What hoops coach should Bulldogs target now?
Wow, what a day was Tuesday. It started out well, with me thinking Georgia was moving quickly toward settling on a new basketball coach. It ended very late, with John Calipari going to Kentucky for an obscene amount of money (later confirmed to be 8 years for $31.65 million), Mike Anderson deciding to stay at Missouri and Georgia left sitting there red-faced without a coach.
Based on the information I’m getting, I don’t think Wednesday is going to be a very productive day for the Bulldogs either. Not a lot of moving and shaking planned is my understanding. In the meantime, Georgia AD Damon Evans is set to leave for Detroit and the Final Four on Thursday morning. So if anything is going to happen on the coaching search, I’d bet now it’s going to come down up there.
So the million-dollar question is — maybe that should be $2 million — who IS going to be the Bulldogs’ new coach. It’s a good question, and a hard one.
I honestly don’t think even Evans even knows at this point. I think he has been very deliberate and methodical to date, an approach you may or may not agree with. Anderson didn’t work out, so now he merely moves on to the next guy on his list. You’d figure that to be Oklahoma’s Jeff Capel, but the silence and lack of buzz surrounding that particular name has been perplexing. I can say this with some certainty: Anthony Grant would have been up soon thereafter. But he got snatched by Alabama well before the Dogs got around to him. A difference in evaluations, it would seem.
In the meantime, don’t discount the possibility that some of Georgia’s potential candidates could still be playing games. No, I’m not talking about those guys in Detroit. But you may want to glance up toward New York City where Scott Drew’s Baylor Bears are still playing in the NIT. And the guy he’ll face in Thursday’s finals, Penn State’s Ed DeChellis, isn’t bad either.
Some other coaches the Bulldogs may be considering: Southern Cal’s Tim Floyd, Clemson’s Oliver Purnell, UNLV’s Lon Kruger, Butler’s Brad Stevens and Dayton’s Brian Gregory. Some they aren’t: Miami’s Frank Haith and FSU’s Leonard Hamilton. And there’s at least a couple of possibilities with no current team affiliation: Billy Gillispie, no longer of Kentucky, and Russ Pennell, no longer of Arizona. Dare we even bring up again the biggest name of all? You know, BOB KNIGHT?
So it would seem there are plenty of viable possibilities still out there for Georgia. But are there any that will get the Bulldog Nation excited? Have I missed some possibilities? And how would you rate Evans’ coaching search so far?
I’ll leave you with some links:
Reaction to Kentucky’s hiring of Calipari has been all over the board. Lexington-Herald columnist John Clay writes that the Big Blue Nation is dancing in the streets over it. Then there’s column by ESPN’s Pat Forde. Personally I like the take on it by Ryan Parker. For him it’s all about “Caliparication.” . . .
Indications are that quarterback Matthew Stafford blew away a private workout Tuesday for the Detroit Loins. . . .
The No. 1-ranked Diamond Dawgs won again. It was their fourth win in a row, 6-5 over Clemson. The two teams will play again Wednesday night over on the other side of Lake Hartwell.
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196 comments Add your comment
Roy
April 1st, 2009
5:01 pm
I’m an ODU and Ga fan, has anyone seem Blaine Taylor coach. Not many people know about him but he can really coach and its only a matter of time before someone talks him into leaving the Monarchs.
RAMBLE ON!!!
April 1st, 2009
5:10 pm
This just in, Obama is giving Evans 1 more month to get a coach or else.
CalDogg
April 1st, 2009
5:18 pm
You get off your tail (Damon and the Search Firm That You Need to Hold Your Hand) and TRY (at this point you’d have to do some sucking up considering how you treated the rumor from the outset) to hire BOB KNIGHT to coach UGA basketball. Gain some visibility, viability and recognition. He stays for probably 4-5 years, while you keep your eyes open (and/or bring someone in to groom under Knight) for the next guy, to take what’s been built and run with it. What is wrong with you numb skulls?
As for the “pundits” (where do you get a pundit degree, btw) who pontificate that elite players won’t play for Bob Knight, it’s so much hot air. The only actual PLAYERS I’ve seen interviewed almost sounded in awe to have the opportunity.
