Purnell, Haith may not be only candidates for UGA
Word is the Bulldogs are going to talk to Clemson’s Oliver Purnell and Miami’s Frank Haith in Detroit. That’s just who we know about right now. Surely there will be others on Damon Evans’ to-do list in Motown. They could be still waiting on Baylor’s Scott Drew, whose team plays Penn State in the NIT finals tonight. Other names that have been discussed here — Xavier’s Sean Miller and Butler’s Brad Stevens, to name two — remain possibilities.
So would you want to see Georgia get Purnell or Haith? Some of those other guys? What about an assistant coach from one of the powerhouse programs? Let us know what you think?
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233 comments Add your comment
Wyld Byll Hyltnyr
April 2nd, 2009
3:13 pm
They’re down to seeds and stems now. They need to upgrade and call Fran McCaffery. He’s got the connections it takes to turn UGA around and everybody loves him.
NCMTNDawg
April 2nd, 2009
3:15 pm
slick – I too am more for new and young. And HUNGRY! Just an idea with Mckillop on the other end of the spectrum.
DawgNation – interesting thought on bringing an NBA’er to Athens. If you go that route, how about PJ Carlesimo. He was a great coach with Seton Hall back in the day and made them relevant.
What about Mark Few with the ‘Zags? I know he’s at a great place and owns the conference, but there’s Evans’ selling point. The challenge at hand of mixing it up in the SEC and at UGA for that matter. They all have an ego of some size, right???
freshd
April 2nd, 2009
3:15 pm
Steve Lavin:S record 145-78 -Frank Haith 88-73. We need someone to recruit some “silky smooth shooting guards and small forwards, instead of all these brick shooters we had this year. With all those BRICKS UGA put up this year, you could have built a new arena and enclosed Sanford Stadium and had some BRICKS left over. That why you UGA basketball has become a joke across the nation.Leave Haith in Miami.
Diamond Dawg
April 2nd, 2009
3:16 pm
Please don’t hire either of these two clowns. Serously Evans!!!!???
cajdawg
April 2nd, 2009
3:18 pm
Purnell or Haith? WTF. Why don’t we just apologize to Dennis Felton and ask him if he wants his job back?
NCMTNDawg
April 2nd, 2009
3:18 pm
Monvol – Sean Miller and Xavier did roll UGA in the first round of last years tourney. He’s solid!
cdog
April 2nd, 2009
3:22 pm
georgia need someone who has been to the championship round. forget about these others,hire either bobby knight or tubby smith point blank. these men have been to the water and dranked.
SkinnyJ
April 2nd, 2009
3:22 pm
Anthony Grant wasn’t gone before UGA COULD talk to him; he was gone before they DID talk with him. There was absolutely nothing that prevented Evans from reaching out to Grant, even for very cursory discussions. Instead, UGA overvalued their “program,” reached for the stars, and gave Grant no incentive to hold out for a week…or even just a couple of days, before deciding on Bama. It doesn’t get much dumber than that.
Ummmmm No Thank You...
April 2nd, 2009
3:23 pm
Clempsun sucks, end of discussion.
Steve
April 2nd, 2009
3:23 pm
Enough with the Bobby Knight talk. High school players at Wheeler, Norcross, or any of the other Atlanta-area schools are not going to want to play for an ill-tempered 70 year old man. He would have been a good choice a few years ago, but not now.
Final Word Please, Chip?
April 2nd, 2009
3:23 pm
Nope, I haven’t (but I also havent heard you eliminate him, until now–like you have with Capel et al.). That’s a shame. The Gophers are lucky.
hoopdog
April 2nd, 2009
3:23 pm
Kerry Keating – head coach at santa clara. only pure college basketball fans know the name, but he is going to be a great head coach some day. he was Ben Howland’s top asst at UCLA; former asst at Tennessee, Vandy and Tulsa; young, enthusiastic head coach known as one of the top recruiters in the game. i am sure damon evans has no clue who he is, seeing that evans has already totally bungled this hire.
Lowcountry Bulldawg
April 2nd, 2009
3:24 pm
It may not be mentioned but Tubby should at least have been asked the question, if he has interest in the dang job! Tubby did more in his tenure in Athens than anyone in 2 decades!
If not Tubby then who? If you go get a young kid from a mid-major then the UGA job is a stepping stone program.
Purnell? He can’t get out of the 1st round of the tourney! Does UGA just want a coach to go 19-11 w/ a first round elimination every year?
Please let it be Tubby!!!
