Let's Talk Coaches

Let's just start by making this clear -- at this point, nobody knows nothin'.

In fact, two of the more credible Hoosier basketball media outlets go in opposite directions on two names today. Those names are Rick Pitino and Thad Matta.

In Terry Hutchens' Ask the Expert blog entry from today, he is asked about a list of potential candidates (Bennett, Pearl, Miller, Matta, Pitino, and Calipari). In his response, Hutchens quickly removes Pitino and Matta from the mix, but says the others could be serious candidates.

However, peegs updated his coaching hot board and said that many of the influential alums and donors are wanting a big name and therefore peegs has moved Pitino and Matta up his coaching hot board (which he has ordered by likelihood).

Another interesting thing about the Hutchens answer was that he again mentions Tom Izzo and Izzo wasn't even mentioned as part of the question. I continue to think this is the craziest name that has been thrown out there, but Hutchens continues to bring up Izzo.

Currently, as far as rumors and names being talked about, I would say these are the guys being mentioned the most. This is not in any order, just who I am hearing talked about the most:

* Bruce Pearl -- A lot of buzz that Indiana will come calling, some of this buzz is coming from Pearl himself talking about it. It's starting to look like the Calipari move from a couple years ago of trying to get more money. In fact, it might be working as Tennessee's Athletic Director has already come out and said they are working on a salary increase and contract extension.

I've been going back and forth on Pearl. Some days, he is my clear cut #1 choice and then there are other days that I am not so sure. I definitely think he can coach and could step right in and win big. It would certainly be an interesting style of play in the Big Ten. He is a big personality and sometimes can be a little over the top.

* Rick Pitino -- I thought it was a total joke the first time I saw his name mentioned, but his name keeps coming up, especially in the past week or so. No doubt that he can coach -- taken 3 different schools to the Final Four and his Louisville team has been very impressive so far in this year's tournament.

I'm still not convinced that he would seriously consider the IU job and I'm not sure that the 10-person committee would go down this path either, but it sure is an interesting name to consider. He has never stayed in one place for more than 8 years and I certainly wouldn't expect him to do so now that he is older, but I have to admit that I would be all sorts of fired up if IU actually hired him.

Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News just wrote an article about the circus at IU. He mentioned that he has a source that says IU wants to talk to Pitino. Unfortunately, he was only mentioning it as an example of how IU would screw up this coaching hire like they have screwed everything else up. "According to my source, they expressed interest in Louisville's Rick Pitino, 55, who already earns about $1 million more than Indiana stretched itself to pay Sampson, who isn't going to want to clean up someone else's mess and who isn't going to be eager to leave the mid-sized city of Louisville for the small college town atmosphere of Bloomington. If the folks at IU had a clue, they'd know all this. "

* Scott Skiles -- First, a Chicago paper reported that he is expecting IU to contact him and now the NY Daily News is saying that he is scheduled to have an interview. I'm not crazy about anybody that does not have college head coaching experience.

* Tony Bennett -- This is probably the name that has been most consistently mentioned. His name was one of the first thrown out there and continues to be talked about everyday. I think the reason he has been consistently mentioned is that it just feels right and seems to make sense. He's a coaches son, spent several years as an assistant in Wisconsin, plays fundementally sound basketball, and has been highly successful in 2 years in the Pac 10.

One of the questions and contradictions has been how his sister left IU.

With the way things have been going for IU lately, we will probably either not pursue Bennett or he won't want to come. Then, in a few years, Bo Ryan will retire and Bennett will go to Wisconsin and whip our ass for the next 30 years. Sorry for the pessimism but this season really beat me down.

* Sean Miller -- Generally mentioned in the same breath as Bennett. However, if all other things are equal, it is believed that Miller has a $2 million dollar buyout and Bennett does not have a buyout clause.

So, these are the guys that I am hearing the most buzz about, which means absolutely nothing. If you recall, the last time we went through this, there were again 15-25 names being talked about and Kelvin Sampson was not one of them.

Other names being mentioned (again, not in any particular order):

* Jamie Dixon - I haven't heard his name a lot, but it has been mentioned a little bit more recently and I think he is an interesting candidate. Everything that I read is that he is very well respected and very highly regarded by everyone that he comes across. Hit Pitt teams have been successful and they play hard and tough.

