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February 15, 2009

Basketball Coaching Search Update

I was asked on Friday if Georgia could seriously land a coach like Sean Miller (Xavier), Jeff Capel (Oklahoma) or some of the other big names that have rattled around the edges of the process. My answer was "Yes. In a coaching search vacuum, Georgia could land a guy like Miller." (Image: Miller)

As I've said before, the problem is the other jobs that might open up. Here's an update on some of those situations:
  • Arizona - The Wildcats are now riding a 7 game winning streak, and they are only two losses out of first place. Can Coach Pennell win enough to get the "interim" label off his door? I doubt it, but it's getting progressively more interesting to watch.

  • Maryland - The Terps have won 3 of their last 4 games. If Williams wins the games his team should win, he'll stick around. As I said last week, that helps us in the Capel sweepstakes.

  • NC State - Sidney Lowe is very much on the hot seat; however, his victory over GT on Saturday gives NCSU a winning streak of 3 of their last 4. The Wolfpack has enough winnable games on the back end of the schedule to get to 8-8 in the ACC. That would probably be enough to keep him in place.

  • Pitt - Jamie Dixon is a hot commodity to fill a job like the Arizona gig if it should open. Sean Miller of Xavier would be their top candidate to replace Dixon.


  • Missouri - If Coach Mike Anderson were to move to Alabama, that would open a slot here. Anderson is a Birmingham native, a former UAB Coach and former ARK assistant. He's the hottest name in Tuscaloosa right now. UNLV Coach Lon Kruger is a former KSU player and coach, and he coached at Illinois. He might be a great fit here due to ties to the region to replace Anderson. Kruger is one of the rumored candidates in Athens. (image: Anderson)

  • Notre Dame - The Irish lost seven games in a row until thrashing #7 Louisville earlier in the week. In Coach Mike Brey's defense his team's losing streak consisted of games against teams currently ranked #7, 22, 1, 12, 4 and 6. He should win enough to keep his job given the strong results the prior two years. However, would Mike Brey start to look around now that the natives are restless? You would think Sean Miller at Xavier would be a top candidate in South Bend given that he currently coaches at a private, catholic school one state over. Brey was almost hired in Athens instead of Harrick. He would be a great candidate for our job.

  • St. Johns - It's very likely that the St. Johns job will open up. They lack the financial clout to compete with UGA for a coach.

  • DePaul - Looks to be on the express ramp to firing Coach Jerry Wainwright. He's currently 51-65 overall and 20-42 in the Big East. Another school that UGA can outspend.

  • Texas Tech - Pat Knight has lost 6 of his last 7 games, and his overall record is 12-13. It looks like they'll struggle to do better than 14-18. How long will the Red Raiders put up with a guy that was essentially dumped on them by his daddy?

  • Alabama - Obviously. Still rumored to be very interested in Mike Anderson at Missouri. He's currently 21-4 in Missouri.
So....can we get a guy like Miller? Yeah. But he's one of the prettiest girls in school right now. He can take any job he wants. That's probably one of the reasons why Damon Evans was rumored to have told boosters before the LSU game that the search looked promising, but we need to bear with him because it's not going to be easy. He was upbeat but realistic.

Did I miss any other openings? I could list Tech, but they are either too broke or too pig headed to fire Hewitt and eat his $7.1 million buyout.

See Also:
-- Secrecy key to search - ABH
-- Firms simplify search - ABH

PWD

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm an Arizona fan, and the word in Tucson is that Zona's wish list, in order, is:

1. Tom Izzo (apparently he's interested, and there have been discussions between him and Zona)

2. Jamie Dixon (west coast guy who is looking to return to the west)

3. Mark Few

Anonymous said...

As Mark Bradley continues to pimp Dayton's Brian Gregory, I have to wonder if he's not a potential fallback value play for us, should a lot of these larger dominoes not break our way. He may be a candidate at Michigan State, though, if Izzo is truly interested in the AZ job. I believe he's from the Izzo/MSU tree. Brad Stevens at Butler is another potential value play.

I'm still most interested in either Miller or Kruger, however. I don't know why, but I just have a hard time getting too worked up over Capel. Maybe it's because the Coach K tree hasn't thrown off a wealth of fruit.

Anonymous said...

PWD,

Between your blog and Hale's blog I am becoming at least a casual follower of bb again. The last time I followed the team Durham was coach and he had a skinny 7+ footer who wanted to dribble every time he got the ball underneath the bucket.

I appreciate your story about potential opennings. How about some critical analysis on the pool of candidates. Who looks like a good fit and why?

Hobnail_Boot said...

Again.. Jamie Dixon turned down the Arizona job last year.

Anonymous said...

what in the world are you talking about? (Jamie Dixon turned down Zona). He was NEVER offered the job, nor has anyone else. To recap, Lute left the team before the '07 season, and Kevin O'Neal was named the interim coach until Lute returned (which, at the time, was supposed to happen by mid-season). Lute never returned that year, however, and O'Neal was named Lute's eventual successor when Lute retired (due to his limited success at that point).

That was a bad mistake by Livengood,, because O'Neal showed his true colors that season---from cussing out players to ignoring his assistants..he was hated by everyone at season's end. And the team play showed it. Thus, when Lute returned in the summer of '08, O'Neal was immediately let go by Lute, much to the relief of the players, fans, recruits, etc.

However, it was found that Lute had a series of small strokes, thus he had to retire before the '08 season. Since the season was about to start, it was impossible to do a coaching search at that point, and they decided to wait until the end of the '08-'09 season. Assistant Dunlap was offered the interim job, but he turned it down (knowing it would be only temporary). Thus Pennell stepped in, and has done a solid job considering the whole mess overall.

Nobody has been offered anything yet, though again Izzo and Zona reps have had several discussions. Dixon has already let Livengood know that he'd love the Zona job, as we wants to return west and he's always loved Lute/the Zona program as a whole.

The only coach that has privately or otherwise said "no thanks" to Zona's overtures is Mark Few.

Bernie said...

This and the win last night are reason for optimism. Now if we could just get that old coot from the AJC to let us do our bidness and leave us the hell alone.

Anonymous said...

As a Mizzou fan and a Dawg, living and working in Columbia on the Mizzou campus....Anderson ain't going to Bama. No way. He has a team with two seniors playing major roles, and six freshmen playing huge minutes. That, and a gleaming new $65 million arena to recruit to.

Anonymous said...

That pic of Miller makes him look like El Diablo. Or Elaine from Seinfeld when she was making fun of Putty's Jesus fish.

Perhaps we should hire an El Diablo to counter Florida's deal with the satan circa 1990.

 
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