You want gossip, dirt, dish. You want anything you can get your hands on concerning the upcoming coaching movement sure to be triggered by powerhouse programs like Indiana, Missouri and Cincinnati. You're so predictable.
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| Mike Montgomery is eyeing Indiana's coaching slot -- and sick of dealing with Jack in the NBA. (Getty Images) |
1. Alford vs. Greenspan: This is beautiful: Iowa's Steve Alford, who wants to become Indiana's next coach, once kicked Indiana athletics director Rick Greenspan out of his own gym! OK, maybe "kicked out" is a little harsh, but in the late 1990s when Alford was coaching Southwest Missouri State and Greenspan was the AD at Missouri Valley rival Illinois State, they had a run-in at Redbird Arena, which was having some work done before an SMS-ISU game. Alford wasn't thrilled with having the competing AD in the gym during the Bears' walkthrough, and asked Greenspan to leave. True story.
2. Monty hearts IU: Through various middlemen, former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery has made it clear that he's interested in Indiana if Indiana is interested in him. Montgomery is enduring his second straight losing NBA season at Golden State. For the record, in my book, Montgomery should be the first choice at Indiana. What he did at Stanford (393-167) boggles the mind. Imagine him at Indiana.
3. Huggins, Davis and O.J. Mayo: Bob Huggins and Mike Davis are planning to package themselves with Class of 2007 studs O.J. Mayo and Bill Walker of North College Hill (Ohio) High. Both coaches will put the word out that any school that hires them in 2006 will also be getting Mayo and Walker in 2007. They can't both be right, unless Huggins and Davis plan to be co-coaches somewhere.
4. Huggins to Marshall or South Florida: It won't happen, so stop speculating. Leaders at Marshall are telling boosters the school wants nothing to do with Huggins, a West Virginia alumnus who was pushed out by Cincinnati before this season. And the same is true at South Florida, long rumored as Huggins' next job. USF president Judy Genshaft serves on the American Council of Education with Cincinnati president Nancy Zimpher. Genshaft and Zimpher are friends. Enough said.
5. Trouble in Texas: Two of the state's worst programs, SMU and TCU, are thinking of firing their coaches. Jimmy Tubbs has been at SMU for just two seasons, but SMU soon will have a new athletics director, and SMU basketball is worse now than it was under Mike Dement -- and Dement was fired in 2004. At TCU, fourth-year coach Neil Dougherty has run the Horned Frogs into the ground at 5-23. Both schools have apathy and economic issues. Football controls their budgets, but neither football program makes enough money to buy out one basketball coach and hire another. And the basketball boosters at both schools just don't care anymore.
6. College of Charleston: Tom Herrion hasn't cashed in on the best job in the Southern Conference. Unless they win the SoCon tournament as the No. 4 seed, the Cougars will finish their fourth straight season under Herrion without an NCAA Tournament bid. Popular predecessor John Kresse reached the NCAA Tournament in 1994, '97, '98 and '99. If the Cougars lose their SoCon opener against Chattanooga, they will finish 17-11, continuing their bad direction under Herrion -- whose first three teams won 25, 20 and 18 games. Finally, Herrion's intensity is wearing people out. You can be a lunatic on the sideline, but you better win big. Would Kresse, 62, come out of retirement to coach in the arena that bears his name? Not sure, but let's start that rumor.
7. Pumps as headhunters: Neither Duquesne nor Fairfield has announced plans to fire its coach, but rumors are flying that both schools will do so -- and then hire the ChampSearch headhunter firm run by the Pump brothers. Who are the Pump brothers? Dana and David Pump run the Double Pump youth program in California; are the front men for Adidas' grassroots program; and for years have been the liaison between coaches (and athletics directors and conference commissioners) and a Final Four ticket broker out West. Here's a tip for the people in charge at Duquesne and Fairfield: If it's true that you're considering firing Danny Nee and Tim O'Toole and using ChampSearch to find your next coach ... someone somewhere has a big mouth. Think about it.
8. Dollar for Idaho's thoughts: If Idaho fires fifth-year coach Leonard Perry -- he's 4-22 this year, 48-94 overall -- Washington Huskies assistant Cameron Dollar would love to have that job.
9. Idaho State thinking small: The good ol' boy network is alive and well at Idaho State, where AD Paul Bubb already has pushed out Doug Oliver and is considering bringing in one of his long-ago cronies from Macomb, Ill: Matt Margenthaler, the coach at Division II Minnesota State. Word of warning to Margenthaler or whoever takes this job: Sources all over college basketball say Bubb's no peach.
10. Final flurry: Remember Memphis assistant Tony Barbee, a monster recruiter and Indianapolis native, if jobs open at Ball State or Indiana State. ... The pecking order at Missouri is Dana Altman, Rick Majerus and then Plan C. ... The NCAA is looking into the Chicago State athletic department three years after finding major violations by the women's basketball program. Two Mid-Continent men's basketball teams told SportsLine.com they've been advised to find non-conference replacements for 2006-07 in case Chicago State gets a department-wide death penalty, which would be the first since SMU football in 1987.