Dawgbone
April 2nd, 2009
3:26 pm
We all understand that Damon is REALLY going to have to sell UGA to any basketball coach worth mentioning and pay an ungodly amount $$$$ to secure a respectable coach. My concern is reaching for names like Haith & Purnell. With all due respect to both, I am not truly excited by either of the two in regards to making UGA basketball viable (in the NCAA tourney each year). I would much rather bring Bobby Knight for two years, improve the status of the job/play, and then bring in a real stud to take the program to the next level. I mean at the rate we are going, Evans my interview Larry, Curly , and Moe.
Bobby Knight
April 2nd, 2009
3:27 pm
Seth Greenberg if the man if I can’t have the job.
GO GET HIM!!!!!
Dawg Fud
April 2nd, 2009
3:35 pm
Damon Evans may lose his job over this. This has been a poorly managed search. His first screw up – not even trying to interview Anthony Grant.
Dawg Fud
April 2nd, 2009
3:37 pm
i’ll pass on Louis Gossett, Jr (aka Oliver Purnell).
way to go Damon!
Coon-Dawg
April 2nd, 2009
3:37 pm
Miller or Stevens … Please !
gg
April 2nd, 2009
3:39 pm
From the heart of the Bluegrass, Gillispie is not the guy! No way! Forget that one! He was fired, after two seasons, for reasons not fully explained to the public. “Not the right fit?” That’s not an explanation. That’s the diplomatic avoidance of an explanation. So leave it at that and forget BG.
Maddog
April 2nd, 2009
3:39 pm
Faith or Purnell? Shoot, may as well go back and hire Felton.
Dawg Fud
April 2nd, 2009
3:41 pm
Chip – any average basketball fan could have seen that Anthony Grant was our best shot. we needed the next “up & coming” coach…which is Grant…who now is at Alabama.
Dooley applied this same methodology in 2001 with football and we got a darn good coach.
We wonder why Florida beats the crap out of us…Jeremy Foley v. Damon Evans…no contest. end of discussion.
tony
April 2nd, 2009
3:42 pm
Ga will reap what they sow if they hire someone else HC. He belong to those kids who committed to him. Bobby Knight is available so hire him. If not Bobby Knight then hire an assistent coach from a winning program who wants to a HC.
Stork
April 2nd, 2009
3:43 pm
This coaching search has been a disaster.
May as well go after Coach Bolton. You know him! He’s the guy who lead the East High Wildcats to back to back district championships in the High School Musical movies.
Good grief!!
BigNCDawg
April 2nd, 2009
3:43 pm
I hope not Tubby. He snubed us once and once is enough. This may have already been metioned, but why not the Mich. State coach.
bank walker
April 2nd, 2009
3:44 pm
Are you kidding me Purnell and Haith? Way to waist 75k on bulls$$$! Damon could have paid me 75k and I could have produced better results! This makes me wanna Puke! Let’s give another 75k to that “search firm” and see if we can find an AD with some ball$!
Hirsutedawg
April 2nd, 2009
3:44 pm
Haith = zzzzzzzzz Purnell = zzzzzzzzz
RAMBLE ON!!!
April 2nd, 2009
3:44 pm
Dawgs97, I wanted to do some shopping 3 years ago. I’ll take Felton over Hewitt all day.
Dawgfan
April 2nd, 2009
3:46 pm
NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!
Get a coach that has been to the dance on more than 2 occasions and has actually advanced! Otherwise, UGA is settling of “Above Average”. Is the goal to be “Above Average” – or to be great? Purnell and Haith have not brought greatness to any program they’ve been too.
What about Baylor’s coach? He took a very dire program w/limited resources and they are in the NIT championship tonight. Xavier’s coach and Butler’s coach also have much better resumes and success records considering the size of their schools and resources.
gdawginkalamazoo
April 2nd, 2009
3:46 pm
Why don’t we go after UCONN’s coach? They seem to be giving him a hard about the 1.6mil he makes a year. Pay him 2mil a year. He gets a 400k raise, we win and nobody complains about how much he gets paid.
1970dawg
April 2nd, 2009
3:47 pm
Everyone keeps saying let D.E. do his job.The problem is, he doesn’t know how to do his job. He can’t make a decision on his own, and no coach wants to work for an A.D. that has to check with his president before he can make a decision. And Chip you are way off base saying Grant was third in the pecking order. The problem was that Adams&Evans with their arrogance waited too long, and Alabama didn’t wait around and they got their coach. Why is it that Kentucky, Arizona,Virginia,and Alabama can make a hire within 2or3 days, yet arrogant UGA sits there all high and mighty with it’s $75,000.00 coaching search firm, and they can’t get any interest. UGA has had since the middle of December to make sure they had the right coach, and they still have no idea what they are doing. Evans is a puppet, and he will take all of UGA’s athetic programs down with him.Under his watch, the men’s basketball program is a total disaster, the Football program is on the skids, Women’s basketball is in the tiolet, yet Evans doesn’t have the balls to step in and put his foot down with Richt and Landers because he is a rookie, and they are established coaches.Evans is the wrong man for the A.D.job, it’s that simple. And it all starts at the top.
