Georgia Tech’s coaching search: Won’t be much longer, folks
Gregg Marshall in his Winthrop days. I'm guessing he's high on Radakovich's list. (AP photo)
Perhaps you have questions about Georgia Tech’s coaching vacancy. You’re not alone. I do, too. The man who could answer them all — athletic director Dan Radakovich — isn’t talking, but in his stead I’ll offer what I know and what I’ve been given reason to believe. And, as a bonus, even a wild guess.
What’s taking so long?
Paul Hewitt was fired nearly two weeks ago. If Tech hasn’t interviewed anyone — and as of Wednesday morning, it hadn’t — it hasn’t been to heighten the drama. Most of the coaches in whom Tech has interest have teams still playing, which would only make sense. Wouldn’t want to hire someone whose team didn’t reach the postseason, would you?
When will interviews begin?
As soon as those coaches’ teams lose.
Does Tech have a short list? Is there a leading candidate?
Yes to the first. And if there’s a leading candidate, he hasn’t been identified by any outsider in position to know. Though it seems fair to guess that Chris Mooney of Richmond and Gregg Marshall of Wichita State — both of whose teams were still alive as of Wednesday – are obvious top-of-the-list possibilities, with Tommy Amaker of Harvard, Shaka Smart of VCU and Chris Mack of Xavier mixed in.
Why didn’t you include Brad Stevens of Butler?
He could have his pick of almost any job almost any year. There’s no guarantee he’ll ever leave Butler, and if he does there’s no reason to think Tech will be the destination.
What about Mark Price? What about Craig Neal? What about Kenny Anderson?
Tech has to know those distinguished alums have expressed interest in the job, and there would seem no percentage in not making some sort of contact with each. That said, it’s difficult to conceive of a scenario in which Radakovich’s first look wouldn’t be at candidates who are head coaches.
Is money a factor for Tech?
It is. Hewitt made $1.3 million; in hiring his successor, the Institute can’t go much above that. (Anthony Grant, by way of contrast, is making $1.8 million at Alabama. The big football schools can also afford to spend on basketball.) A key reason to focus on mid-major coaches is that they’re more apt to fall in Tech’s price range.
Will the searches of North Carolina State/Oklahoma/Missouri/Tennessee squeeze Tech?
All four will aim higher than a mid-major coach. (As did Arkansas, which just lured Mike Anderson from Missouri.) Rumored targets at N.C. State include Pitt’s Jamie Dixon and Arizona’s Sean Miller; Buzz Williams of Marquette is thought to be on Oklahoma’s list. Tennessee is looking to make a splash in finding Bruce Pearl’s replacement — AD Mike Hamilton has his own job to save — but might not be as attractive as Tech. The Vols, as you’ve heard, have NCAA issues.
Some have questioned whether Tech is a good job. Is there reason to believe no worthwhile candidate will say yes?
It’s in the ACC. It’s in the capital of a state that produces a ton of basketball talent. It can pay more than a million dollars a year, and in 2012 it will open a refurbished arena. More than a few accomplished mid-major coaches would take a charge from Shaquille O’Neal for the chance to work here.
Does Radakovich know what he’s doing?
Let’s recall his admission that he’d reached the decision to fire Hewitt three weeks before doing it. Does anyone think those three weeks were spent not mulling replacements? Let’s note that Radakovich made the considered decision not to employ Parker Executive Search, the Atlanta-based firm that does almost everyone’s coach-hunting now (including N.C. State’s and Georgia State’s), but to seek the counsel of Eddie Fogler, a former coach and a basketball lifer. Let’s also note that D-Rad’s first big hire — Parker Search assisted in that process, FYI — was Paul Johnson, and two years later the Jackets were playing in the Orange Bowl.
Radakovich has said he wants a coach in place by the Final Four, which convenes April 1 in Houston. Why?
Three reasons. First, it has become difficult for a high-profile AD to interview coaches in a city overrun by coaches — their annual convention is held concurrent with the Final Four — and media. Second, the convention would give the new Tech coach a chance to hire his staff, should the need occur. Third, Tech would like to take advantage of that media glut to get a little buzz going regarding its new man.
When should we expect D-Rad to have his man?
By this time next week, give or take a day.
Last question: Who will it be?
Just guessing, I’d say Mooney or Marshall. Just guessing, you hear?
