JonDMiller
Publisher/Founder
It’s been one week since Iowa Athletic Director Gary Barta made the move to fire Todd Lickliter. The past week hasn’t revealed anything of verifiable substance, just educated guesses. Which is pretty much what I expected to happen.
This second week of the search may turn out to be the most pivotal, as there are just 16 teams left alive in the NCAA tournament. The majority of likely candidates will have finished their seasons, be they assistant or head coaches. Some may still be going, but that list is probably smaller than the latter.
Here are a few factors to consider as we take another look at a list of names…Possible Big Ten expansion and how that might destabilize the Big East and Big 12…the paycheck…going from a smaller conference to an elite conference…stability at current job…comfort level candidate has at current job (does he have to work as hard at his current job to succeed as he would at Iowa?)
Another factor, or factors, are the other jobs that are opening or may open up. Oregon, Iowa, St. Johns, Houston, Seton Hall and Auburn are the biggest names right now, but any changes this week will have a domino effect.
Here’s a rundown of where things may stand with many of the names we have bandied about:
‘MISSION IMPOSSIBLE’
Bruce Pearl: He was always a long shot, but I believe that is close to being no shot. Pearl has things in motion at Tennessee, and has advanced to his third Sweet 16 appearance in his four years on Rocky Top. He is paid well, his new wife is from there, he has a great recruiting class coming in. There are few reasons to believe he would come to Iowa right now, other than hope…I’ll continue to cling to those shreds of hope as he remains my #1 choice, but I am not going to hold my breath.
Jay Wright: He’s not going anywhere either, and I never believed he would be a candidate.
Josh Pastner: I have not heard anything on him for some time; highly unlikely because he has the nation’s #1 recruiting class coming in at Memphis and he can stay there another year or two and perhaps have his pick of the best jobs in the nation if he succeeds.
Keno Davis: Has said publicly he is not interested in the Iowa job. While nothing is over until the new coach is hired, we’ll take him at his word.
Kevin Stallings: Much less talk about him this time around than three years ago.
Lon Kruger: I see no reason he would consider leaving UNLV for Iowa. The recruiting base is better, his team should be very good next year and he is nearly 60 and I doubt he wants a rebuilding job right now…plus, I don’t think Iowa can afford to hire anyone that isn’t going to burn the candle at both ends for at least 18 months
THE UNCERTAIN
Buzz Williams: He was a name that I really liked early on, and still do. Yet again, as is the case with many names you ‘like’, there would have to be a mutual interest. What does he gain by leaving Marquette of the Big East for Iowa of the Big Ten? Marquette has solid to excellent facilities. The payday might not be as big an increase as we might think, if at all.
Scott Drew: He has his Baylor team in the Sweet 16 and the two seed on his side of the bracket has been knocked out (Villanova). It’s looking more and more like an Elite Eight appearance for Baylor, which was where I had them on my bracket. He gets it done and doesn’t win friends in the process, but I haven’t seen anyone publicly accuse the guy of doing anything other than going up to the edge. Iowa shouldn’t worry about hiring a nice guy, just someone that is honest. Drew will get a lot of attention for nearly every opening.
Paul Hewitt: Georgia Tech is done, and I continue to read things out of the south that his future there is uncertain. He has won there; he made it to an NCAA final, plus he is a good recruiter.
Jamie Dixon: His name has come up too often in the last week…not necessarily connected to the Iowa job, but that he might be interested in testing the waters because of his pay grade at Pitt and that their program is not a priority for the fans in the Steel City.
‘THE POSSIBLE’
Mark Gottfried: A new name for our rundowns…The former Alabama coach did a decent job for the Crimson Tide. I had heard late last week that Gottfried’s agent let it be known to Iowa officials that his client was interested. I am not saying I place a great deal of stock in that, but it didn’t come from a casual acquaintance, either. Gottfried was an assistant under Jim Harrick at UCLA, then he took over Murray State’s program in 1995. In his three years there, they won the Ohio Valley Conference each year, then it was on to Alabama. He won an SEC West title and finished second on two other occasions. In ten full seasons there, he made it to five NCAA tournaments, including the Elite Eight in 2004-2005. He twice made it to the round of 32 and he lost in the first round on two other instances. Two of his teams went 12-4 in league play, one went 10-6 with the other seven not being any better than 8-8 at the football school. He has one losing record, his second year on the job. Three of his teams won at least 24 games…he is 46 years old.
