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

Painter = Gone

Post-Dispatch reporting he is taking the Mizzou job, and Dan Wetzel and Pat Forde have tweeted that:

DanWetzel
Post-Dispatch reporting Matt Painter to Missouri. Incredible get for the Tigers. Huge, unexpected loss for Purdue

espn4d
If Post-Dispatch report is correct and Matt Painter has accepted the job at Missouri, it's a game-changer for both schools.

I don't think this HORRIBLY WEAK rally showing on Painter's behalf by students helped one bit: http://www.wlfi.com/dpp/news/local/Less-than-a-dozen-come-to-Painter-rally

 

Supposedly Purdue will just promote Lusk, Painter's top assistant.

Sounds like par for the course, considering the reasons that Painter left.

 

Sooooo....

Who does Purdue hire?

Edit: Given what's come out about how Purdue treats its coaches, wouldn't Lusk rather go to MU with Painter than put up with dealing with the PU AD?

Or, to put it another way, why take the job if the AD might lose his?

 

Because head coaching jobs in the Big Ten don't come around that often. Think about it from a newspaper standpoint. How many young sports writers would jump at an objectively bad situation just to get in at a metro or onto a major pro or college beat.

 

According to the Daily Oklahoman, Lon Kruger is now at the top of OU's list.

It's not an exciting hire, but the guy is a hell of a coach.

 

Especially if there is talent still there. Lusk would be crazy to leave.

 

He'll have Hummel, Jackson, Byrd, maybe Barlow. Probably still a tourney team. Probably about a 6-7 seed?

 

I mean, not too much talent. Johnson and Moore are done, and Hummel can technically leave with Painter because he has already attained an undergraduate degree. The cupboard is pretty bare.

Not to mention relying on Hummel is like relying on a Miss America pageant winner to run the country. He's got string cheese knees.

 

Would NC State make sense for Smart?

 

I really don't mean this to be a shot at Mizzou, but I can't imagine how fucked-up things must be at Purdue for Painter leave his alma mater, a better-than-average Big Ten school, for that job. And I'd be saying that about just about any job, save the Dukes and UNCs and Kentuckys of the world.

 

Considering what's available, isn't it just about the only good fit/good job left?

 

Now people are saying to hit the brakes on the Painter story, saying it's not a done deal. I'm sure it is; he is probably just going to tell his players. My opinion though.