Would you rather play for one of the greatest basketball coaches to ever coach the game, or would you tingle all over to come to Athens to play for the “promising” young coach from East Bum-You Know Where College? You want to bring up Knight’s run in with the student who referred to him as “Knight” in the IU mess hall?
You’re lucky that happened. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be available. Instead of hedging your bets and avoiding a personality that might actually stand up to your President, you should be thanking your stars that the man is out there and, at least once, expressed an interest in coaching your team.
Damon…. get you head out of your lower regions, get yourself out of the board room and start running the Athletic Department. You’re the Athletic Director. You’re a basketball aficionado (supposedly). Start directing and stop taking pulses of experts and search firms and building a consensus out of fear of being wrong.
Knight
April 1st, 2009
5:22 pm
I agree, Let Knight have it for 3-5 years and finish out his great career. Like him or not, he will put people in the stands and get us back into the tournament, then the job will be more lucrative in 5 years. Georgia needs some energy and intensity, and Knight would instantly bring that. One thing we all agree on is no matter who is picked, you are not gonna satisfy every fan.
Ben Bullock
April 1st, 2009
5:37 pm
I like Oliver Purnell. He has done a good job with Clemson. How about Ken McDonald at Western Kentucky. He is the type coach Georgia needs. He worked as an asst. to Felton. Do we hold that against him? I think not. No good experienced coach is coming here except Knight. Please don’t mention his name again, ever. Go for a young up an comer.
FL Dawg
April 1st, 2009
5:51 pm
go to capel and make an offer. poney up the cash now. why not make a run at calapari. We should be able to outspend uk. that is what it will take.
FL Dawg
April 1st, 2009
5:57 pm
Lets try a new approach. Lets hang out a sign that says coach wanted. Est. starting salary 2 mil plus benefits. At least we would get some candidates, that are actually interested in UGA.
If we don’t hire a coach do we have to pay the search firm?
SECGoober
April 1st, 2009
6:08 pm
Bobby Trippe from Aintry U.
icedawg
April 1st, 2009
6:30 pm
I do not know who would want to coach basketball at Georgia. The only word to describe basketball at Georgia, overall, is pitiful. Recruiting would be a nightmare. Who would want to come to a program that has consistently been mediocre to poor? We have virtually no alumni basketball stars who have entered coaching. In the past a few of our coaches have been probably ok, but there is no winning tradition to attract the numbers of decent players needed to consistently compete. I feel for Damon trying to recruit a top quality coach. Everything is stacked against him.
H.T.
April 1st, 2009
6:34 pm
BOBBY KNIGHT
Hire Bob Knight
April 1st, 2009
6:40 pm
Call him, apologize, and beg him to take the job.
BOB KNIGHT!
Denver Dog
April 1st, 2009
6:54 pm
Lets make a quick decison like we did with Jirsa,Felton, and Harrick. No I like the pace that they are doing, and maybe we will end up with a winner after all the whiners have had thier say. I believe that the admin will bring in the right person, at the right time.
Go Tech
April 1st, 2009
6:54 pm
Please take Paul Hewitt!!!!
freshd
April 1st, 2009
7:01 pm
Let”s kill two birds with one stone. Instead of Knight, let Damon hire Bobby”s number 1 pupil. MIKE WOODSON and then the hawks can hire a real coach. Im sure JOSH SMITH would welcome this move. Come on Damon hire WOODY .
Jeff Grady
April 1st, 2009
7:02 pm
UGA needs to apply that 2 mil to academics so that the athletic department will have an academic program it can be proud of.
UGA fan in So Cal
April 1st, 2009
7:05 pm
Why isn’t Sam Mitchell being considered? He has expressed interest in the job. He is one year removed from being the NBA coach of the year, had a long and successful NBA career, is a Georgia native, and seems to be a class act. Toronto’s winning percentage has actually gone down hill after starting 8-9 this year under him. I guess UGA considers not publicly stating interest as a prerequisite.
rpt
April 1st, 2009
7:09 pm
has anyone thought about lorenzo romar? known on the west coast for accumulating highly rated recruits and has a 103-55 record in 7 years at washington. has really turned the program around and has worked under Tom Izzo and a familiar one Jim Harrick. this needs to be looked into. Finished number one at the end of the pac 10 regular season.