By Mark Bradley
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382 comments Add your comment
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
3:01 pm
Paul in RDU, you mentioned Jason Morris earlier, implying (I thought) that he was from the Atlanta area. He is supposedly from Augusta, although I never heard of him till he got to Tech. I think he went to some school in Connecticut even though he is listed as being from Augusta.
GT Dude
March 23rd, 2011
3:02 pm
Which Richmond school that is…
ANTOINEFORD
March 23rd, 2011
3:02 pm
Price was such an excellent assistant at Tech that he went 5-11 in the ACC that year and managed to get Cremins fired. The next season he found himself working as an assistant for a high school team. This year, he’ll be lucky to find a head coaching job in a church league.
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:02 pm
Having to be relatively frugal isn’t the worst thing.
The Mets managed to throw 36 million away on Oliver Perez.
This year he doesn’t even have to go through the motions to get 12 million.
Delbert D.
March 23rd, 2011
3:02 pm
Tech Forever – I surrender, unconditionally. I have to hobble over to the first aid cabinet and tend to my foot.
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:04 pm
The Connecticut high school is a private school, I’m fairly sure.
Tech Forever
March 23rd, 2011
3:05 pm
WnE
I’m not going to say you’re wrong, but Bosh was projected as the 1st or 2nd pick coming out of high school depending if Ming was going to get selected. And Young was projected as the 3rd pick coming out of high school had he been allowed to go into the draft.
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:05 pm
Both Morris and Holsey are leapers.
Both made dunks where I didn’t think they could close the distance.
They did.
Maybe I had not had such good seats before.
Tech Forever
March 23rd, 2011
3:06 pm
Delbert D.
That’s funny. I literally just smashed my pinky toe on the foot of the couch walking through the room so I think I’ll join ya.
gdawginkalamazoo
March 23rd, 2011
3:06 pm
“Larry Brown: He’d help stability. He’d leave in 2 1/2 weeks”
LMAO Mark. He left Detroit and took 25% of the population with him.
Paul in RDU
March 23rd, 2011
3:06 pm
Delbert,
I agree that Duke and UNC do pretty well with their 3 and 4 year players, and that GT needs to get good players who will last several years in the program (ala Shumpert) but I see nothing wrong with an occasional 1 and done. It drives me crazy when I see bloggers proclaim that Duke (and to a lesser extent UNC) don’t recruit early entrants to the NCAA – they do.
If you look at UNC’s starting lineup, they have a JR, 2 SOs and 2 FRs – if you are good enough, you are old enough
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:07 pm
Antoine you’re funny but the Price backers won’t think so.
mountain_jim
March 23rd, 2011
3:07 pm
Since some here seem to think they have the inside ’scoop’ and its Mooney, tell me about this coach. I have yet to see Richmond play. What kind of schemes does he use? What style of play?
What makes him a good choice? (Besides being able to win in Richmond)
Paul in RDU
March 23rd, 2011
3:08 pm
Supersize,
Morris went to a prep school in CT before enrolling at GT. I tought he was originally from the Atlanta area?
Paul in RDU
March 23rd, 2011
3:09 pm
“tought” = thought
I managed to get a compressed ulnar nerve and my typing is horrible while it heals
MiamiJacket
March 23rd, 2011
3:09 pm
If we give the next coach another $7 million buyout we might be able to get Kzyzewski or Roy Williams. Just a thought.
Tech Forever
March 23rd, 2011
3:09 pm
Delbert D.
March 23rd, 2011
2:59 pm
Paul – Duke and UNC do pretty well with their 3 and 4-year guys. That’s what I’d like to see at Georgia Tech.
A-MEN!!!!! Coaches who openly ONLY recruit 3 a dn 4 year guys are coming out of the woodwork. Turgeon at A&M has been adament about it and Self at Kansas has made comments about it too.
sk
March 23rd, 2011
3:09 pm
The comment earlier (pg 2 I think) calling Dixon an underachiever is completely crazy. So Hewitt was a better coach because Tech made it to a Final 2 once??!!
Jamie Dixon is a great coach – his teams have lacked top end talent … that is why they have lost in the postseason (think of the two Tubby Kentucky teams that demolished the SEC then lost in the tournament) … In the postseason, when benches matter less and the stars play more – the team that has the best player on the floor always has an edge (as long as the other players are not woefully mismatched). That said, can Pittsburgh truly land top end talent and compete on the same recruiting ballpark as UNC, Kansas etc? Absolutely not, and no coach running a halfway clean program can at a place like Pitt.