Tony Barbee: The UTEP coach, who has a reputation as a strong recruiter, will be in the mix for the vacant jobs this year. But will he jump this season? His team next year promises to be better than this year’s NCAA qualifier and they might be able to make some noise, and Barbee might have better choices as it relates to the openings around the nation.
Steve Forbes: The Lone Tree native and Tennessee assistant has made it known that Iowa is his dream destination and that he would like to speak with Gary Barta about the opening. I also believe that some preliminary vetting has taken place from Iowa’s end. Don’t read a lot into that, because it does not mean Iowa has narrowed its focus onto Forbes. It just means that the Parker search firm is doing its job, and they will look into several candidates and their backgrounds before this is over.
Ben Jacobson: His UNI Panthers are in the Sweet 16 after pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament; their Saturday win over top seeded Kansas. They draw Michigan State on Thursday night, and the Spartans will likely be without point guard Kalin Lucas. Lucas is to Michigan State what Shonn Greene was to the 2008 Iowa football team. They suffered most of their regular season Big Ten losses when Lucas injured his ankle in February. UNI could hang with the Spartans at full strength. Without Lucas, I might even favor UNI in this game. An Elite Eight appearance seems realistic now, and that would be against either Tennessee or Ohio State. If I am a Panther fan, I root for Ohio State…that’s after seeing what Kansas’ press did to the Panthers late in the game. Tennessee is a pressing team and they can run that at you for quite a while. Plus, getting Ohio State on one day’s rest isn’t bad; they used their bench less than any team in Division I this year.
Even though I am on record as not being overly excited about Jacobson as Iowa’s next coach given his lack of experience recruiting in the shark infested waters he would encounter at the Big Ten level, I certainly cannot ignore the likelihood that the Iowa search committee will at least consider Jacobson. For those that want to say he would not consider Iowa, I disagree. If other schools don’t come knocking, and he is offered a once in a lifetime payday, he’s going to take a long, hard look at it. I just don’t think it’s in either party’s best interest to go too far down this road, however. Jacobson might be ’set up to fail’ given Iowa’s recent track record with mid-major coaches who had no experience recruiting the kind of players you need to consistently compete in the Big Ten.
THE NAMES AGAINST THE WALL
Steve Lavin: Dick Vitale is touting his fellow ESPN color analyst. Lavin most recently coached at UCLA but was fired in 2003. I continue to ask this question: why has he been out of coaching so long? Perhaps he wanted a break, perhaps he owed his wife her time to do what she wanted, perhaps he just needed some time away. He was an excellent recruiter while at UCLA, both as an assistant to Jim Harrick and while he was the head coach. He signed the #1 rated recruiting classes in 1998 and 2001 and during his time there signed seven McDonald’s All Americans…but that is at UCLA. He comes from the Gene Keady coaching tree, as he was an assistant at Purdue before his time in Westwood. He is a native of San Francisco. He is married to actress Mary Ann Jarou. In his seven years as UCLA’s head coach, he made it to four Sweet 16’s, an Elite Eight and one more first round appearance. His name probably still carries some weight with the players of today, but that’s more for his face time on television than for his work as a head coach; next year’s seniors were in the 4th grade when Lavin was fired from UCLA.
John Groce: He took Ohio to the round of 32 this year, and he was Thad Matta’s right hand man for a number of years at Ohio State, Xavier and Butler. He was a part of the Ohio State coaching staff that landed Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Jr and others, dubbed the ‘Thad Five’. He knows how to swim with the sharks.
Brian Gregory: Comes from the Tom Izzo tree, and has done a solid job at Dayton. This year’s team was a bit of a disappointment, however. After Izzo went on his tirade about how he felt Lickliter was done wrong, it makes you wonder if he would advise Gregory to look in a different direction.
Fran McCaffery: Andy Katz is throwing his name up against the wall. I have no idea if there is anything there or not. He is the coach at Sienna, has had a high graduation rate there and spent a number of years as an assistant at Notre Dame.
LATE ADDITION
Doug Wojcik: Doug Wojcik (born April 12, 1964) is the men's basketball coach at the University of Tulsa. He is a graduate of Wheeling Central Catholic High School in Wheeling, West Virginia. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1987 and served in the Navy until 1992. While at Navy, Wojcik had a very successful playing career as a three-year starter at point guard for the Midshipmen alongside Hall of Famer David Robinson, amassing several team records for assists. Once Wojcik completed his military service he returned to Annapolis as an assistant coach. Wojcik continued his coaching career at Notre Dame, North Carolina, and Michigan State until he was hired for his first head coaching job by Tulsa.
