Wednesday, March 26, 2008

NCAA Head Coaches, Who's Out and Who's In

At Indiana University, Dan Dakich is out. Who's in? My local connections claim it will be either Bruce Pearl, Sean Miller, Steve Alford or Scott Drew. My money's on Bruce Pearl, a very successful coach and favorite among Illini basketball fans based on his investigative talent using sophisticated recording devices.

At Cal-Berkeley, Ben Braun is out. Replacements being discussed locally here are Mark Few of Gonzaga, Randy Bennett of Saint Marys and Mike Montgomery (what's he doing now?). A fourth name I heard earlier today is Bill Grier of San Diego.

My local sources in Portland, Oregon are suggesting that Ernie Kent will be out soon at Oregon. Oregon basketball fans had high hopes this season, and weren't impressed by the Ducks early exit in the NCAA tourney. What I'm hearing is that Mark Few is headed to Eugene, lured by big money to be offered by his pal and Athletic Director, Pat Kilkenny. Kilkenny is apparently new to the scene in 2007 and wants to elevate the basketball program. Would this be a good move for Oregon? Hard to say, but I do know Ernie Kent has a top-notch recruiting class in 2008, having landed Michael Dunigan, Matthew Humphrey, Josh Crittle, Teondre Williams and Drew Wiley.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Add Billy Donovan to the mix and Bennet of WSU.

Isso also says he is interested....

Anonymous said...

On second thought, just add Bennett.

Update 3-29-08: Fox has reported that WSU coach Tony Bennett has been offered the head coaching job at IU. LINK on Legal Pub. At least one source has confirmed that IU expects Bennett to accept the offer and return to the midwest at the school his sister once coached in basketball. Congratulations to IU on a solid hire assuming the offer was accepted.