It's that time of year: College coach carousel!

Trent Johnson pulls his name out of Utah speculation. Roccaforte is out at Lamar.

 

Ah. Good old "Drago" as he was called by the students at my land grant school. A great villain in the days of the TAAC.
When he was at UALR, they came to my school in the regular season finale and we had a 19-game winning streak, the longest in the nation at that time. And they kicked our ass.

 

Sendek can coach a little. I still remember the run in the ACC tournament his undermanned Pack team, led by Justin Gainey and Anthony Grundy (owner of the worst looking jumpshot ever) made. But brother he's duller than pondwater.
Tubby ain't coming to the Mammary Gland to coach the Yellow Jackets. Nope. Not happening.
At the Tech-NC State game a few weeks ago, the State fans were cheering for Tech to win so they could get rid of Lowe, according to the Tech messageboard. Hewitt's ouster in Atlanta was greeted with adulation by Tech fans, they few who are left after this year's disaster. The place barely holds 9,000 and it was less than half full for most of the season. In even Cremins' last few years, when the wheels came off after Marbury went one-and-done, attendance wasn't as bad as it was this year.
The fans voted with their absence and the AD took note.

 

Ronnie Brewer and Joe Johnson disagree.

 

Three of the five signed for next year are from Arkansas too. The others are from border states.

 

I also got to say I was dead wrong about Capel when he was hired. I said he'd have a bunch of success at OU and eventually end up the head coach at Duke, similar to Roy Williams path to UNC. Maybe he's one of those guys better suited for a mid-major.

 

Here's the link on Billy Clyde to Tech.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/03/14/2920337/texas-tech-talking-to-gillispie.html

The blazing media fishbowl of Lubbock's probably an even better place for him than Norman.

If Anderson doesn't go to Arkansas, it's interesting to note that Tubby would end up following a similar path that Nolan Richardson did, going (indirectly in Smith's case) from Tulsa to Arkansas.

One possible longshot candidate for OU could be Johnny Jones at North Texas. That is, unless LSU comes open, which it looks like it won't right now, but that could change. UNT has five straight 20-win seasons and two NCAA appearances, but Jones is losing a huge crop of seniors.

 

20,000 seat arena, strong fan support, one national title, six final fours, ten sweet sixteens, twenty nine NCAA tournament appearances (9th most all time). What's so stunning about it being considered a solid job?

 

Did they play together or with Williamson, or with Moncrief?

My point is you can find a player here and there, even outstanding ones like Pippen and Fisher (neither played for the Pigs). But relative to other basketball-mad states, they are harder to come by.

 

Part of the beginning of Nolan's downfall was he began to bow to criticism that he wasn't recruiting enough in-state players. Ole Miss was raiding the state and beating Nolan's team on a regular basis.

So Nolan recruited Jason Jennings (a big stiff who couldn't run in Nolan's offense) and Jason Gilbert (a 5-11 spot-up 3-ball shooter with few other skills), and both washed out after a year or two on the hill. He got Joe Johnson right after that, but Johnson went pro after one year.

Ronnie Brewer came along after Nolan left, but his father was one of the Triplets.

 

-- They've pretty much done nothing the last 15 years.
-- Strong fan support? I'm not going through all the boxes, but on their website, they list estimated actual attendance of their first two SEC games at 13K and 11K
-- And as to their history, there are a shitton of programs that used to be great that aren't any longer.

Maybe I'm wrong and they just need the *right* coach. But since Richardson they've gone Heath, Altman (for a day) and Pelphrey. And it's not like they're facing a Murderer's Row in the SECW. Heck, the shittiness of the division might be the best thing they've got going for them right now. Though we learned this year that even winning that division isn't a ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

 

The shittiness of the SEC West is one of the things that makes this an attractive job. You can get real good real quick in that division.

If you win Hog fans will pack Bud Walton and when they do it's the toughest home floor in the conference behind UK. Arkansas is also the only school in the conference other than UK where the fan base takes basketball seriously.

Mike Anderson will be hailed as a savior if he takes this gig.