03-14-2024, 08:59 PM
Wish list time:
THE FANTASY: Jay Wright: Gotta shoot your shot at something that would change the university for the better
THE DREAM: Tons of power coaches I'd be thrilled to have. I won't list them but basically if you coach in the SEC or Big 10 I'd love to have you. Some very impressive resumes. And plenty of attractive ones in the other power conferences too. I would be pleasantly surprised if Stanford shops in this part of the market. If I'm Muir though I'm putting feelers out to Chris Collins (how much of a power job is Northwestern anyway?) and some others.
1) Randy Bennett: Realize there are reasons it won't happen but the track record speaks for itself
2) Brian Dutcher: Too bad about that extension but I still will hope against hope we back up the truck for the buyout
3) Anthony Grant: Worthy of a return to a power conference now taking Dayton to better heights than he could at Alabama
4) Steve Alford: Wins everywhere, can't believe he doesn't have a power job
5) Dusty May: Yeah, yeah, I know, I and everybody else want him
6) Josh Schertz: Rocket ship three year trajectory at Indiana State
7) Kyle Smith: About as impressive as can be with so little tournament resume to show for it
8) Pat Kelsey: Taking Winthrop and Charleston each to multiple tournaments is a good sign
9) Bryce Drew: Didn't work out at Vandy but track record at Valparaiso and Grand Canyon shows he can coach
10) Amir Abdur-Rahim: Never has somebody had so much buzz after two winning seasons in five years but he took Kennesaw State from the gutter and then a great first year at South Florida
11) John Becker: Vermont is a perennial conference champion and tournament mainstay
12) Andy Kennedy: Honestly could get behind going back to the UAB well given how much better Kennedy did there than Haase and how much better he did at Ole Miss than Haase did at Stanford
13) Frank Martin: Didn't work out in the SEC but has turned around one power program and turned in an impressive year at UMass this year by their standards
14) Darian Devries: Drake to the tournament in three of the last four years is impressive
15) Niko Medved: Has had Colorado State pretty good two of the last three years
16) Brian Wardle: Solid turnarounds at Green Bay and Bradley
17) Drew Valentine: 32 year old has taken Loyola Chicago to a tournament one year and a regular season conference championship in another in three years, coach of the future
18) Bucky McMillan: Awesome trajectory and program building at Samford
19) Chris Holtmann: I'm not afraid of sloppy seconds in basketball and taking two power conference programs to seven tournaments in ten years isn't bad
20) Mitch Henderson: This year could be the third tournament in seven years at Princeton
21) Matt Langel: Turning Colgate into a perennial tournament team is awesome
22) James Jones: Solid handful of years taking Yale to power conference quality play
23) Leon Rice: If he can take Boise State dancing a third of the time I think he could do alright
24) Danny Sprinkle: Would be a Haase-esque hire (not an insult but also not risk-free)
25) Mark Madsen: We've talked about him a bit
26) Richard Pitino: Modestly successful at Minnesota and now building up New Mexico
27) Steve Lavin: It would be amusing and better than where we've been
28) Herb Sendek: Could do worse
29) Alan Huss: I know I am going crazy obscure here but in his first year as a head coach he just had the best season in High Point history and won Big South COY so I think he may have learned something at Creighton
30) John Groce: Got stuck in NIT-land at Illinois but tourney appearances at Ohio, Illinois, and Akron show some chops
31) Russell Turner: Not the biggest fan but I think would be an improvement
32) Chris Mooney: Hate the inconsistency but Richmond has had some good teams
33) Dustin Kerns: Sun Belt COY delivered a very nice year for Appalachian State
34) David Riley: 35 year old has turned in back-to-back Big Sky regular season championships, not yet a power resume but potentially the coach of the future
35) Mark Byington: Excellent trajectory at James Madison but rest of resume is only ok to me
36) Preston Spradlin: Pretty impressed by making the tournament two of the last four years for Morehead State
37) Brian Earl: Has turned Cornell around but not to a level I think justifies a power job
38) Chris Gerlufsen: Tough act to follow in San Francisco and so far been respectable but not proven yet
If I were making a top 50 interspersed throughout would be some guys without current head coaching jobs, including some guys who have never been head coaches. As I showed earlier in the thread, that can be a viable route. It is not crazy to think that Mitch Johnson or Jarron Collins or somebody with no ties to Stanford but a pedigree working for a great coach. But I didn't want to tax my brain further and figure this is enough grist for the mill.
Between current power coaches and guys I've named above (I start getting a bit less excited somewhere around 20 on my list above), about 50 people I'd be thrilled to hear Muir announce. Hope it's one of them!