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

I would ordinarily be in the GTFO RIGHT NAO camp regarding Smart, but this crop of jobs isn't all that great. N.C. State's the best (presuming Painter is gone to Missouri and Lusk is promoted at Purdue), but they're always running third in a three-horse race with a fanbase and boosters that have Triple Crown expectations. Oklahoma's a mess, Utah has history but were bad in the MWC and will be worse in the short-term in the Pac-12, and the next level of jobs down aren't a major jump up from VCU, with the exception of UNLV if Kruger is leaving.

Otherwise, Smart might be better off pulling an Andrew Luck and coming back for another season, then seeing what's available then. Expectations for VCU won't be great with so many seniors in prominent positions, but they'll still at the mininum be a top-six team in the CAA, and that's enough to let him remain a viable candidate. Better to wait for the right job than take OU or Utah in a frenzy of panic buying.

 

A couple of relatively-who-cares jobs. Michael White is the new guy at Louisiana Tech and UC Davis is looking for a coach now. A couple of interesting stepping stone jobs. Surprised Tech would hire a guy off an Ole Miss staff that has had little real success.

 

It would be interesting to see what Smart can do at VCU if he goes the Few route. There are some good high school players in Virginia, and traditionally a lot of them leave the state. All of the sudden VCU can sell recruits on the fact that you can go there and it's possible to 1.) play your way into becoming an NBA Draft pick ala Maynor and Sanders, 2.) beat programs such as Duke, Kansas and Georgetown in the NCAA Tournament and play your way into a Final Four, 3.) play in a nice arena that will be packed, 4.) live in a nice, urban campus environment, 5.) be the biggest deal in town sports-wise.

 

Lusk had been mentioned as a possible replacement for Martin at Missouri State.

 

I could be wrong, but it just seems like the margin for error would be ridiculously small for him. Miss on a kid or two, or have bigger schools start poaching kids you're going after, and you could be in a pickle in a hurry.

Maybe it's my EAST COAST BIAS, but wouldn't it be easier for Few to do his thing at Gonzaga, where there are fewer kickass programs closeby that you're fighting?

 

Sounds as if Larry Shyatt is returning to Wyoming, according to the Cassper Star-Tribune. Solid hire for a rebuilding program with a lot of history.

http://trib.com/sports/article_b16cd574-5b00-11e0-9d8e-001cc4c03286.html

 

Yowza -- Matt Painter pulling a U-turn?

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=6274057

Matt Painter has turned down Missouri and will remain coach of the Purdue men's basketball team, a source with knowledge of the situation tells ESPN.com's Andy Katz.

 

Was just about to post that. Not sure why it would come as a surprise. 'd have been scared shitless to report he was leaving for Mizzou.

 

Is that a U-turn, or just turning them down? I'd say it's just a U-turn for those outlets (hello, Post-Dispatch!) who were wrong in what they were reporting ...

 

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Missouri is going to hire Smart and it's going to be a disaster.

 

There's been a lot of bad ino coming out of Missouri. Hell, Katz even reported at one point that Anderson was staying. Katz is as good as they get when it comes to college hoops.

 

True ... however, Bernie Miklasz at P-D did report that Painter had called with his acceptance this morning, and Kim English apparently heard it from within the athletic dept because he tweeted in celebration. Seemed like it had moved beyond the speculative stage.