Dawg Fud
April 2nd, 2009
3:51 pm
ditto 1970dawg…you nailed it!
GLC4
April 2nd, 2009
3:52 pm
What is Sam Mitchell up to these days? I would rather have him over most of those being mentioned.
nick
April 2nd, 2009
3:53 pm
It is just this simple………… get the check book out call Sean Miller. he is the top choice out there.
Don,t miss the boat on this one Damon
DisgustedDawg
April 2nd, 2009
3:55 pm
Why are we going after 2 bottom feeders from the ACC? I know this isn’t PC, but there are a lot of good quality caucasian candidates out there… Butler’s Brad Stevens…Sean Miller…Drew from Baylor and the Dayton coach! Man up Evans and hire somebody. You blew it with Anthony Grant, he was good enough for FL’s AD Foley – should have been for us.
Judge Dawg
April 2nd, 2009
3:57 pm
I do not trust Michael Adams to let our AD get the best coach. We need a new president. Meanwhile, we need a coach with recruiting coming to an end in two weeks. I would try to get Miller.
JM Dawg
April 2nd, 2009
3:57 pm
Clemson Joe is just upset b/c his school might be the biggest choke artist in the History of ALL collegiate sports. Is there any type of championship, albeit ACC Conference or Nationally that Clemson has won in the past 2 Decades?? Every time you hear of one of there teams being hyped up they end up coming up WAY short… in EVERY SPORT!!!
Big Will
April 2nd, 2009
3:58 pm
All due respect to Purnell and Haith, but I’m not exactly peeing myself with excitement. I agree with giving Mike Davis a call.
jojo sunshine
April 2nd, 2009
3:59 pm
Big names that could bring in players and butts in the seats: Rick Pitino – offer him the same money Calipari got and he will come to UGA and UGA will be relevant, Billy Gillispie – pay him what he got at Kentucky and can you imagine the hype behind the hiring, Lon Kruger – headline reads, what he could not accomplish with the Hawks he will do for the dawgs, Butler University’s coach will come in and establish a program and it will be great, and last but not least Tubby Smith because he has already done it once.
Hire Bob Knight
April 2nd, 2009
4:03 pm
These 2 guys are NOT the big time proven coaches we were promised! For God’s sake ask for forgiveness and ask Bobby if he would still be interested! Otherwise, same old same old!
Tommy
April 2nd, 2009
4:05 pm
What a fiasco!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jim Harrick, Jr.
April 2nd, 2009
4:10 pm
I’m available.
howie
April 2nd, 2009
4:10 pm
Chip-
What do you think of Reggie Theus (sp?), Avery Johnson or Sam Mitchell as possibilities?
lawzoo
April 2nd, 2009
4:12 pm
What happened to Kelvin Sampson? He’d be perfect for ga. Just like Jim Harrick!
Dog in Fla
April 2nd, 2009
4:13 pm
What is “Panic in Detroit”?
Damon at the Final Four.
dawg fan
April 2nd, 2009
4:13 pm
Both Purnell and Haith would be an embarrassment to come to UGA. If this is the best we can do we should have kept Felton, at least he has one a conference tournament. Miami is as irrevelant in Basketball as the Dawgs, and Clemson always starts strong and fades in the end. This is worse than the mess after the Harrick Era. I agree with earlier post if this is the best we can do we should cancel the Mens B-ball program.
BraveFan73
April 2nd, 2009
4:14 pm
Seriously guys. Is the Capel thing off? It was NEVER on! Have you guys ever been to Norman and seen OU’s 15k seat arena. Mizzou plays in a palace. Damon Evans had an opportunity to hire Anthony Grant, who would have made Georgia a national powerhouse. Instead, he was dumb enough to believe that a coach would leave OU or Mizzou for Stegeman Coliseum. Evans should have hired a consultant, who has a clue.
Camden Mark
April 2nd, 2009
4:18 pm
Bob Knight not even being considered by the political correct pinheads at UGA? Winningest coach in NCAA history wants to coach your B-ball team and you don’t even talk to him? Boy thats just plain stupid.
RAMBLE ON!!!
April 2nd, 2009
4:22 pm
Based on the candidates skin color thus far, Bobby Knight doesn’t have the right color.
Missouri, OK, Miami, Clempson. Is Terence Moore the CEO of this search firm?
cajdawg
April 2nd, 2009
4:27 pm
How about Seth Greenberg of Virginia Tech?
jarvis
April 2nd, 2009
4:29 pm
How do I get a job on the “search committee”? This is what 3 months of research has given us? Free money.