastern in scoring and assists during each of the two years he spent with the Eagles.

“He’s a great kid. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed and wishing for the best for him.”