Coaching Rumor Mill
Nov. 5, 2001
Big Men Off Campus
Loyalty only goes so far. The letter sweater might have meant a lot, but not enough for the following active head coaches who voluntarily left head coaching positions at their alma mater for greener pastures although they were also standout college players:
Coach, Current School Alma Mater (Years Coached)
Jim Baron, Rhode Island St. Bonaventure '77 (1992-93 through 2000-01)
Barry Collier, Nebraska Butler '76 (1989-90 through 1999-2000)
Hugh Durham, Jacksonville Florida State '59 (1966-67 through 1977-78)
Ray McCallum, Houston Ball State '83 (1993-94 through 1999-2000)
Jim O'Brien, Ohio State Boston College '71 (1986-87 through 1996-97)
Oliver Purnell, Dayton Old Dominion '75 (1991-92 through 1993-94)
Melvin Watkins, Texas A&M UNC Charlotte '77 (1996-97 and 1997-98)
NOTES: Durham left for Georgia. . . . Stanford assistant Blaine Taylor (Montana '82) was head coach of his alma mater for seven seasons from 1992-93 through 1997-98.
By Steve Richardson
Snyder to Stay Put, Peterson to Tennessee?
Missouri coach Quin Snyder has indicated he will not listen to any coaching overtures by other schools and will remain coach of the Tigers.....Tulsa coach Buzz Peterson, who has the Golden Hurricane in the NIT semifinals, is a leading candidate at Tennessee. Peterson, who played for the North Carolina Tar Heels, is from Asheville, N.C. But he would be leaving Tulsa after one season if he accepted the Volunteer job....Recently fired Texas Tech coach James Dickey is interested in getting back into coaching quickly. He has talked with the president at North Texas and is interested in the coaching job there vacated when Vic Trilli was fired earlier this month..
Pitino Goes to Louisville, Davis Loses Interim Tag at Indiana
The NCAA Division I job market stretches from New England to the West Coast with unfilled jobs as March Madness heads into its third week. The latest job openings at Wisconsin, Rutgers and Tennessee this week are sure to spawn more job hopping in the coming weeks as the domino theory takes effect. There are about 25 Division I vacancies, give or take a couple.
And as of Wednesday morning, officials at Michigan, South Carolina and UNLV still were pondering their next moves in their searches after the latest developments.
Rick Pitino had Louisville and Michigan hanging on every word until he accepted the Louisville job on Wednesday. The other job that almost certainly will be filled by Friday is the one at Texas Tech where former Indiana coach Bob Knight is set to accept an offer from the Red Raiders.
Michigan's search is complicated by the fact Wolverine officials apparently will not offer more than the $870,000 package that Michigan football coach Lloyd Carr is getting....South Carolina athletic director Mike McGee is making a strong pitch for Missouri coach Quin Snyder, whose package at Missouri is only $350,000...South Carolina is willing to offer between $800,000 and $1 million as a package. Where is South Carolina grad and ex-Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins in all of this? Probably nowhere, except at his condo in Hilton Head, S.C. He turned down McGee once before after briefly accepting the job. Wake Forest coach Dave Odom may be another option for South Carolina...Tennessee is just getting started...Wisconsin may want Utah coach Rick Majerus, but he had been casting his eyes to Bloomington, Ind., before Mike Davis was hired on Wednesday full-time by the Hoosiers.
Duquesne may like the idea of hiring McNeese State coach Ron Everhart, who has roots on the East Coast UMass was in Greensboro, N.C., ,last week at the NCAA East Region first and second rounds looking at Hofstra coach Jay Wright and Ohio State assistant coach Dave Spiller, who was also an assistant coach for Jim O'Brien at Boston College...Wright also may be somebody UNLV is interested in looking at because he was a one-time assistant coach at the school under Rollie Massimino...Utah State coach Stew Morrill wouldl be a hot coaching property but he likes it in Utah. His family lives there including his mother, who is in her 70s. But at 48, he still may have another move in him...Creighton coach Dana Altman and his wife were watching ESPN when it was reported that he was a leading candidate for the Rhode Island job. The next morning Altman called Andy Katz and asked him: "I am from Wilber, Neb., why would I want to go to Rhode Island?" Altman has a package worth $300-$350,000 a year at Creighton, and is affordable for some major school.