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:10 pm
If we had to have a Tech guy, I’d rather have Neal.
He is at least laying the ground work to get a head coaching job.
Price’s jobs are more like a hobby.
Like someone who already has enough money.
Tech Forever
March 23rd, 2011
3:10 pm
mountain_jim
Best question posted and I’ve been waiting for an answer for a couple of days. I like Mooney, and he may be the right guy for Tech, but I don’t see a whole lot there right now that would convince me of that over some of the other potentials.
gdawginkalamazoo
March 23rd, 2011
3:11 pm
Jackets2011, I saw that article on the Mets. Holy cow are they a mess. I think they will be paying Bobby Bonilla until the day he dies.
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:12 pm
Morris, Holsey, Miller and Miller all look to be 4 year players.
sk
March 23rd, 2011
3:12 pm
Can’t blame coaches for recruiting one year guys. Nature of the system – and all kids (basketball players, computer engineers, whomever) should be using college to get better jobs. The problem was not Hewitt recruiting Thaddeus Young or Derrick Favors – it was having no backup plan … everybody knew Favors was not staying here longer than a year – nor should he have. Hewitt did a lousy job 1. developing the guys when they were here and 2. keeping the pipeline going.
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:13 pm
Some coaches are overrated because they managed to take over teams loaded with seniors.
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:14 pm
2nd Miller should have been Hicks.
Tech Forever
March 23rd, 2011
3:15 pm
sk
That is your opinion/position on why Dixon has underachieved in the post-season. I don’t have one. all i can do is go by the numbers. And the numbers say that with an average seed of 3.6 he should have at least 15 NCAA Tournament wins. He has only 11. I’ll add that he absolutely got outcoached in two of his 8 losses and lost to a 13 seed in another.
I’m not saying Jamie dixon isn’t a great coach. He is and whever he lands after Pitt they will win a lot of games and win some conference championships, but history is proving they’ll also underachieve in the NCAAs.
Paul in RDU
March 23rd, 2011
3:15 pm
Jackets 2011
Since Maurice Miller was playing as a SR in 2010-11 he already is a 4 year player.
I agree with you about Daniel Miller and Holsey. I think Morris has some good talent and if he develops could go out after 3.
Tech Forever
March 23rd, 2011
3:17 pm
sk
March 23rd, 2011
3:12 pm
Can’t blame coaches for recruiting one year guys. Nature of the system – and all kids (basketball players, computer engineers, whomever) should be using college to get better jobs. The problem was not Hewitt recruiting Thaddeus Young or Derrick Favors – it was having no backup plan … everybody knew Favors was not staying here longer than a year – nor should he have. Hewitt did a lousy job 1. developing the guys when they were here and 2. keeping the pipeline going.
I agree. But if a coach doesn’t have a backup plan you most certainly can and should blame him for recruiting one-and-dones. No back-up plan = don’t recruit those players
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:17 pm
At some point, Tech will try to improve Hewitt’s image.
I really wish for his sake he had left after 2004.
Then we’d have loved him even if he flopped at the next job like we do Ross.
Point being Tech likes the coaches who left early more than the ones who stayed late (Cremins and Hewitt).
sk
March 23rd, 2011
3:17 pm
mountain_jim – Mooney runs a Princeton-ish system. It has a lot of the main staples (the big men making reads, the back doors) but has more freedom for the guards to create … something in the neighborhood of what Georgetown does. Mooney also won in his one-year coaching at the Air Force Academy. How one feels about his moving from Air Force to Richmond after 1 season is up to you … you can argue that both ways.
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:19 pm
Agreed Paul.
I could have said 3 years for Morris but don’t want to get to far ahead of things.
indianman
March 23rd, 2011
3:20 pm
it don.t matter it won.t help them at all
sk
March 23rd, 2011
3:22 pm
It is an interesting question … and the best coaches of them all succeed both in the season long test and the conference slate (which of course is a better measure of the quality of the program in general) versus the three weekends in march/april. But that list is really really tiny … I mean in the current crop of coaches, what … Roy Williams, K, Bill Self, Izzo … crickets … (Stevens and Few are sort of their own category – just a different set of criteria)
applebottom
March 23rd, 2011
3:27 pm
Stevens isnt going to leave Butler. hell never coach outside of his home state. at least we are being reasonable, ncsu fans think they are getting adolph rupp jr. theyll really get dave odom II
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:28 pm
I meant to say Morris, Holsey, Miller and Hicks.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
3:28 pm
Paul in RDU, the announcers on all Tech’s TV games this year have said that Morris is from Augusta. Like I said, I had never heard of him before, so it was obvious he didn’t play HS ball in Augusta. I only learned recently that he played HS ball in Connecticut, and Jackets 2011 confirmed a few minutes ago that that is private HS. Can’t say as I blame him for not staying in Augusta; no college-worthy players have come from here since William Avery (Duke) and Ricky Moore (UConn, although he wanted to go to Tech)
T3
March 23rd, 2011
3:31 pm
I’ll make it easy for everyone:
Here’s the link for PITT Basketball covering the last several years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pittsburgh_Panthers_men%27s_basketball
BTW, PItt was the 2010-11 Big East Regular Season Champs.