rolling_in_coleslaw@yahoo.com
April 1st, 2009
7:10 pm
LOL Who wants to coach at UGA! As for Chip Towers? What a joke I told AJC he was the reason I did not renew my AJC. POOR SPORTS REPORTING CHIP!
wisconsin phil
April 1st, 2009
7:35 pm
is kenny rosemond still available/…if not NIT hugh[durham] would be a good choice
Atlanta Gator
April 1st, 2009
7:45 pm
At the risk of starting a UGA football uprising in the middle of Chip’s basketball blog, here’s a story in the Detroit newspaper on Matt Stafford’s draft prospects with the Detroit Lions. Seems that there has arisen a debate whether they draft Stafford or trade for for former Vanderbilt QB Cutler, late of the Denver Broncos . . . .
http://www.freep.com/article/20090401/SPORTS01/90401072/1049/SPORTS01/The+great+debate++Stafford+or+Cutler
Interesting stuff.
Okefenokee Dawg
April 1st, 2009
8:33 pm
Hire Altamaha Dawg.
CWM
April 1st, 2009
8:35 pm
YOU ARE NOT A DAWG FAN IF YOU WANTED GRANT (FLA GUY) WHO WANTS A GAYTURD……
gdawginkalamazoo
April 1st, 2009
8:54 pm
Atlanta Gator, yeah that has been bantered around. A lot of people want to see the Lions take Curry @ LB and I mean a lot. Or an OL. I just don’t see that happening in the #1 slot and the money they will have to pay to the #1 pick. 1st round money is okay for those postions not #1 money. If they can’t trade for Cutler they will have to take Stafford or Sanchez because they need that franchise QB. I say take the QB @ #1 then build the OL with the #20 pick then start building the defense with the later picks. If all the Lion fans want a killer LB I say take Spikes next year as I think the Lions will be high in the draft but not in the #1 slot.
AltamahaDawg
April 1st, 2009
9:02 pm
Proof at 8:33 that birds of a feather, stick together.
ACC Football=SEC Basketball
April 1st, 2009
9:08 pm
The coach at Norcross High left after the 07-08 season to go to GAC. His name is Eddie Martin. How about the coach at Augusta State? He’s been in the D2 Elite Eight 2 years running.
Steve
April 1st, 2009
10:10 pm
P J Carlesimo would be a fabulous choice – and seriously (and I know this is not popular, and almost no one agrees, but here it goes), we should have given Felton 2 more years. At 790,000 a year, he was a bargain, and was beginning to stack some good young talent in Athens.
big dawg
April 1st, 2009
10:25 pm
i know that if bobby knight were the coach here, myself and a whole lot of other folks would make it to several games a year…come on damon, i know you think that you have to hire a black coach, because that is the “in” thing to do or because you believe blacks have to stick together or something, but hey man, we’re over all of that sh*t…ALL OF US, WHITE AND BLACK, just hire the best candidate out there and put some butts in the seats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BOBBY KNIGHT WILL BRING PLAYERS AND PEOPLE
hop
April 1st, 2009
10:56 pm
it appears that mr. evans is over his head. one does not spill the beans about what one is going to do until it is time to play the trump card.
georgia has mishandled this entire search and i guess we have to wait until someone like memphis hires one before we get a new coach or do we go ahead and get a coach like felton to replace felton.
Gerald Mann
April 1st, 2009
11:02 pm
Come on UGA. First you should admitt the fact that you won’t take Basketball serious.It is not against the law to have a great bastketball program at a Football school. Have you checked Florida Tennesee, LSU. Unlike these schools your state has the best high school talent in the south, so would say the country. You have the chance to go to the dwawing board and build a new arena. You are not broke build the best basketball arena in the SEC. Then your top tear coach will come with his top tear players. (other colleges have been taken our players out of state for years about 25 of them were in the tournument this year). No coach or player worth having is going to come play in a old arena were the Athletic Department only knows football. Oklaoma, Texas, Ohio State all have duel programs. Hell your program is so bad that the one coach you went after, took a million dollar pay cut to stay put.
Steve
April 1st, 2009
11:22 pm
Arizona gets Tim Floyd rumor has it – so it is possible to get a first rate coach, but now USC may be in the hunt, along with Memphis and Washington State – this is getting interesting.
Roy
April 2nd, 2009
12:08 am
I think Georgia should look at Sam Mitchell. A Georgia native and a graet coach.
