2014-2015 coaching carousel

[Braves2006]

DePaul Head Coach Oliver Purnell just resigned, thus avoiding his resume' saying "fired".

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/chi-depaul-oliver-purnell-story.html

For what its worth, I am hearing that some candidates for the open jobs at SIUE, UIC, and probably now DePaul as well as other schools looking for a new coach, are unable to interview because their teams are still playing. So don't expect new coaches to be named quickly.

Wonder if Purnell tries for the Bradley job.

[Da Coach]

Names being mentioned for DePaul- Bryce Drew, Tyrone Corbin, and Ben Howland.

IMO, with their move to the ultra-expensive downtown arena coming in a couple years, they will want to go after a big name.

[Vent]

Names being mentioned for DePaul- Bryce Drew, Tyrone Corbin, and Ben Howland.

IMO, with their move to the ultra-expensive downtown arena coming in a couple years, they will want to go after a big name.

I agree.

[Da Coach]

I just read another name that is a favorite among some DePaul fans- Mark Aguirre.
His name came up in 2010, but he did not have a college degree and lacked any coaching experience, so was never considered.

As far as I can find, Aguirre, who is now 55 years old, has apparently worked for an aviation company in Dallas since he retired from playing, and has never coached.
And this article from 1 year ago said he was still working to complete his bachelors degree. I cannot find any update suggesting he has gotten his degree yet.-

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2014-03-04/sports/ct-mark-aguirre-depaul-haugh-spt-0305-20140305_1_depaul-legend-oliver-purnell-former-blue-demons-star

[Da Coach]

For the record, there is no NCAA rule that requires a coach to have a college degree, but virtually every Division I school requires it, and it will be a problem if Aguirre wants to try for the DePaul job.

Some may remember the issue arose a couple years ago when Rutgers hastily hired Eddie Jordan in the wake of the firing of Mike Rice. But it was later discovered Jordan didn't have a degree.

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/05/10/does-a-new-development-mean-more-trouble-for-rutgers-basketball/

And the issue also arose a year ago when South Florida tried to hire Manhattan's Steve Masiello, only to find his resume was not accurate when he claimed to have graduated from Kentucky when, in fact, he did not. Since Manhattan also required him to have a degree, even though he had been coaching there for 3 years, he was not immediately taken back. But eventually Manhattan reinstated him after he completed the necessary credits to finally get his degree.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/10675532/south-florida-bulls-kill-coaching-deal-steve-masiello-lying-resume

[Vent]

I don't think DePaul will hire a 55 year old man with no coaching experience.

[lightsout]

Alabama has fired Anthony Grant.

[Da Coach]

Alabama has just fired Anthony Grant. Grant was one of the hottest up-and-coming young coaches when he brought VCU into national prominence and won the Colonial Conference in 2007, 2008, & 2009. But then he took a big paycheck to take over the Alabama job in 2009, and has not had consistent success. His last 2 seasons have been sub-.500. He is just 48 years old, and should have no trouble findng another job.
Here is his record-

http://www.bbstate.com/teams/ALA/history

Already, Steve Prohm, the highly successful coach at Murray State and an Alabama grad, is being mentioned as a target for the Crimson Tide's next coach.

[Da Coach]

Charlotte Head Coach Alan Major gets fired after 5 seasons.

[Da Coach]

There should be several more firings starting today, now that the conference tournaments are all finished.

Here is the first one- Head Coach Paul Hewitt of George Mason was fired this morning.

http://gmuhoops.co/2015/03/16/paul-hewitt-has-been-fired-at-george-mason/#sthash.oHTj6eCC.dpbs

[tornado]

Illinois leads among states with coaches fired thus far this season (UIC, DePaul, SIUE)



School - Coach fired....
Alabama - Anthony Grant
Charlotte - Alan Major
Citadel - Chuck Dreisell
DePaul - Oliver Purnell
East Tennessee State - Murray Bartow
George Mason - Paul Hewitt
Hawaii - Gib Arnold - Benjy Taylor did a nice job as interim
Holy Cross - Milan Brown
Liberty - Dale Layer
Nevada - David Carter
Northern Kentucky - Dave Bezold
Penn - Jerome Allen - reports that Penn will hie Steve Donahue
San Diego - Bill Grier
SIUE - Lennox Forrester
UIC - Howard Moore
Utah State - Stew Morrill
Utah Valley University - Dick Hunsicker

[Da Coach]

You are right. That makes 4 conference tournaments within a couple miles of each other in the same week in Las Vegas.

Despite the abundance of arenas in Las Vegas, there is another supersized arena under construction just west of the strip.
The Las Vegas Arena will be completed by the fall of 2016, and will seat 20,000 people (18,850 for basketball).

http://arenalasvegas.com/home.aspx

They will try to land a professional basketball or hockey franchise.

[Tommy]

I hope if our next coach is being paid the way we paid Geno, we'll go get an assistant from one of the premier power conferences. I personally would love to see a Big 10 assistant coach (MSU, Wisconsin) headed our way. Great coaches learn from great coaches.

The Green Bay guy's resume looks interesting, but far too short in my opinion.

[Da Coach]

NBCSports.com reports that UIC is pursuing former Oregon State coach Craig Robinson.


And Head Coach Bill Grier is out at San Diego.

[Da Coach]

Another firing-
Northern Kentucky, which is in the 3rd year of a 4-year transition to Division I has fired Dave Bezold.