College hoops coaching firing/hiring thread

It was when he gave that "my focus is on this team" speech that I thought I was in a time warp.

Because that was the same speech Steve Alford gave last year when everyone thought he was going to Indiana.

 

When his team is done he will have been to three Final Fours in seven years, maybe back-to-back national champs and will be in position for the queen mother of all contract extensions with one of the nation's biggest cash cows as leverage. That and in November of 2005 there were plenty of people in his own backyard who wanted him out. The little shit has a lottery ticket in his back pocket. No way he devalues it in any way. Every time somebody in "Gator Nation" worries about him going north, his deal gets a little sweeter.

 

Oh, he's got a lot of cash coming, no matter where he goes.

 

Still, the fact we're having this discussion about Donovan going to Kentucky is head-scratching....
No shame about one conference school raiding another's head coach...
The SEC never ceases to amaze.

 

You don't understand.

We're Kentucky. We get whoever we want. We're the king of the college basketball universe.
Have been for a while. Always will be.

Never underestimate Big Blue Nation.

[/UKlooserfanboy]

 

If not Donovan, then who? That will be the interesting chase.

 

It's more than UK... Tuberville is another...LSU trying to go after Alabama baseball coach Jim Wells last year....

 

Donovan -- Will get record deal, most likely at Florida, but could go to UK to be the savior (ala buddy Rick Pitino)

Gillispie -- Arkansas bound?

Pitino -- Staying in Louisville.

Calaparie -- Just got huge deal from Memphis.

Few, Crean, Izzo, Barnes, D'Antoni (Phoenix Suns) -- Possibilities?

Ex-Cats Travis Ford (UMass), John Pelphrey (South Alabama) and Rex Chapman (don't laugh; Big Blue Nation loves it glory-day players) -- If worse comes to worse ...

 

Unfortunately for Donovan, there is absolutely nothing he can say or do that makes this situation go away. If he says "not interested", people would just say "ok, Saban" - sure he's saying that but will still listen to UK after the tourney. If he says he's interested, he actually becomes a distraction. If he and UF announce he's done a contract extension this week, he'd get criticized for negotiating when he should be preparing for the tourney. The way he handled it is the only honest way he can.

He's not going to UK, by the way, and their fans are in for a real letdown if they spend the next week telling themselves he will. UF will announce the new contract soon after the tourney and use his turndown of UK as a selling point with Patrick Patterson, futher helping keep him away from the Wildcats.

 

Where did Tubby come from? ... Georgia.

 

It's a bit unsual but has happened for years. Hell, back in the 1960s, Washington hired Marv Harshman away from Washington State.

 

Does Arkansas Business know something we don't?

http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=97603.83201.109745

"Meanwhile, speculation swirls that the university has chosen former Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie as Heath's successor. One Arkansas news organization, KARK-TV, Channel 4, in Little Rock and sister station KNWA-TV in Fayetteville, cites sources saying Gillispie will take the job."