Stick with a proven uga legend
April 2nd, 2009
12:08 am
Hire Prof. Harrick!
ButlerDawg
April 2nd, 2009
12:11 am
Let’s see, I’m going to use one offer of $2 million so I can get a raise on my current job and make 750K less than the 2-mil offer??
Face it fellow Dawgs, fans! We lucked out…no need for an idiot like this coaching our b-ball team anyway.
Stick with a proven uga legend
April 2nd, 2009
12:19 am
“no need for an idiot like this coaching our b-ball team anyway.”
Maybe he is not an idiot, maybe he visited Athens and the visit impacted his decision.
Cuz
April 2nd, 2009
12:25 am
Just hire anyone, I am tired of the whining. Damon get a dartboard, put some names on it and get a blindfold and throw a dart.
Chip Towers
April 2nd, 2009
12:34 am
dawgstephen: If it were up to me I’d bring back Hugh Durham and let him handle it in the short term and help pick a successor. He’s the only one who won with any consistency. Maybe not huge, but consistently. . . .
Rabun Dawg: Good question on the baseball team, and very observant. Actually coach David Perno is saving his arms and doing a very masterful job of it if you ask me. He’s been keeping a lot of his pitchers on a pitch count through this early portion of the schedule. Regardless of the game situation he pulls them out once they’ve hit their limit. That turns the game over to middle relief and, you think it’s tough to find good middle relief in the major leagues, it’s even tougher in college. But the Dogs have a lot of good arms and are kind of handing the bullpen by committee. As they get deeper into this ever-toughening schedule they may start missing closer Josh Fields more. . . . .
Same to ya, rolling-in-coleslaw or whatever your name is.
big dawg
April 2nd, 2009
12:44 am
next on damons list,,,,coach K… think we got a chance damon?
K-DAWG
April 2nd, 2009
3:53 am
IZZO is the man! UGA hires him and the bulldog nation will explode! Reach into your pockets and pay him one dollar more than Kentucky just paid. CASH IS KING! You get what you pay for, while your at it give Richt a raise too! Coach Richt is Georgia! Go Dawgs!
Nathan
April 2nd, 2009
4:34 am
The Detroit LOINS?
Dawg Tired
April 2nd, 2009
7:07 am
Do we have a coach yet?
Search seems to still be going well. Capel is apparently going to Arizona. I read this morning that Appalachian State has offered Buzz Peterson his old job as BB coach there. Is Dennis Felton available? How much are we paying the search firm? It certainly appears we are getting our money’s worth. DE’s “game plan” is really something to behold.
AltamahaDawg
April 2nd, 2009
7:16 am
I sure wish Dooley could have had the benefit of these search experts in here, before he hired Glen Mason.
HH
April 2nd, 2009
7:32 am
Give the job to Martinez. That will: 1) Fill the head basketball vacancy, 2) Get rid of him as the defensive coordinator, and 3) Keep Damon Evans from looking like a fool trying to find a basketball coach.
The basketball program will be no worse off and the prospects for the defense will markedly improve. Next, make Bobo the head coach of women’s gymnastics.
UGA Student
April 2nd, 2009
2:42 pm
Go and give Tubby whatever sum of money he wants! Back-to-back 20 win seasons and UGA in the sweet sixteen upsetting top seeded Purdue! Bring him back!
esaun
April 2nd, 2009
3:20 pm
might need sum thin drastic no one wants jobmaybe should try to hire one of ga’s top aau coaches with ga connects problem aint bad coaching its keeping top recruits in the state; ga kinda of state where recruits so good any coach would reach tourney if he had say 4 of the ga top 100 players
esaun
April 2nd, 2009
5:04 pm
hh luv that, ga aint goin win in bball no way and you came up wtith the only solution for uga to finally get sum real coordinators so we can get over the hump outside of ga program not considered among the elite in college football; need to find a d2 school so both can tune their crafts
gdawgs77
April 2nd, 2009
11:02 pm
CHIP, I JUST DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY WOULD COULD NOT OF HIRED EITHER SEAN MILLER, BRAD STEVENS, BRAIN GREGORY OR TUBBY SMITH. ANY OF THOSE WOULD HAVE BEEN GOOD!! ESPECIALLY SEAN MILLER!!!