In the 2005-2006 season, his first year as a head coach, Wojcik led the Golden Hurricane to an 11-17 record, an improvement over two consecutive 9-win seasons in 2003-2004 and 2004-2005. His second season saw more improvement, with a final 20-11 overall record and a 9-7 Conference USA record, TU's first winning conference record in three years. At Wheeling Central, Wojcik played under Skip Prosser, who would go on to coach at Loyola, Xavier and Wake Forest.
Wojcik has recruited and coached two players who perhaps will go down as two of the best players in school history when their careers are completed. Already, guard Ben Uzoh is one of only four players in school history to surpass the career plateaus for 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals in his three seasons. Seven-foot center Jerome Jordan has the school's top two single-season marks for blocked shots and is ranked 11th on the school's career rebounding list.
First coach in Tulsa history to win 20+ games three straight years, and 25+ two straight years (Nolan Richardson, Tubby Smith and Bill Self were all at Tulsa).
Was promoted to associate head coach in his second year at MSU, a list that also includes Tom Crean and Brian Gregory...Assistant at Carolina before that from 2000-2003...Wojcik's recruiting expertise and ability was clearly evident while at UNC. He helped bring in recruiting classes ranked second in the nation in both 2001 and 2002. These classes included one McDonald's All-American in 2001 (Jawad Williams) and three in 2002 (Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants and Sean May). Wojcik also served as head coach of the junior varsity program at North Carolina for three years.
- – - – - – -
I think this week will be ‘moving week’, to borrow a phrase from the golf world. In that game, Saturday is called ‘moving day’, where contenders make their move up the leaderboard and pretenders fade away. This is the week where Iowa will likely receive the recommendations and due diligence files from the Parker Search firm, and begin to narrow their focus on the candidates that have expressed interest in the job. I don’t expect Iowa to make a hire this week.
Steve Alford resigned at Iowa on March 23rd, 2007. Todd Lickliter was hired on April the 2nd; that was an 11 day span where the Iowa job was vacant. Today marks the 7th day the Iowa job has been open, so this search is going to take longer than the last search, but that is understandable due to when Alford resigned, the NCAA tournament had already begun. This could go into the Final Four weekend (April 3rd) or shortly after, but not much.
NEXT week would be the safe bet for when we find out who will replace Todd Lickliter and become the 22nd coach in Iowa history.
This second week of the search may turn out to be the most pivotal, as there are just 16 teams left alive in the NCAA tournament. The majority of likely candidates will have finished their seasons, be they assistant or head coaches. Some may still be going, but that list is probably smaller than the latter.
Here are a few factors to consider as we take another look at a list of names…Possible Big Ten expansion and how that might destabilize the Big East and Big 12…the paycheck…going from a smaller conference to an elite conference…stability at current job…comfort level candidate has at current job (does he have to work as hard at his current job to succeed as he would at Iowa?)
Another factor, or factors, are the other jobs that are opening or may open up. Oregon, Iowa, St. Johns, Houston, Seton Hall and Auburn are the biggest names right now, but any changes this week will have a domino effect.
Here’s a rundown of where things may stand with many of the names we have bandied about:
‘MISSION IMPOSSIBLE’
Bruce Pearl: He was always a long shot, but I believe that is close to being no shot. Pearl has things in motion at Tennessee, and has advanced to his third Sweet 16 appearance in his four years on Rocky Top. He is paid well, his new wife is from there, he has a great recruiting class coming in. There are few reasons to believe he would come to Iowa right now, other than hope…I’ll continue to cling to those shreds of hope as he remains my #1 choice, but I am not going to hold my breath.
Jay Wright: He’s not going anywhere either, and I never believed he would be a candidate.
Josh Pastner: I have not heard anything on him for some time; highly unlikely because he has the nation’s #1 recruiting class coming in at Memphis and he can stay there another year or two and perhaps have his pick of the best jobs in the nation if he succeeds.
Keno Davis: Has said publicly he is not interested in the Iowa job. While nothing is over until the new coach is hired, we’ll take him at his word.
Kevin Stallings: Much less talk about him this time around than three years ago.
Lon Kruger: I see no reason he would consider leaving UNLV for Iowa. The recruiting base is better, his team should be very good next year and he is nearly 60 and I doubt he wants a rebuilding job right now…plus, I don’t think Iowa can afford to hire anyone that isn’t going to burn the candle at both ends for at least 18 months
THE UNCERTAIN
Buzz Williams: He was a name that I really liked early on, and still do. Yet again, as is the case with many names you ‘like’, there would have to be a mutual interest. What does he gain by leaving Marquette of the Big East for Iowa of the Big Ten? Marquette has solid to excellent facilities. The payday might not be as big an increase as we might think, if at all.
