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
9:59 pm
And as to whether (if indeed) Tech is considering the coach at Morehead State? Why not? He will go somewhere else one of these days, because he is good. I would bet that even THUGa would consider him if they were looking right now. It’s the quality of the coach, not the size or reputation of the school that matters.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
10:00 pm
And 1785, I don’t know that Tech is even considering the guy at Morehead State, but what if we are? You go after a good coach, no matter what school he is at. THUGa probably would too if they were looking right now.
Promethius
March 23rd, 2011
10:02 pm
Don’t intend to rain on UGa parade, but the attraction of Tech, Atlanta, the ACC, i.e., the big stage, makes Tech a more attractive destination that UGa. UGa is is simply a peer of Bama, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Scar, LSU, etc. Those are not weak programs – but they will never be elite. They simply have no BB charisma. And, a good yr or two, will not make you an elite program. It would be like UNC winning several major bowls in succession. UNC, however, does have a better opportunity of becoming significant in FB. UNC does have charisma.
Delbert D.
March 23rd, 2011
10:04 pm
What has the Board of Regents decided about funding a College of Engineering at the University of Georgia?
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
10:04 pm
1785, why is that you keep posing the same questions over and over and ignore the responses and refuse to answer the questions we ask you? Don’t let the facts get in your way, bubba.
Tech Forever
March 23rd, 2011
10:05 pm
1785 Dawg
CRAP!!! It’s your “fact,” YOU cite it!!! What is this 6th grade English and I have to do your work for you at the kitchen table??? Cite it!! Because a politician told you I should consider it fact?? Seriously? A member of the State Board of Education…..a politician sitting on a board that has nothing to do with the University System of Georgia…..I’m to believe him?
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
10:05 pm
Delbert, unfortunately the board of regents approved it, but several legislator have said that they will not vote for any additional funding for it.
1785 Dawg
March 23rd, 2011
10:06 pm
Georgia Tech can produce more engineers by educate more students that want to be engineers. Follow the example of Georgia State University. As more and more businesses are leaving downtown for Midtown, Buckhead, Cumberland, Perimeter Mall, up 400 etcetera, acquire that land and buildings, and use it to expand your campus. If UGA can find the money to expand its engineering school, why can’t Georgia Tech?
Given the population growth in greater Atlanta and the state of Georgia, along with the increased demand for engineers, would not it be a good time to increase the state’s capacity to produce engineers?
How do you do it? Contact the members of your state legislature, and let them know how important science and math are to the economic growth of Georiga.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
10:07 pm
Tech Forever, 1785 is obviously an ignorant redneck who thrives on belittling others but refuses to look in the mirror and see just how stupid he really is.
Arny
March 23rd, 2011
10:11 pm
Better hope richmond loses soon then
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
10:11 pm
1785, and just where do you think THUGa gets the money to expand anything, or where GA State gets the money to grow? The money comes from the tax payers as allocated by the legislators and regents in the State of Georgia. And they REFUSE to give any more money to Tech to do such things; they always have, and they always will. Tech relies on endowments for funding EXISTING research and educational facilities. And, it may surprise you to know, Tech is one of the top 5 highest endowed engineering schools in the world. HOWEVER, any expansion or growth of the campus or student population MUST BE APPROVED by the State of Georgia. THUGa gets all those monies, not Tech.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
10:14 pm
Another prime example of just how THUGa gets the money is in the so-called satellite campus of the Medical College of Georgia. Georgia also does not have enough in-state-educated doctors, so INSTEAD of expanding and enhancing the current Medical College, the rednecks under the gold dome voted to put a satellite campus in Athens, which, Adams hopes, will eventually become the main campus of the Medical College. Talk about screwed up priorities!!!
Tech Forever
March 23rd, 2011
10:15 pm
Supersize that order, mutt
You hit the nail on the head and this is the very reason why I’ve been calling for Tech to break away and become a private school for the last 20 years!!!
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
10:16 pm
Tech Forever, I’m sure that would not be allowed either.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
10:17 pm
1785, we’re still waiting for your answers to our questions. Get off the school-yard bully kick and put your brain to work, assuming you even have one.
Delbert D.
March 23rd, 2011
10:21 pm
Quality vs. quantity.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
10:21 pm
1785, just in case you didn’t read them or have conveniently forgotten them, answer these questions:
1) Where is Tech supposed to get the funding to expand and grow?
2) Why does THUGa get all the state monies currently allocated for expansion and growth?
3) And on the athletic side of things, what’s wrong with going after a supposedly good coach at a more-or-less unknown university?
4) And speaking of both athletics and funding, why did THUGa get a basketball arena built with taxpayer money? And yes, they did, back when that barn was built. NONE of the athletic facilities at Tech cost the Georgia taxpayers one cent.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
10:25 pm
EXACTLY, Delbert
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
10:26 pm
Still waiting on some answers, 1785. Or did your mommie tell you to get off the computer?
