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

Kerry Rupp, who was supposedly Karl Malone's hand-picked guy at Louisiana Tech, got fired today.

 

He called your wife a beard? That's uncool...

 

Sam Mellinger of the KC Star with a spot-on take here:

http://www.kansascity.com/2011/03/23/2748700/missouri-should-land-a-quality.html

 

Hoo boy, did I ever love that Wyoming/Gonzaga tourney game in '02. Zags get rightfully seeded lower than they wanted, Few and his stenographers cry and moan for a half-week to anyone who'd listen, team shows up to The Pit and gets its junk stomped in by friggin Wyoming. Beautiful.

 

"Anderson spent five mostly eh seasons in charge of what could be one of the best 20 programs in the country"

Could be. Never really has been, for whatever reason.

"The Razorbacks are paying for a shiny Lexus and getting a perfectly adequate Honda."

Thanks for reading SportsJournalists.com, Sam.

 

I don't blame Missouri for not paying crazy money to keep Anderson.

I also don't blame Anderson for a second for leaving.

It's his dream job and Arkansas is in position to win right away. It's not like Oklahoma, which needs serious rebuilding.

 

It was the line near the top 20 program one, about how his performance on a scale of 1-10 was about a six, yet he was paid like a 9, that rang true.

Ultimately Anderson was overpaid at MU for the way he put out the fires of scandal more than what he did on the floor.

 

Enormous difference in Smart's situation vs. Grant's:

Grant had Maynor coming back for his senior year, plus a recruting class (the guys who are seniors now on VCU's Sweet 16 team and Larry Sanders) that was considered one of the nation's top mid-major classes.

VCU was expected to be very, very good again -- and was, winning the CAA by 3 games in 2008 -- so Grant didn't have to worry about falling too far off the radar.

By contrast, Smart is losing four seniors, including his starting PG, and has little veteran experience to back them up. If VCU finishes fourth or fifth in the CAA as it has in Smart's first two years, and takes a couple years to get back to the tournament as his freshmen and sophomores mature, Smart will cool considerably in the eyes of the ADs who are in lust with him right now.

Oh, and don't forget that even though he had a superstar returning in Maynor, Grant very nearly did leave VCU after the 07 victory over Duke. If Billy D hadn't backed out on the Magic, Grant was signed, sealed and all but delivered as his successor at Florida. So leaving after year 1 isn't exactly unprecedented.

Unless Smart has absolutely no interest in being a head coach at a Power-6 school, he needs to cash in on this run -- especially if VCU makes it to the Elite 8 or beyond. No way he's doing any better than that at VCU, which would mean the rest of his tenure would be spent trying to live up to impossible expectations while trying to repeat a once-in-a-lifetime accomplishment.

 

Which job is better South Carolina or Tennessee?

I guess my initial reaction is that South Carolina might be the better program, even though Tennessee has had more success in recent years.

 

Tennessee gets the better players, but their AD is kind of a nut (or at least looks like one when you think of the Kiffin, Pearl situations).

 

The Tennessee alumni, administration and fan base seem nuttier than average, the kind that should be avoided if possible. Not a lot of self-realization of where they truly sit in the SEC or national pecking order.