Scott Drew: He has his Baylor team in the Sweet 16 and the two seed on his side of the bracket has been knocked out (Villanova). It’s looking more and more like an Elite Eight appearance for Baylor, which was where I had them on my bracket. He gets it done and doesn’t win friends in the process, but I haven’t seen anyone publicly accuse the guy of doing anything other than going up to the edge. Iowa shouldn’t worry about hiring a nice guy, just someone that is honest. Drew will get a lot of attention for nearly every opening.
Paul Hewitt: Georgia Tech is done, and I continue to read things out of the south that his future there is uncertain. He has won there; he made it to an NCAA final, plus he is a good recruiter.
Jamie Dixon: His name has come up too often in the last week…not necessarily connected to the Iowa job, but that he might be interested in testing the waters because of his pay grade at Pitt and that their program is not a priority for the fans in the Steel City.
‘THE POSSIBLE’
Mark Gottfried: A new name for our rundowns…The former Alabama coach did a decent job for the Crimson Tide. I had heard late last week that Gottfried’s agent let it be known to Iowa officials that his client was interested. I am not saying I place a great deal of stock in that, but it didn’t come from a casual acquaintance, either. Gottfried was an assistant under Jim Harrick at UCLA, then he took over Murray State’s program in 1995. In his three years there, they won the Ohio Valley Conference each year, then it was on to Alabama. He won an SEC West title and finished second on two other occasions. In ten full seasons there, he made it to five NCAA tournaments, including the Elite Eight in 2004-2005. He twice made it to the round of 32 and he lost in the first round on two other instances. Two of his teams went 12-4 in league play, one went 10-6 with the other seven not being any better than 8-8 at the football school. He has one losing record, his second year on the job. Three of his teams won at least 24 games…he is 46 years old.
Tony Barbee: The UTEP coach, who has a reputation as a strong recruiter, will be in the mix for the vacant jobs this year. But will he jump this season? His team next year promises to be better than this year’s NCAA qualifier and they might be able to make some noise, and Barbee might have better choices as it relates to the openings around the nation.
Steve Forbes: The Lone Tree native and Tennessee assistant has made it known that Iowa is his dream destination and that he would like to speak with Gary Barta about the opening. I also believe that some preliminary vetting has taken place from Iowa’s end. Don’t read a lot into that, because it does not mean Iowa has narrowed its focus onto Forbes. It just means that the Parker search firm is doing its job, and they will look into several candidates and their backgrounds before this is over.
Ben Jacobson: His UNI Panthers are in the Sweet 16 after pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament; their Saturday win over top seeded Kansas. They draw Michigan State on Thursday night, and the Spartans will likely be without point guard Kalin Lucas. Lucas is to Michigan State what Shonn Greene was to the 2008 Iowa football team. They suffered most of their regular season Big Ten losses when Lucas injured his ankle in February. UNI could hang with the Spartans at full strength. Without Lucas, I might even favor UNI in this game. An Elite Eight appearance seems realistic now, and that would be against either Tennessee or Ohio State. If I am a Panther fan, I root for Ohio State…that’s after seeing what Kansas’ press did to the Panthers late in the game. Tennessee is a pressing team and they can run that at you for quite a while. Plus, getting Ohio State on one day’s rest isn’t bad; they used their bench less than any team in Division I this year.
Even though I am on record as not being overly excited about Jacobson as Iowa’s next coach given his lack of experience recruiting in the shark infested waters he would encounter at the Big Ten level, I certainly cannot ignore the likelihood that the Iowa search committee will at least consider Jacobson. For those that want to say he would not consider Iowa, I disagree. If other schools don’t come knocking, and he is offered a once in a lifetime payday, he’s going to take a long, hard look at it. I just don’t think it’s in either party’s best interest to go too far down this road, however. Jacobson might be ’set up to fail’ given Iowa’s recent track record with mid-major coaches who had no experience recruiting the kind of players you need to consistently compete in the Big Ten.