Coach
March 23rd, 2011
10:28 pm
Obama’s brother-in-law will be the next Tech coach!
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
10:30 pm
OK, I’m going to go watch some TV. I’ll be eagerly anticipating seeing your answers when I return, 1785. Of course, I know there won’t be any, or at least none that indicate any intelligence on your part.
Tech Forever
March 23rd, 2011
10:31 pm
Supersize that order, mutt
I’m waiting for him to cite his “fact.” Let me be clear, I’m not disputing Tech doesn’t produce enough engineers in the state of Georgia. But he said less than 50% was a FACT and then made a big deal about how he posts facts. So……show me where the fact comes from….especially since he’s already demonstarted he doesn’t know what the State Board of Education does (or at the very least he’s gullable enough to believe a politician making a statement about a university in Georgia as being fact because he’s on that board) and he’s demonstrated he doesn’t know where the funding for academic programs and expansion at the states three largest schools comes from.
Tech Forever
March 23rd, 2011
10:32 pm
Coach
Who is that?
Delbert D.
March 23rd, 2011
10:51 pm
Sure, MIT and Caltech could ramp up and supply the Tennessee Valley Authority will all the engineers they could ever need. However, the University of Tennessee provides the *quantity* of engineers situation. Results? How about the Browns Ferry Nuclear plants’ safety record? Hmmm…all three plants shut down for major safety violations, including checking the containment penetrations with a candle. Caught the wiring on fire, causing loss of instrumentation on the status of the reactor and safety systems. Those plants are GE BWR Mark1’s, the same as the reactors in trouble in Japan. (Google “Browns Ferry Fire”). I’m pretty sure there will be some info there. Also, Sequoyah Nuclear Unit 1 was shut down by the NRC for management incompetency in the mid ’80s. Took 3 years to get it restarted. Then, Watts Bar Unit 1, while nearing construction completion in the late ’80s…oh, boy…the NRC found that TVA had falsified x-rays of the piping welds on safety systems. TVA’s director of nuclear engineering was escorted out of his office in Knoxville by TVA’s internal investigations force. TVA finally got permission to operate the plant several years later.
Quality vs. Quantity.
Patrick
March 23rd, 2011
10:58 pm
Bring back Bobby Cremins.
Tech Forever
March 23rd, 2011
11:06 pm
Patrick
Good Lord.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
11:07 pm
Tech Forever, can you believe people can be so stupid?
just a thought
March 23rd, 2011
11:17 pm
why do you have Gregg Marshall’s photo posted? Am I suppose to be impressed with that big time win at home in the NIT over C Of C?
If he is so wonderful, why is he in the NIT? Too bad the game wasn’t played in Charleston. I was pulling for Cremins all the way and always will.
Why did Clemson and SC pass on Marshall? Hope someone knows the answer to that. I remember when Charlie Taafe, head coach at Citadel, ranked number one in Division 1 AA at that time, was passed up for football coach at Clemson and at SC. (not even a courtesy call) But GT started expressing huge interest big time until it came out that Taafe had been in some (partying) trouble.
You just need to find these things out before you start rallying for these people.
Butts Wagner
March 23rd, 2011
11:19 pm
Anyone listen to John Salley on Jason Whitlock’s podcast? You may not agree with everything he says(and he’s pretty eccentric), but he is a smart man. I want him talking to the basketball team on a regular basis.
Paul in RDU
March 23rd, 2011
11:28 pm
1785 Dawg is quite a character. He must be a graduate of the University of Georgia Law School. Where else could you learn such kean rhetoric so that you could come up with such a devastating defense of your position as this:
“The statistic that more than 50% of engineers employed in Georgia were educated as engineers outside Georgia is from a member of the Georgia legislature who is on the Georgia Board of Education. It is public information. Feel free to research it and look it up. I sincerley hope you do, as I would like to see Georgia Tech produce more engineers.”
I love this – an unnamed member of the Georgia legislature (we don’t even know if he is in the House or the Senate, R or D, etc) with no data to support the statement. And 1785 throws in the challenge that it is an public information so go and find it.
1785 Dawg is obviously on the track for partner.
Tech Forever
March 23rd, 2011
11:35 pm
just a thought
Why did they pass on Marshall? Who knows? Who cares? Maybe he just wasn’t a fit. Maybe they knwo something shaddy about his past. Maybe he’s lefthanded and those two schools only hire righthanded basketball coaches. The only point here is that they did in fact pass on him and Wichita State is glad they did. In fact who’s to say they passed on him? Maybe HE passed on THEM.
I’m sure if Marshall is on the list he will be thoroughly vetted.
