2014-2015 coaching carousel

[tornado]

Steve Donahue hired by Penn - not a lot of activity otherwise...
UNLV head coach Dave Rice was on the hot seat but now supposedly safe for next year.

Also - a Chicago Trib story about DePaul search -
The names mentioned have all been mentioned here -

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/columnists/ct-haugh-depaul-spt-0317-20150316-column.html

School - Coach fired....
Alabama - Anthony Grant
Charlotte - Alan Major
Citadel - Chuck Dreisell
DePaul - Oliver Purnell
East Tennessee State - Murray Bartow
Fordham - Tom Pecora
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 -hire Steve Donahue
San Diego - Bill Grier
SIUE - Lennox Forrester
UIC - Howard Moore
Utah State - Stew Morrill
Utah Valley University - Dick Hunsicker



Note Fordham just let Tom Pecora go

[tornado]

Holy Cross to name former Northwestern head coach
Bill Carmody as their new coach






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

[tornado]

UIC Is interviewing ex-Oregon State head coach, and brother-in-law to the President, Craig Robinson.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2015/03/19/sources-uic-interviews-craig-robinson-steve-mcclain/

But is that a wise move?? - there are reports that Robinson left his last spot in horrible shape..."in shambles"..
In fact, this story of how Robinson ran Oregon State into the ground while the school kept giving him "one more season to turn it around"....that led to the attendance declining to as little as 1,300...
This story made me feel like we have just barely avoided a similar disaster with the moves we've seen at BU over the past few weeks.

http://freebeacon.com/culture/michelle-obamas-brother-left-oregon-states-ncaa-basketball-program-in-shambles/

[tornado]

UALR head coach Steve Shields is fired

[tornado]

any speculation about Penn State coach Pat Chambers, who was entering the final years of his contract,
... is ended - he was given a 2-year extension despite a mediocre record of 16-15 at the end of the regular season plus surprisingly winning two games in the Big Ten Tourney.

[Da Coach]

In a bit of a surprise, it is being reported by a couple sites that UIC has hired Indiana University assistant coach Steve McClain.

[Da Coach]

ESPN's Jeff Goodman reports that DePaul is considering Tyrone Corbin, Ben Howland, and Bryce Drew, and one surprise name- D-2 coach Linc Darner.
He is a highly successful head coach at a Division II school Florida Southern.
Maybe Bradley should be looking at this guy-

http://fscmocs.com/sports/mbkb/2014-15/bios/Darner_Linc

[tornado]

They interviewed both McClain & Craig Brown and hired McClain - and if you read the guy's bio you have to be impressed...

Steve McClain has been in the coaching business for 3 and a half decades and has been successful at many levels.
I think it is a good choice except for perhaps one factor...
Despite his immense & lengthy list of jobs and accomplishments - you are still left wondering what his connections in Chicago are...
He appears to have very little on record as Chicago ties...so his work is cut out for him.

[tornado]

Now - the 3rd major conference school cans their head basketball coach..
Rick Ray fired by Mississippi State - leaving all midmajors to this point plus Miss. State, Alabama, & DePaul




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

[Da Coach]

Mississippi State fires Head Coach Rick Ray

http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/03/21/mississippi-state-fires-head-coach-rick-ray-after-three-seasons/

[Da Coach]

Mississippi State fires Head Coach Rick Ray
http://collegebasketballtalk.nbcspor...three-seasons/

Rick Ray was an up-and-coming young coaching star when he was hired by Mississippi State 3 years ago. He took over a program from Rick Stansbury, who had not had a losing season in 12 years, and averaged 22 wins per year over that span. But, Mississippi State fans and administration were not satisfied. They thought they could do better. But the Rick Ray experiment was a disaster. All 3 seasons he was at Mississippi were far worse than the worst season Rick Stansbury ever had. Ray averaged 20 losses per season. No other coach at MSU ever lost 20 games since way back in the 1986-87 season, and the 3 worst RPI's that Mississippi State has recorded in the last 25 years have all been in these last 3 seasons under Ray. They went from being a consistent winning team and SEC contender with frequent post-season appearances, to one of the worst teams in the SEC, all because a few fans and the administration thought they could do better.

Season.........Team.............Overall....SEC Conf......Standing.....RPI..Postseason
2012??“13...Mississippi State...10??“22.........4??“14..........T??“12th.. ...228....None
2013??“14...Mississippi State...14??“19.........3??“15...........14th .......237....None
2014??“15...Mississippi State...13??“19.........6??“12..........T??“11th.. ...207....None

Mississippi State record for last 36 years-

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

[tornado]

Geno was on WMBD this morning - anyone hear the conversation?

https://twitter.com/1470WMBD/status/580000871938936832

Ex-UCLA & ex-Pitt head coach Ben Howland will be hired at Mississippi State




School - Coach fired....
Alabama - Anthony Grant
Bradley - Geno Ford
Charlotte - Alan Major
Citadel - Chuck Dreisell
DePaul - Oliver Purnell
East Tennessee State - Murray Bartow
Fordham - Tom Pecora
George Mason - Paul Hewitt
Hawaii - Gib Arnold - Benjy Taylor did a nice job as interim
Holy Cross - Milan Brown - will hire Bill Carmody
Kennesaw State - Jimmy Lallathin
Liberty - Dale Layer
Mississippi State - Rick Ray - Ben Howalnd hired
Nevada - David Carter
Northern Kentucky - Dave Bezold
Penn - Jerome Allen -hire Steve Donahue
San Diego - Bill Grier
SEMO - Dickey Nutt
SIUE - Lennox Forrester
UALR - Steve Shields
UIC - Howard Moore - hires Steve McClain
Utah State - Stew Morrill
Utah Valley University - Dick Hunsicker



wow - things are really moving fast in some places - and here as well - indicating just perhaps some of these plans were already being pursued
and finalized even before the firings were made final.

However - the volume of jobs opening up is down - by this time last year & in 2012 - almost 30 head coaching positions were open and needed filling...
this year - just 21 so far with just 3 being prime spots in the major conferences

[Da Coach]

Bryce Drew ends any speculation about the open DePaul job and says he plans to remain at Valparaiso-

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/basketball/college/valparaiso-coach-expects-everyone-himself-included-to-return-next-season/article_87cae189-e19c-50d2-b995-ba83cfb09fc2.html

Also- reports suggest Alabama is set on pursuing Gregg Marshall when Wichita State's season ends.

Mississippi State hires Ben Howland- he is an Adidas paid consultant, and Miss. State is an Adidas school. That supposedly played a part in his choice (he would have lost his lucrative Adidas money if he had gone to a non-Adidas school).

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2015/03/ben_howland_expected_to_accept.html

And here is one for the "hard to believe" file- DePaul has reportedly had contact with Dave Leitao to see if he would have interest in returning to DePaul as head coach.

[Da Coach]

Southeast Missouri just fired Head Coach Dickie Nutt after 6 seasons. He never had a winning record in the OVC, and never had an RPI better than 221 (284 this season).

[lefty]

Also- reports suggest Alabama is set on pursuing Gregg Marshall when Wichita State's season ends.

I can't believe this would ever happen...