Also, see Dixons’s wiki bio here: VERY impressive resume.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Dixon
Here’s just 2 superlatives:
“Dixon became head coach at Pitt in 2003, the only head coaching position he has ever held, and has an overall NCAA Division I record of 188–54. His current 188 career wins ties the
NCAA Division I record for most wins in the first seven seasons of a head coaching career.”
(188-54 over 8 seasons…..in the Big East,)
“At the end of the 2010 season, Dixon is the winningest coach in Big East history
with a current .696 winning percentage in seven seasons of league games (94-41).”
Any questions?
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:31 pm
How did NCSU manage to hire Sidney Lowe?
A popular player suddenly pushed by fans of their glory year.
Why wasn’t he ready for the job?
All together now: not enough experience.
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:33 pm
If Price was willing to be an assistant, that might work.
Rick in Fla
March 23rd, 2011
3:33 pm
What about former Tech asst coach Cliff Warren head coach at Jacksonville University . 5 year record of 72-80 . Took down program from 1-26 record in first year to 2 A-SUN Conference championships and 2 NIT tourniments .
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:36 pm
Bill Curry, much as I like and respect him, was not ready to be head football coach at GT.
We trained him and got dumped for our efforts.
Then he informed us how much easier it was to recruit at Bama.
That is the big risk with an inexperienced hire.
We train him, someone else may benefit.
Delbert D.
March 23rd, 2011
3:37 pm
Remember Ed Nelson? He was a starter as a freshman and was developing nicely (Rookie of the Year in the ACC). His 2nd year, Chris Bosh got much more of the playing time. So, Nelson transferred to UConn and Bosh left for the NBA. No backup-backup plan.
BobbyCremins
March 23rd, 2011
3:37 pm
Kenny Anderson?
He can’t even control his own life, how’s he going to coach a Div. 1 team?
T-Bone
March 23rd, 2011
3:38 pm
MB, (if you’re still there), what do you think of Mooney’s Princetonish offense? Is it too slow and methodical to draw top talent?
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:43 pm
Is Mooney flexible enough to use the fast break more if he had the talent?
mountain_jim
March 23rd, 2011
3:47 pm
Thanks for the Mooney info. Are his teams good defenders? (Man Florida State’s defense looked good the other night.)
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:48 pm
DRAD will be the one to take the heat if he makes a bad hire so I am going to trust his judgement.
GT65
March 23rd, 2011
3:49 pm
It will not be a X- Dukie. Will not be X-GT player.
Mooney will be the man! If something happens its not Mooney, well Drads has 3 more in his bag of treats.
sk
March 23rd, 2011
3:54 pm
Jackets 2011 – Obviously that is the question. But watching Richmond in the tournament – it’s not like they are milking the shot clock. The guys seem to have the freedom to take early offense if it’s there.
If we use Radkovich’s football hire as a guide for what he will do with basketball, one would suspect that he wants a coach who can establish a Georgia Tech on-field identity, without worrying so much on his ability to recruit All-Americans. Paul Johnson for instance – certainly on offense – had an identity in the type of football that he would coach … it is a durable system that can be recruited specifically i.e. without using the ESPNU 150 or whatever. The system allows them to not get caught up in having to beat SEC teams for talent.
Perhaps Georgia Tech basketball can be viewed and filled the same way. You bring in a coach with a durable system that can be recruited to specifically (so you don’t have to go head to head with the ACC bluebloods) … and be able to create a much more stable program than Hewitt (or for that matter) Cremins was able to do.
Jackets 2011
March 23rd, 2011
3:59 pm
Good points sk.
I just signed up for next football season though I had threatened not to do so.
I was bluffing as usual.