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

Or does it mean the opposite? If Painter went to Missouri, Martin would have been the no-brainer pick for Purdue. Do Painter and Martin communicate enough so that Martin knows the Purdue job won't be opening, and he jumps at Tennessee when it is offered?

Or is there no communication, and Martin goes to Tennessee, Painter goes to Missouri (which still sounds like it's building momentum headed in that direction), and Purdue goes for Stevens/Smart? Could Alford ever be embraced as the coach at Purdue?

In any case, these schools like Oklahoma, Utah, Georgia Tech and NC State are seeing the pool of "name" candidates shrinking by the hour.

 

I still have a hard time believing a Purdue guy is going to leave Purdue for Mizzou. Not meant to be a shot at Mizzou. Just hard to believe.

 

Matt Painter sees that Missouri is happy to play the dupe in a coach's negotiations with another school. He will get a big fat raise in West Lafayette.

 

That's Princeton smart. Great school, solid league, nice paycheck, good facilities, reasonable expectations.

Don't mess with happy.

 

Alford to Purdue would be awesome on so many levels, none of them good for the Boilermakers.

 

Brian Gregory is expected to take the GT job, according to Jeff Goodman:

http://jeffgoodman.yardbarker.com/blog/jeffgoodman/sources_daytons_gregory_expected_to_replace_hewitt_at_georgia_tech/4457606

Mildly surprising, since Dayton fans (at least the ones on message boards, so take with a grain of salt) aren't real pleased with the job he's done there. Didn't make the tournament this year, made the NIT last year.

 

Why on Earth did Geno Ford leave Kent State for Bradley? How much did Bradley give him?

 

This.

Missouri and Purdue are both on the wrong end of an historic rivalry. Except the Boilermakers have gotten the best of the Hoosiers with regularity over the years. And I would guess that Purdue doesn't have a bunch of banners hanging to acknowledge "NCAA Tournament Appearance."

Painter should stay put. But it would be amusing to see Missouri throw Desperation Money at him.

 

Wow. Amazing to see how far Georgia Tech has fallen. From an ACC power to hiring a guy 95 percent of folks couldn't pick out of a lineup.

 

I would almost have taken Craig Neal over Brian Gregory, given Neal is a Georgia Tech alum and has done solid work as Alford's bag-man for several seasons.

The continued winning of Butler and VCU is putting some of these name schools in a bad spot. Do they wait and bank on getting Stevens or Smart, and possibly get left out on any of the semi-decent names left in a very blah pool of candidates remaining? Or do they hire someone from that blah pool now and get it over with, then watch as another school is able to land Stevens or Smart?

I'm guessing Martin and Gregory are only the start of a rush of hires that are thoroughly uninspiring.

 

I realize I am arguing against myself here, just one of the perils of being on a message board ... but I'm told that the Purdue board, which had the Martin/Tennessee story nailed earlier today, is now saying Painter to Mizzou is a done deal at 7 yrs/$14M. Still won't believe it until I see the press conference, especially because Anderson was said to be a done deal at 5 yrs/$10M.

 

Would Stevens even be interested in any of these jobs? Unless he bombs next year, I think his cache is so high that he could wait for a really plum job to open up, or simply reap the benefits of the Butler job. How much revenue is he bringing to that school right now? Probably a ton, and I imagine he will probably get some really lucrative bonuses and incentives for doing so.

I think to lure him out of Butler, you'd either have to floor him with a ridiculous contract, or it would have to be one of the Top 10 jobs in college basketball opening up - UNC, Duke, UConn, that kind of level.