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Ben Burns
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Johnny Banks
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Jordan Haimowitz
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Jim Feist
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UPDATED COLLEGE COACHING CAROUSEL! by The Gold Sheet’s Bruse Marshall
Arkansas…Award for best move of the carousel goes to super agent Jimmy Sexton, who squeezed a $2.2 million per year deal out of Arkansas to pull former Nolan Richardson aide Mike Anderson (left) back to Fayetteville from his gig at Missouri.
Bradley… The Braves swooped into the MAC last week to pluck Geno Ford from Kent State. Some observers were a bit surprised to learn what sort of pay bump Ford received, as his new salary at Bradley is reportedly in the $700K per year range, compared to the $300K he was making annually with the Golden Flashes. Basketball is important stuff in Peoria, and since Ford knew there was no way Kent could come close to matching that salary, he never bothered to give the Golden Flashes a chance to match the offer. Ford replaces Jim Les, who was jettisoned after a disappointing (and injury-plagued) 12-20 season and a 54% winning mark over 9 years. More is expected in Peoria.
Cal State Bakersfield… We usually don’t give much space to the Roadrunners except in this instance, with former Georgia State and Ole Miss HC Rod Barnes being named the new coach. Bakersfield appears on the schedules of many Big West, WCC, and WAC entries, and actually plays in a nicer arena than several Pac-10 schools in the region with its modern, 10,000-seat Rabobank Arena.
Dayton… With Brian Gregory moving to Georgia Tech, this rather desirable Atlantic 10 job with plenty of hoops history seemed to be focusing upon current head coaches such as Akron’s Keith Dambrot, Ohio’s John Groce, and Drexel’s Bruiser Flint, with rising Butler assistant Matthew Graves also supposedly in the mix. Instead, the Flyers pulled a bit of a surprise by naming 32-year-old Arizona assistant Archie Miller, younger brother of Wildcat HC Sean Miller, as the new coach. The younger Miller inherits a Flyer program in more transition than first imagined as a couple of key frosh, starting PG Juwan Staten and reserve Brandon Spearman, have decided to transfer since Dayton was KO’d by Bobby Cremins’ College of Charleston in the first round of the NIT.
Fairfield… The Stags are still looking after HC Ed Cooley took the open job at Providence. Although Fairfield AD Gene Doris could keep the job in house by promoting associate HC Bob Simon, regional sources indicate that some other former head coaches in major conferences, St. John’s HC Norm Roberts and DePaul/Virginia’s Dave Leitao, are in the mix, and well as Long Island HC Jim Ferry. Some Metro-Atlantic observers believe Princeton’s Sydney Johnson could also be in the discussion.
Fresno State… It has taken the Bulldogs a while to get around to replacing Steve Cleveland, who was reassigned (a nice way of saying he was told he wasn’t returning) after the WAC Tournament. Word from WAC scouts is that the list of AD Thomas Boeh has been narrowed, with top-flight assistants Jerod Hasse (North Carolina) and Bob Cantu (Southern Cal) reportedly making the final cut along with a couple of WCC head coaches, Portland’s Eric Reveno (a former player and assistant at Stanford) and USF’s Rex Walters, as well as Montana’s Wayne Tinkle and successful Fresno City College coach Ed Madec. Earlier, former Oregon HC Ernie Kent was reportedly in the mix and likely remains in the discussion.
Georgia State… The Panthers and AD Cheryl Levick moved quickly to replace the ousted Rod Barnes by tabbing IUPUI HC Ron Hunter, who has taken the Jaguars to the postseason on multiple occasions (and to the NCAA Tourney in 2003). Hunter has averaged 20 wins at IUPUI over the past nine seasons.
Georgia Tech… As mentioned earlier, Dayton’s Brian Gregory (right) has been hired to take the place of the dismissed Paul Hewitt. But don’t feel bad for Hewitt, who reportedly received a $7.2 million buyout from the Yellow Jackets.
IUPUI… The aformentioned Ron Hunter’s departure has created an opening at “The Jungle” (the bandbox home gym of the Jaguars). After being bypassed by Loyola-Chicago, former Butler and Iowa HC Todd Lickliter is reportedly on a short list at IUPUI along with Cal assistant and former Oregon State HC Jay John (also a former assistant at Butler and on Lute Olson’s staff at Arizona) as well as hometown Butler aide Matthew Graves. Jags assistant coach Todd Howard is also reportedly in the mix.