* John Calipari - I keep hearing that he would be interested if IU came calling. First of all, I'm a little surprised that he would seriously be interested. But more importantly, I don't see IU calling him. There are serious doubts if that Memphis program is clean and IU can't go down that path. I would think that at least half of the 10-person committee would be dead set against this one.

* Tom Izzo - Hutchens seems to be keeping this one alive, but I just don't see it. Does not even make the peegs hot board list that contains 19 candidates.

* Thad Matta - Interestingly enough, Hutchens dismisses Matta as a possibility but he is on the peegs radar. Me personally, if there was a coach that would move within the Big Ten, I could see Matta coming to IU before I could see Izzo doing it. Matta has Indiana ties.

* Rick Barnes - I know everyone likes to see some ties back to Indiana or at least back to the midwest or Big Ten. But if I guy can coach, then I think you have to take a serious look at him.

* Tom Crean - Seems like he was a hotter name last time, but I have heard his name mentioned again. Around these parts, people can't fathom that he would even consider the IU job.

* Kevin Stallings - Otherwise known as "the Purdue guy". Seems to be very highly respected for his coaching abilities. I could probably get over the Purdue thing as long as he wins 90% of his overall games and 100% of games against Purdue. Honestly, the Purdue thing does bother me, but I guess that just means the rivalry is alive and well.

* Anthony Grant - For those that are familiar with this guy, they can't seem to say enough good things about him. People are very impressed with what he is doing at VCU and he is credited with recruiting the Florida class that won back-to-back titles while he was an assistant under Billy Donovan.

* Brad Brownell - From Evansville, played with Calbert Cheaney in high school (Brownell was a senior when Calber was a sophomore), played college ball under former Knight assistant Royce Waltman, and coached under Jim Crews. Has been successful at UNC-Wilmington and now Wright State. Might not be a name that is known around the nation, but could be a darkhorse for this job.

* Jay Wright - Again, a name that is familiar from the last go around. Villanova into the Sweet 16 as a 12 seed is certainly raising his stock.

* Scott Drew - Rebuilt a disaster at Baylor. Even though it was just one game, I don't think IU fans liked seeing Purdue hang 90 on his Baylor team in this year's tournament.

* Mike Brey - Again, it's just one game, but Tony Bennett's team held a high-scoring Notre Dame team to just 40-some points. Advantage: Bennett.

* Randy Wittman - Seems to be the former IU player that is getting mentioned the most. Again, don't like the lack of college coaching experience.

* Steve Alford - I think the mess at Iowa is still too fresh. If he has a couple more good years at New Mexico, then his name might again be mentioned for some big-time jobs (I just hope IU doesn't have an opening again for a long time).

* Mike Montgomery - Peegs just added him to the bottom of his hot board and says he has a source saying that IU might want to talk to Montgomery. He would have been a good hire when Knight left, but not now.

* Mark Few - Was one of the hottest names last time and is barely being mentioned this time. It seemed like IU probably contacted him last time and he said he was not interested. That was never confirmed, but there were some strong rumors to that effect.

* Dan Dakich - You don't announce a 10-person committee and a nationwide search for a coach right before the team's NCAA tournament game if the interim coach is a serious candidate. Also, Dakich's resume just isn't that strong. For example, one of the lesser known names on this list is probably Brad Brownell. Brownell has taken UNCW and Wright State to the Big Dance in 3 of the last 5 years whereas Dakich never went in 10 years as the Bowling Green head coach. As for this interim stint, I'm certainly not blaming Dakich, but at the same time, he wasn't able to overcome the odds and get this team to play down the stretch when it mattered most.

Unfortunately, I think Dakich had the perfect job for him before this mess unfolded. I think a great position for him and for IU would be to have Dan Dakich as the president of basketball operations. Just from his interviews and dealings with the media, you can tell that he understands the right way to do things and the IU way of doing things. I just don't think he is an elite coach, so the perfect position would be that basketball operations position that he was brought in for, but now even that is screwed up.

Ok, I think that is most of the names that have been seriously mentioned. I know there have been others, but I think this covers most of them. Again, this probably just means we now have the list of who will NOT be the next coach at IU.

Coming soon....my list of who I WANT to be the next coach as well as a list of who I THINK is the most likely to be hired.

Anyone got any other rumors or buzz on the coaching front?