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

That's tougher, because if you wait until contracts and hirings are official, you can be days, even weeks late. I've reported on hirings with comments from the coach and the coach's agent a full week before the school announced it because they were quibbling over wording in the contract. You just have to word it as "The job has been offered and it was accepted."

Not having a list of possible replacements is just laziness. Since the AD/GM isn't likely to tell you who the candidates are, this is where you use your expertise to speculate.

 

It's exactly that. But that's what you have to do in these situations. That's why other than deaths, coaching searches are probably the worst thing a sportswriter ever has to cover on a regular basis.

 

Exactly. Somebody here or there spouts a name and suddenly that name is a "candidate." Do you think Oklahoma interviewed the 64 guys named by the Oklahoman as "candidates." It's bullshit.

 

I've just seen too many "sources close to the program" reports that say so-and-so has been offered and will accept certain jobs.

Case in point: There were reports Anderson to Arkansas was a done deal. Now St. Louis media is reporting he's "close" to signing a contract extension at Mizzou.

 

It doesn't say that at all. It's not like he'd be leaking his short list to a beat guy.

What it does say is that the beat guys were completely unprepared for this to happen. Even though the lists are bullshit, you have to have one. It's the first thing the readership is looking for.

 

How to create a list of possible candidates for a job:
1. Find out where the AD has worked before/cross-reference with "hot coaches."
2. Cross-reference former assistants with "hot coach" list.
3. Cross-reference "hot coach" list with programs within a 300-mile radius.

 

4. Throw in names of small school coaches who have their team in the Sweet 16.

 

Pearl never works again, at least as an HC. Only thing worse than a cheat is a rat cheat.

 

If Dave Bliss can get a job in the CBA and then as a Dean of Students at a prep school in Texas, I think someone will take a chance on Bruce Pearl.

 

If Pearl can't get away with cheating at Tennessee and in the SEC, where the hell else is there for a criminal like him to go?

Oh, Memphis, I suppose.

 

Shaka "Kahn" Smart is looking at millions based on what VCU has done.

And the coaching rumors are also fueled by agents like Jimmy Sexton who leak their clients names as possible hires at openings to media outlets to wrangle extensions and raises out of their current jobs.

It isn't a shocker to learn Sexton is Mike Anderson's agent. Leaking to media is just something Sexton does.

 

Right. Do you think a single Florida paper ever listed Muschamp as a candidate until he was named as the UF coach? Of course not. That doesn't mean you don't make educated guesses at who the candidates could be. Qualify it as such. "This is a list of 10 candidates who the Knoxville News-Sentinel thinks could be possible replacements for Bruce Pearl."

Everytime we had a coach leave, we would have the beat writers and maybe a columnist come up with 10 names who could be the replacement and we'd put betting odds on it.