Kent State… Geno Ford’s departure from the Golden Flashes to Bradley continues a trend over the last decade that has seen Kent State become quite a steppingstone job. Over the past decade, Gary Waters (to Rutgers, and now at Cleveland State), Stan Heath (to Arkansas, and now at South Florida), and Jim Christian (currently at TCU) and now Ford have all “moved up” from the Golden Flashes. Word from MAC sources is that the returning players are pushing hard for Ford’s top assistant Rob Senderoff to get the job on a permanent basis, and some in the region believe Senderoff is the favorite in a race that seems to be loaded with other assistants, including Syracuse’s Rob Murphy (a former Golden Flashes assistant under Christian), Cleveland State’s Jayson Gee, Xavier assistant Pat Kelsey, and Ohio Stat’s Jeff Boals. This looks to be a good job for next season, with four of the five top Flash scorers slated to return from this year’s 25-12 team.
Louisiana Tech.. .After missing out on the WAC Tournament (and accompanying trip to Las Vegas), the Bulldogs quietly removed Kerry Rupp from his head coaching position and last week replaced him with Ole Miss assistant Michael White.
Loyola-Chicago… With an interesting pool of candidates that reportedly included Chicago native, former NBA star and coach and current Florida International HC Isiah Thomas, as well as former Butler and Iowa coach Todd Lickliter, the Ramblers have settled upon Porter Moser, Rick Majerus’ top assistant at Saint Louis the past few years and prior to that the coach as Illinois State (where he didn’t win) and Arkansas-Little Rock (where he fared better). Moser, a Chicagoland native, apparently got the nod in the end over Indiana assistant Tim Buckley.
Manhattan… We always like to mention Manhattan whenever possible because 1) the school isn’t even in Manhattan, it’s a bit north and in the Bronx, and 2) because the teams are called the Jaspers, named after Brother Jasper, who some (including the New York Yankees) credit with originating the seventh-inning stretch. Enough Jasper history; the hoopsters are still looking for a coach after Barry Rohrssen was fired almost a month ago. Metro-Atlantic sources report that Louisville assistant Steve Masiello, Rutgers assistant Van Macon, and Rhode Island College coach Bob Walsh are considered the frontrunners for the job. Let’s hope the Jaspers get this done before next season begins.
Miami-Florida… Frank Haith has jumped ship and headed to Missouri to take over the Tigers program, with the official announcement expected Monday. Expect no shortage of high-profile candidates to be interested in the Hurricane opening. Early indicators say to keep an eye on Minnesota’s Tubby Smith, who apparently was in the mix for the Missouri job and might be looking for an escape route out of Minneapolis.
Missouri… As mentioned above, Miami-Florida’s Frank Haith (left) was a surprise choice to succeed Mike Anderson, who moved to Arkansas. The Tigers, who moved too slow to get Missouri State’s Cuonzo Martin, who took the Tennessee job instead, made a strong bid for Purdue’s Matt Painter, who turned down Mizzou but received a nice salary boost from the Boilermakers.
Missouri State… Once Cuonzo Martin moved to Tennessee, the Bears moved quickly to hire Purdue assistant Paul Lusk, who began his coaching career at West Lafayette under Gene Keady, whose disciples (including Martin, Kevin Stallings, Bruce Weber, Matt Painter, even Steve Lavin) have generally fared quite well as head coaches.
Monmouth… After forcing out 14-year HC Dave Calloway (whose last five teams had a combined 48-105 record after three NCAA Tourney bids earlier in the decade) in late February, the Hawks finally named Vanderbilt assistant King Rice (a former player at North Carolina) as the new coach.
NC State… The Wolfpack have taken a long time replacing Sidney Lowe, lending to speculation that AD Debbie Yow was going to wait for both Wichita State (and HC Gregg Marshall) and Virginia Commonwealth (with HC Shaka Smart) to finish their seasons before talking to each of those respective coaches. Texas A&M’s Mark Turgeon is also reportedly still on the Wolfpack radar.
Northern Illinois… After moving out Ricardo Patton following another disappointing campaign in DeKalb, the Huskies went the Big Ten assistant route and plucked Mark Montgomery, who has been Tom Izzo’s top aide lately at Michigan State.
Oklahoma… After reportedly being turned down by Marquette’s Buzz Williams (who re-upped in Milwaukee) and apparently by Illinois’ Bruce Weber, the Sooners put the rush on UNLV HC Lon Kruger and finally got the Kansas State grad to bite on a reported 7-year, $15.4 million deal last Friday.