THE NAMES AGAINST THE WALL
Steve Lavin: Dick Vitale is touting his fellow ESPN color analyst. Lavin most recently coached at UCLA but was fired in 2003. I continue to ask this question: why has he been out of coaching so long? Perhaps he wanted a break, perhaps he owed his wife her time to do what she wanted, perhaps he just needed some time away. He was an excellent recruiter while at UCLA, both as an assistant to Jim Harrick and while he was the head coach. He signed the #1 rated recruiting classes in 1998 and 2001 and during his time there signed seven McDonald’s All Americans…but that is at UCLA. He comes from the Gene Keady coaching tree, as he was an assistant at Purdue before his time in Westwood. He is a native of San Francisco. He is married to actress Mary Ann Jarou. In his seven years as UCLA’s head coach, he made it to four Sweet 16’s, an Elite Eight and one more first round appearance. His name probably still carries some weight with the players of today, but that’s more for his face time on television than for his work as a head coach; next year’s seniors were in the 4th grade when Lavin was fired from UCLA.
John Groce: He took Ohio to the round of 32 this year, and he was Thad Matta’s right hand man for a number of years at Ohio State, Xavier and Butler. He was a part of the Ohio State coaching staff that landed Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Jr and others, dubbed the ‘Thad Five’. He knows how to swim with the sharks.
Brian Gregory: Comes from the Tom Izzo tree, and has done a solid job at Dayton. This year’s team was a bit of a disappointment, however. After Izzo went on his tirade about how he felt Lickliter was done wrong, it makes you wonder if he would advise Gregory to look in a different direction.
Fran McCaffery: Andy Katz is throwing his name up against the wall. I have no idea if there is anything there or not. He is the coach at Sienna, has had a high graduation rate there and spent a number of years as an assistant at Notre Dame.
LATE ADDITION
Doug Wojcik: Doug Wojcik (born April 12, 1964) is the men's basketball coach at the University of Tulsa. He is a graduate of Wheeling Central Catholic High School in Wheeling, West Virginia. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1987 and served in the Navy until 1992. While at Navy, Wojcik had a very successful playing career as a three-year starter at point guard for the Midshipmen alongside Hall of Famer David Robinson, amassing several team records for assists. Once Wojcik completed his military service he returned to Annapolis as an assistant coach. Wojcik continued his coaching career at Notre Dame, North Carolina, and Michigan State until he was hired for his first head coaching job by Tulsa.
In the 2005-2006 season, his first year as a head coach, Wojcik led the Golden Hurricane to an 11-17 record, an improvement over two consecutive 9-win seasons in 2003-2004 and 2004-2005. His second season saw more improvement, with a final 20-11 overall record and a 9-7 Conference USA record, TU's first winning conference record in three years. At Wheeling Central, Wojcik played under Skip Prosser, who would go on to coach at Loyola, Xavier and Wake Forest.
Wojcik has recruited and coached two players who perhaps will go down as two of the best players in school history when their careers are completed. Already, guard Ben Uzoh is one of only four players in school history to surpass the career plateaus for 1,000 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals in his three seasons. Seven-foot center Jerome Jordan has the school's top two single-season marks for blocked shots and is ranked 11th on the school's career rebounding list.
First coach in Tulsa history to win 20+ games three straight years, and 25+ two straight years (Nolan Richardson, Tubby Smith and Bill Self were all at Tulsa).
Was promoted to associate head coach in his second year at MSU, a list that also includes Tom Crean and Brian Gregory...Assistant at Carolina before that from 2000-2003...Wojcik's recruiting expertise and ability was clearly evident while at UNC. He helped bring in recruiting classes ranked second in the nation in both 2001 and 2002. These classes included one McDonald's All-American in 2001 (Jawad Williams) and three in 2002 (Raymond Felton, Rashad McCants and Sean May). Wojcik also served as head coach of the junior varsity program at North Carolina for three years.
- – - – - – -
I think this week will be ‘moving week’, to borrow a phrase from the golf world. In that game, Saturday is called ‘moving day’, where contenders make their move up the leaderboard and pretenders fade away. This is the week where Iowa will likely receive the recommendations and due diligence files from the Parker Search firm, and begin to narrow their focus on the candidates that have expressed interest in the job. I don’t expect Iowa to make a hire this week.
Steve Alford resigned at Iowa on March 23rd, 2007. Todd Lickliter was hired on April the 2nd; that was an 11 day span where the Iowa job was vacant. Today marks the 7th day the Iowa job has been open, so this search is going to take longer than the last search, but that is understandable due to when Alford resigned, the NCAA tournament had already begun. This could go into the Final Four weekend (April 3rd) or shortly after, but not much.
NEXT week would be the safe bet for when we find out who will replace Todd Lickliter and become the 22nd coach in Iowa history.
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