Who Will Be IU's Next Coach?

I can't see Pearl leaving UT, but it would be interesting to see the reception he'd get the first time he took his team to Assembly Hall in Champaign.

He's going to leave Xavier for a big payday at some point. Might as well be after they lose to UCLA in the Elite 8.

I heard on the Boo-Yah network the other day that Bennett, if he leaves Wazzu at all, will probably be more interested in the LSU job because his wife is from La. I think he'll stay at Wazzu anyway.

After his time at Iowa, I don't see IU wanting him.

[/quote]5. Thad Matta -- Solid coach but I do not see it

6. Tom Izzo -- crazy suggestion to me but it actually has been coming from a reputable reporter in Indiana[/quote]

Those are both crazy suggestions.

Won't happen. He's a good NBA coach and some smart NBA GM is going to hire him.

Doubt it.

If I were to bet, I'd bet on Sean Miller.

 

My first phone call would be to Bruce Pearl. However, I do not believe that he would be leaving at this moment. He has an open checkbook, he's gotten an arena tailor made to his specs, and a basketball practice facility in the same fashion. He also has a (ahem) very good relationship with Pat Summitt. His family loves Knoxville. Pearl gets anything he asks for in Knoxville. Mike Hamilton has given him a blank check and the keys, and Bruce gets want Bruce wants. He is beloved by the donors and the powers that be.
Until last year, he always said Iowa was his dream job. He turned them down flat last year. The luster of IU as the glamour job in NCAA has been tarnished a bit due to the mishandling of Bobby Knight's dismissal and now the sanctions that will likely come thanks to Sampson's misdeeds. The only way I see Bruce Almighty going to Bloomington is if they just throw a ridiculous amount of money his way and Bruce wants to try to rebuild a somewhat tarnished program. I think there are maybe two or three college jobs available Bruce would even consider (the NBA might interest him), and IU doesn't appear to be one of them on the surface. He's a college guy, he can win a national title in Knoxville, and the money is going to be whatever he wants it to be. Save for some stupidity on the part of AD Mike Hamilton - who thus far hasn't proven himself stupid - Bruce Pearl is going to be a Vol for a long time. I just think he has it better where he is (....in Jesus' name, Amen) :thumbs:
IU is nuts if it does not hire Sean Miller. He's going to lead a major program (can we call Xavier a midmajor anymore?) to great heights somewhere. Might as well be Bloomington.

Bennett would be a good choice.Some rumors have him going south, but not likely. Not that So Car isn't a nice destination (if you're willing to play Tenn, Florida, Vandy, and Kentucky twice). But the rumors there are swirling around Okla's Jeff Capel, VCU's Anthony Grant (also a leading candidate for LSU's vacancy), and even John Thompson III from Georgetown is rumored to be interested/contacted

One name not on the list for IU? Kevin Stallings. His style is tailor made for Big Ten basketball. His only fault? He's a Purdue guy

Skiles? Well, I could see someone hiring him. But I wouldn't. Calipari isn't leaving Memphis. Why leave a school where you're guaranteed a conference title every year?

 

No clue as to who it might actually be, but I'm pretty sure you can go ahead and remove Dan Dakich from the "short list", now.

Ed

 

Matta has been at Ohio State since 2004. Any success Xavier has had since then is due entirely to Miller.

Capel? You think IU would take a chance on another coach from Oklahoma? :wavey:

JT III leaving Georgetown for IU? I put that rumor in the same bin I put the rumors about Tom Izzo and Thad Matta going to IU.

 

Yes, the fallout from the Kelvin Sampson situation definitely hurt IU, big time. So -

I'd liike to see IU consider Jim Harrick. I realize he is in his 60s, but he probably still has one more good run in him. Think of the upside:

1. Jim Harrick becomes the first coach in the history of the NCAA to take five different teams to the NCAA tournament. (Is there anyone here that doesn't seriously think Tubby Smith will join former UK coaches Eddie Sutton and Rick Pitino along with Lefty Driesell, Lon Kruger and Harrick in that group with four, in the next couple of years?? But I digress.)

2. Indiana wins a lot of games, and probably gets back to the Final Four, in the next two years.

3. Mike Davis suddenly rises in stature among the IU fans, because -

4. SURPISE!! Academic fraud is found to have ioccurred under Harrick (Jr. loses another job!) and then -

5. IU gets a two-year ban because of the cumiulative violations of Sampson and Harrick! :thumbs:

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Ed
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I could wish Jim Harrick on several schools.

In fact, let IU attract Bruce Pearl, and then I hope UT would go for Harrick! :applause:

In fact, I already recommended him for the LSU opening, in these pages, a few weeks ago. :thumbs:

Indiana just happens to be the one in the news currently.

And it is actually sad what happened at IU to a really decent guy, Mike Davis, and then the undercurrent that we, out here, never heard about cncerning the Administration and the assistant coaches and the players. Now Dan Dakich has to bear the brunt of something not of his making, and will no doubt be gone, as well as the other guy, made Associate Interim coach, whom the players apparently wanted, but not the IU Administration, so you will have an 'effective housecleaning', that has taken down a couple of more decent individuals, as well. And all because none of them have been a reincarnation of Bobby Knight on the bench, and the leader and instigator of all this 'makeover', Myles Brand, now has a new insulated job, far removed from Bloomington, IN !