Pepperdine… It was a “velvet revolution” in Malibu when Tom Asbury stepped down and was replaced by assistant Marty Wilson at the end of the season. The Waves had already set up this succession plan.
Providence… This has become one of the toughest jobs in Big East, and just spit out Keno Davis, one of the favors of the month a few years ago when winning at Drake. The Friars hired Fairfield’s Ed Cooley (right), a Providence native who had steered the Stags into contending status and into the postseason this year.
Tennessee… The Vols moved rapidly after jettisoning Bruce Pearl, quickly settling upon Missouri State’s Cuonzo Martin before in-state Missouri could get its hands on him. Martin is another of the aforementioned Gene Keady disciples that have done quite well in the head coaching ranks.
Texas Tech… We knew Pat Knight was in trouble this season and his ouster came as no surprise. Nor did the hiring of Billy Gillispie, who was reportedly free of any radioactivity stemming from his ill-fated Kentucky adventure.
Towson… Although Pat Kennedy resigned after his Tigers lost all 19 of its league games this season, Towson is getting more than a little interest from candidates who realize the school’s affiliation with the up-and-coming CAA and a new arena ready to break ground this spring indicate plenty of potential in the Baltimore suburbs. Two names on the list are supposedly 10-year Texas assistant Russell Springmann, a native if nearby Silver Spring, and Vermont HC Mike Lonergan, a native of nearby Bowie, although Lonergan is reported to have removed his name from the list (at least for the moment). Xavier assistant Pat Kelsey and North Carolina aide Jerod Haase, both in the frame for other jobs as well, are also considered on a short list. Mid-Atlantic sources also say to watch for a longshot, nearby Division III St. Mary’s College College of Maryland HC Chris Harney.
UC Davis… A robust list of candidates is lining up to take the place of Gary Stewart, who resigned under pressure. A few former head coaches, CF Fullerton’s and USD’s Brad Holland, Oregon State’s Jay John (currently a Cal assistant), and Cal Poly’s Kevin Bromley (currently a UCSB assistant) are reportedly in the mix along with current Seattle U HC Cameron Dollar. Several assistants on the Aggie radar reportedly include Bob Cantu (Southern Cal), Rob Ehsan (Maryland), Justin Hutson (San Diego State), Dedrique Taylor (Arizona State), and Scott Garson (UCLA). A longshot to watch is Concordia HC Ken Amman, a former Stanford guard who led the Eagles to the NAIA title a few years ago.
UNLV… After turning down several inquiries that in recent years have included Southern Cal and Oregon, Lon Kruger’s (left) move to Oklahoma last Friday caught some Rebel supporters by surprise. UNLV AD Jim Livengood was thus busily at work at the Final Four in Houston, a perfect place to conduct coaching interviews, with former Rebel player and assistant and current BYU aide Dave Rice regarded as an early frontrunner. Former HC Jerry Tarkanian is openly campaigning for one of his one-time star players, Reggie Theus, former New Mexico State and NBA Sacramento Kings HC and currently on Kurt Rambis’ Minnesota Timberwolves staff, though some close to the situation believe Theus is a longshot. Keep an eye on Utah State’s Stew Morrill, Colorado State’s Tim Miles, Saint Mary’s Randy Bennett, and perhaps St. John’s assistant Mike Dunlap being targeted. A longshot to watch could be Old Dominion HC Blaine Taylor, formerly at Montana but apparently very interested in the recent Wyoming opening that instead went to Larry Shyatt.
Utah… So much for the rumors about BYU’s Dave Rose leaving Provo to take over the Utes as they move into the new Pac-12 next season. Utah AD Chris Hill instead opted over the weekend for Larry Krystowiak, a former Montana and longtime NBA player and currently on Avery Johnson’s New Jersey Nets staff. Krystowiak had earlier coached at Montana and steered the Grizzlies into the NCAA Tourney in both of his years as coach (including the second round of the 2006 Big Dance) before taking the Milwaukee Bucks’ job the following year.
Wyoming… The Cowboys, who gave Heath Schroyer the boot before the regular season concluded, decided to go back to the future, not with Jim Brandenburg or Benny Dees, but rather with Larry Shyatt, who bolted Laramie after one year and an NIT bid in 1997-98 to take the job at Clemson. For the past several years Shyatt has been on Billy Donovan’s Florida staff.
