Last season's coaching turnover was bizarre because of its magnitude, with jobs opening at UCLA, North Carolina, Kansas, Pittsburgh and Illinois.
This year's turnover is bizarre because it's ... bizarre.
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Larry Eustachy is back in coaching after a year off getting treatment for alcoholism. (Getty Images) |
Southern Miss is set to hire recovering alcoholic Larry Eustachy. Houston already has hired recovering burnout Tom Penders, while UNLV hired recovering NBA flop Lon Kruger.
Meanwhile, two coaches in the college basketball sanctuary of Indiana -- Purdue's Gene Keady and Indiana's Mike Davis -- are candidates at ... San Francisco and Auburn?
Hopefully neither God nor Billy Packer will strike us down for even thinking this, but is this season's coaching turnover even more fascinating than this season's NCAA Tournament?
Last season's turnover was cool in a corporate way. UCLA, North Carolina and Kansas made untouchable hires in Ben Howland, Roy Williams and Bill Self. Pittsburgh promoted Howland's top assistant, Jamie Dixon, while Illinois hired Southern Illinois' Bruce Weber. Solid hires, rock solid.
The hirings being discussed now are more like cream of wheat.
Not that cream of wheat is a bad thing. Tastes good. Try some. But it'll slip right through your fingers, as could the careers of the athletic directors making these decisions -- if any of these hires start running bad.
Promote a Jamie Dixon, and you're bulletproof. You're giving an opportunity to a seasoned assistant -- Dean Smith once was an assistant coach, you know -- and it's up to him to pass or fail.
Reach into the discard pile for Eustachy or Penders or even Kruger, and you are stapling your career to someone else's shoulders.
Eustachy has averaged 20 victories over 13 seasons, but he was forced to resign by Iowa State last year after being caught partying with college kids. The program had other off-court issues as well, from players being charged with alcohol-related offenses to an assistant being charged with possessing child pornography on a campus computer. Eustachy's final plea for mercy, saying he was an alcoholic and would seek treatment, wasn't enough for Iowa State administrators.
Penders has turned around programs everywhere he has been, including Texas and Rhode Island, but he was forced out at Texas amid reports of a player mutiny, and he left George Washington citing burnout. Those were his last two jobs.
San Francisco would be making an equally risky hire if it lands Keady, who turns 68 in May and has an unforgivable comb-over that won't play in the country's most hip city. Plus, after two decades of success, his program at Purdue has stalled. The Boilermakers have had one NCAA Tournament appearance in four seasons despite struggles at some of the biggest basketball traditions in the Big Ten: Indiana, Michigan, Ohio State, Minnesota and Iowa.
It's no surprise that Keady's eye has started to wander. In November he told SportsLine.com that he wasn't pleased not to have a contract extension, and he said he might just leave to coach "somewhere warm." If it happens, look for Purdue to make a run at alumni Kevin Stallings of Vanderbilt and Matt Painter of Southern Illinois, with Illinois assistant Jay Price also on the list -- perhaps in bold print if the Illini reach the Final Four.
Mike Davis has reason to look around, too. Indiana's administration has shown him as much support as it can, but fan support is crucial at a place like Indiana, and Davis' cup isn't exactly overflowing. If Auburn wanted to talk to him, Davis, an Alabama native who calls influential ex-Auburn star Charles Barkley a friend, surely would listen.
Leaving Indiana for Auburn would be awfully weird, but would it be any weirder than St. John's replacing Mike Jarvis with Chris Mullin? That's another possibility in a season marked by schools and coaches thinking outside the box, which is fine as long as the box doesn't topple over and crush somebody.
