This is interesting. Minnesota is 1 of 3 P5 job openings, and it sounds like they are content trying to Tony Gywnn a single to shallow right. Maybe they feel like they swung for the fences last time and struck out.
He’s from Minnesota, so I’m guessing his views of Minnesota aren’t the same as yours.
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Thought I would take an hour and summarize the candidates. I am not ‘connected’ in any way, so all these opinions are my own. All I have is the rumor mill and twitter (no Ute Zone).
First of all I require success as a college HC, preferably at 2 jobs. One hit wonders are on the list, but ranked lower than the guys who have had 2+ jobs.
I’ll list candidates who have gotten some run in the press and on the boards, but in my personal order of preference.
The Home Runs:
Mark Few – HC at Gonzaga. He’s not coming, but I have to make the call
Thad Matta – former HC at Ohio State. He’s won at Butler, Xavier, and Ohio State. He stepped down for health reasons 3 years ago. It is being widely reported he is looking to get back in the game.
Porter Moser – HC at Loyola of Chicago. He’s the hottest name in mid-major coaching. He’s had a great run at Loyola and won at Arkansas Little Rock, but struggled at Illinois State.
The next tier (experienced guys who have won at two jobs)
Craig Smith – HC at Utah State. He’s won at Mayville State (?), South Dakota, and now Utah State. A proven winner.
Steve Alford – HC at Nevada. He’s won at SW Missouri St, struggled at Iowa, won at New Mexico, UCLA and now Nevada. Another proven winner.
Greg McDermott – HC at Creighton. Turned around Wayne State, won at No Iowa, Struggled at Iowa State, and is now winning big at Creighton. Had a small racist incident (smaller than Scalley’s) that has seemed to blow over.
Niko Medved – HC at Colorado State. He turned around Furman, spent a year at Drake, then turned around Colorado State.
Chris Jans – HC at New Mexico State. Came up through the JUCO ranks and won at Bowling Green and now New Mexico State. He’s a heck of a coach. BUT there’s that pesky video of a drunken Jans hitting on young women in a bar after a game.
Joe Pasternack – HC at UC Santa Barbara, where he’s been excellent. Also shaky experience at University of New Orleans . Longtime assistant at Arizona. He was there during Miller’s payola scandal, but his name has never come up as dirty. A sneaky candidate.
Mark Pope – HC at TDS. He’s won at UVU and TDS, but he’s a jerk.
Tim Miles – Former HC at Nebraska. He had 4 winning stops before Nebraska, including Colorado State. Was very mediocre in 7 years at Nebraska.
Ben Jacobson – HC at Northern Iowa. Only one job, but 15 years at Northern Iowa. 4 NCAA tournaments (likely 5 if 2020 had not been cancelled) and 3 other post season invites. He’s been up and down, but more good than bad.
The third tier (mostly guys who’ve won at one job):
Dennis Gates – HC at Cleveland State. Longtime assistant at Florida State. He’s turned around Cleveland State, but has only 2 years HC experience.
Paul Mills – HC at Oral Roberts. Longtime assistant at Baylor. ORU is his first HC job. He’s been OK, but not great, until this tournament run.
Low ranked by me:
Alex Jensen – The most popular name with the Ute fan base, but he has zero college HC experience.
Johnny Bryant – I hope he gets to coach at the U someday, but he has no HC experience. Last time Utah hired a dynamic guy with these credentials, it was Jim Boylan.
Darien DeVries - HC at Drake just signed a big extension.
Rick Pitino – he’s 68.
John Beilein – he’s 68
Kelvin Sampson – he’s 65
My 2 cents.
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Seems you are forgetting about Marquette. That job opened up recently.
Current open P5 jobs:
Indiana
Minnesota
Utah
Other desirable open jobs:
DePaul
Marquette
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Thoughtful list. Just a couple of observations. If Mark Few is your HR hire I’m going to go ahead and add Musselman as my HR hire. Porter Moser is popular but he was a HC for fourteen years before enjoying success. Of course he’s been on fire since then. I think AJ is the guy. I have my doubts that he ( or Bryant) would come though. As to everyone else on the list, I just don’t see the logical hire.
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This is true. The Big East is a power conference- of course they just don’t have football. In hoops it’s really the P6 (though I don’t think anybody calls it that). On that note, the DePaul HC position is also open.
13 NCAA tournament units already for the PAC12 worth roughly $22 million. That will help pay Larry off.
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True, I count the Big East as P6, and Marquette is definitely a good job.
Could that keep Moser at home?
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Meaning being near his daughter. Watch her play on the women’s team. Stuff like that.
And then there were three:
After a week, nothing in our Tier List has changed much. It’s still AJ/JB as the obvious top candidates with a slew of mid majors right behind them.
Newman from the SLTrib threw another name into the discussion, Russel Turner, who has been the head coach at UC-Irvine for 11 years. As far as I know, he has never before been mentioned in any job search, ever.
I don’t know if I could handle all the whining.
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Heh. Those guys actually thought they were going to get Andy Reid to coach their football team.
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Saint Pope will coach all sports, run the HC office & serve funeral potatoes during lunch.
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I like that Boeheim guy at Syracuse. Sure, he’s 76 years old (literally), but his son plays for him right now, so (counting on fingers)… yeah, he’s a stud.
(I just hope they figure out a way to keep Henry Martinez. I don’t care if he’s in the Costa Rica Basketball Hall of Fame, he’s in the freaking Hall of Fame. And his kid is pretty promising.)
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Is he wanting his ashes spread over the erector set stadium?
Tier 3 guy, still available!
Just leave a mint on his pillow.