Tech Forever
March 23rd, 2011
11:38 pm
Paul in RDU
It’s better than that. It’s an unnamed politician with no data serving on a board that only deals in K-12 public education. So how would this person know that “fact” and even if he does and it’s true of what relevance is his position on the State Board of Education?
Tech Forever
March 23rd, 2011
11:40 pm
I literally, LITERALLY, have gotten ZERO work done the last two days because of the blogs. I hope I’m at least marginally entertaining to some of you….that would help to make me fell a tiny bit better.
Paul in RDU
March 23rd, 2011
11:44 pm
Tech Forever,
I also love the concept that what needs to happen is that universities need to increase the quota of engineers that are educated – such a Soviet concept. In a “free market”, if there is a great demand for engineers to be employed, salaries should rise accordingly – smart, mathematically inclined kids would be beating down the doors of engineering departments to be admitted rather than rushing off to business school to be hired by financial firms.
Paul in RDU
March 23rd, 2011
11:47 pm
Tech Forever
I’ve enjoyed your posts – hope that helps with the guilt of doing no woek. These are my last couple of days with a moderate workload – I start a new job just north of Boston on Monday and it’s going to be back to 60 hour weeks.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
11:55 pm
Tech Forever, don’t feel like you’re the only one glued to their computer the past few days. I think I’m addicted….LOL But I enjoy reading both your and Paul’s posts, and, as much as I hate to admit it, I even enjoy the posts of some of the incredibly stupid people on here. It’s funnier than almost anything on TV, except maybe Hot in Cleveland, which I just finished watching. I LOVE Betty White. LOL
Supersize that order, mutt
March 23rd, 2011
11:56 pm
My problem is that I am retired and don’t really have much useful to do anyway. But with all this great weather, I SHOULD have been outside in the yard. Oh, well.
Paul in RDU
March 23rd, 2011
11:57 pm
Supersize,
I hope you’ve been reporting the comments of your imposter. Based on the time of day, I’d guess it is some undergraduate at the flagship U.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 24th, 2011
12:00 am
Paul, if you know any way to report him, please tell me. I mentioned it to Doug on his blog earlier today, but he didn’t respond. Somebody (probably the same jerk) actually posted under Doug’s name last night saying that he was sick of it all and would look into it today. I knew at the time that it wasn’t actually Doug, since the post wasn’t highlighted, but he came up with a flimsy, semi-believable reason for that. Doug today confirmed that he didn’t post anything last night, but that’s as much as he ever said. Is there somebody I can email with my complaint?
Supersize that order, mutt
March 24th, 2011
12:01 am
DAMMIT, why do my posts keep getting blocked? I just posted a response to you, Paul, but it didn’t go through. I’ll try again in my next post
Supersize that order, mutt
March 24th, 2011
12:02 am
Paul, how and to whom do I report it? Do you have an email address? Somebody was actually posing as Doug on his blog last night, but I knew it wasn’t really Doug, since the post wasn’t highlighted
Supersize that order, mutt
March 24th, 2011
12:03 am
Paul, how and to whom do I report it? I mentioned it today on Doug’s blog, but he never had anything to say
Supersize that order, mutt
March 24th, 2011
12:04 am
Somebody was actually posing as Doug last night, and he did at least confirm for me today that he wasn’t doing any posting last night. It was probably the same jerk who poses as me.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 24th, 2011
12:05 am
Last night, a faker was posting under Doug’s name too, telling me that he was sick of it all and would do something about it today
Supersize that order, mutt
March 24th, 2011
12:05 am
DAMN, I am trying to tell you about something that happened last night, and it keeps getting blocked
Supersize that order, mutt
March 24th, 2011
12:06 am
Good grief, every time I try to tell you some more about the situation, it gets blocked. What’s up with that? They can censor my comments but not control who posts here. Give me a break
Supersize that order, mutt
March 24th, 2011
12:09 am
Let’s try this. Somebody (probably the same guy) posed as an AJC writer last night and told me that he would look into it today. The person whose name was being used last night told me today that he wasn’t posting last night. But he offered no more assistance than that.
Paul in RDU
March 24th, 2011
12:10 am
Click on the “Report this comment” link underneath the requisite comment – then you need to fill out a computer form. You may need to open another tab in your browser to be able to jump back and forwards.
I did it a couple of days ago when someone posted a BS post under my name and had the post removed later.
I don’t know who reviews the complaints – I think it may be the blog authors (JS, MB, Doug, etc). I do know that Schultz and Bradley are careful to delete posts with racial comments and that they can identify the IP addresses of the perpetrators.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 24th, 2011
12:10 am
I was told by someone “official” last night (obviously it was a faker, probably my stalker) that the matter would be looked into today. The real “official” person told me this morning that he wasn’t on last night, but he never offered any help in the matter
Supersize that order, mutt
March 24th, 2011
12:11 am
Thanks, Paul. I will try that