Now for a serious response to a good potential coach, read my other thread "Sad day..."

But I would hate to see "Happy" at IU, although I wanted UK to look seriously at him when they hired Billy Gillespie. And I have not one thing against Billy G., FTR, and I do think he is a good coach.

Folks at all these BB hotbeds need to understand that UCLA was a total anomaly, during the Wooden run, and even the back to backs of Duke and Florida, since then, have been almost unbelievable accomplishments. There is absolutely no way that those UCLA teams would win 10 out of 12 years, with today's competition, and probably not even against the teams they beat then, with some of today's top coaches, coaching the player's that ran up against them, even back then.

Give some of the group of Bobby Knight, Eddie Sutton, Lute Olsen, Coach K, Dean Smith, Rick Pitino, Roy Williams, Tark, Tubby Smith, Billy Donovan, Jim Calhoun, or Tom Izzo, to name a few that have all won a couple of games, a crack at any aside from maybe one or two of the Alcindor powerhouses, with any of the teams of Duke, Michigan, Dayton, North Carolina, Purdue, Jacksonville, the non-existent Villanova team, Fla. State, Memphis or KY, -

and the "Wizard of Westwood", whom I do admire greatly, and as great a coach and fine Christian that he was, would not have 10 title banners hanging in Pauley Pavilion, IMO. He would do well to have half that many, simply because coaching has improved, as have the abilities of today's players, overall. I am not even suggesting running today's players against those of yesteryear, but merely let the coaches of today coach the players from back then. It would be a different story, IMO.

The players would make an even greater impact. The Fabulous Five and the great surrounding teams of KY, the great Cincinnati teams of around 1960 and a few other great ones from then, would be literally run out of the gym, these days by such teams as FLA and NC the last three years. No. 10 seeds would beat most of them, handily, simply because the game has changed that much.

Ed

 

PastorSBC:

CCROB is right. Matta has been gone too long for it to be a spill-over. I posted Miller's resume on here some time back. And you were right: I was talking about Capel, et.al., being considered for the jobs at SC and LSU.

Miller has elevated XU to be followed more closely than UC in the Queen City. That's saying something.

We can debate whether or not IU or UT is the more prestigious job right now. I think it's telling that IU did not necessarily get its dream candidate when Sampson was hired. No question that IU has more of a bball history than UT, but UT is not void of its own heritage - one that Pearl warmly and completely embraced with the blessing of Ray Mears and others in the UT family.

I don't argue that the SEC can be a tougher road to the title, but in a sense it's all relative. Once you're in the dance, the seedings and your bracket is your road. The SEC is a tough conference, maybe tougher than the Big Ten, maybe not. But you can win a national title in the SEC. Florida did it the last two years. UT has been a factor. They are again this year.

And the reason I say it's not true is it's not true. The Lady Vols have their following, but they don't sell out every single home game like the men do. And ask ten UT fans who is more popular (Pearl or Fulmer) right now, and Pearl gets 9 out of ten votes. Easily. Come live here. Read the dailies. Read the blogs/message boards. Listen to the call-in shows. Pearl can coach here as long as he wants. Fulmer could be one or two seasons from being let go. Spring practice is going on and virtually no one cares. I've literally been to booster gatherings and seen the hall fill when Pearl takes the dais, and people get up when Fulmer leaves. Don't get me wrong: Fulmer is and should be revered here in the Knoxville area. But Pearl is easily the most popular coach at UT right now. He has reenergized UT Bball bringing it back to a place of former prominence and beyond. A band is named after Pearl ("The Sons of Bruce"). They have performed their single and have a video hailing Bruce. I'm telling you, Bruce is the top of the list right now. That can always change. But right now, Big Orange Country is Bruce Pearl's kingdom.

 

Pearl on "Real Sports"

Bruce Pearl is featured on the latest "Real Sports" on HBO. They spend an awful lot of time regarding his faith and his role in the Illinois recruiting controversy. Andrea Kramer admitted that Bruce speculated that he would likely get a clall from IU ("but I love it here, I want to stay here, blah blah blah"). Interesting. Either he's sending a message that he is not interested. Or he's sending a message that he is. Or Kramer and the Real Sports blowhards are making stories where there aren't any. One of the three

Watch the segment if you can.

 

what I meant to say was that the people would fill the hall for Pearl, and then many would leave when Fulmer took the podium. I didn't word it quite right. Sorry.

 

I'm wouldn't count Steve Alford out for the IU faithful...they still have a love affair with him going back to 1987.

 

Pearl told the Knoxville News Sentinel today that he'll be back at UT if "UT will have him. "

Interesting to say that. Interesting that he did not say "I'm not interested in any other job." I do believe he'll listen to IU if they call. I don't believe he's going anywhere.

Remember that Pearl may not be the hottest coach in America. Sean Miller has a date with the Final Four looming.

 

Reports tonight are that Pearl and UT AD Mike Hamilton will sit down next week for a contract extension and to hammer out possible details of a raise and how the bonuses he earned are distributed