I think it’s going to be a pretty active week on the coaching front. Here is some early week “dirt”….

Mt. St. Mary’s interim head coach Matt Henry did in fact meet with the administration at The Mount late last week. Apparently, he was informed that he will be considered for the job even though the university has decided to open up the search. I don’t think this was the news that Henry wanted to hear, and I think now he becomes a long shot to keep the gig. I am still hearing that George Washington assistant Pete Strickland will be a leader for this one.

Tulsa has hired a search firm to help indentify a new basketball coach. Eastman and Beaudine (from Texas) has been hired – they were the firm that helped Missouri land Frank Haith. I’ve heard that Tulsa AD Ross Parmley wants someone with experience as a head coach. BUT, the rumors are slowly starting to circulate that Vanderbilt assistant David Cason will be in the mix. He was an assistant for six seasons at Tulsa before heading to Vandy last spring. He has a ton of support from the current Tulsa players.

I’ve heard that UAB AD Brian Mackin and President Carol Garrison are scheduled to meet sometime this week to discuss the future of head coach Mike Davis. With only one year remaining on Davis’ current contract, a decision has to be made. Do they extend him, or go in a different direction? We should be more on this later in the week, but this is definitely a situation to keep an eye on.

The search at Brown will heat up after a new AD is hired. I’ve heard that the 10-person search has been hard at work on this since January, and that the committee is getting closer to making a hire. Look for the new AD to be announced by the first week in April. I’ve been getting conflicting reports as to whether this will help or hurt interim head coach TJ Sorrentine. It now sounds like the timing of the hiring of the AD will allow time for a MBB search if needed.

Pretty interesting from the Chicago Tribune about the future of Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody. After 12 seasons of not making the NCAA tournament under Carmody, Trib writer David Haugh is calling for a change: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/college/ct-spt-0312-nca…

Berkeley College assistant Billy Diamond has resigned. He took some time off to deal with a family issue towards the end of the season. He is still scheduled to coach the blue underclassmen team in the Mary Kline Classic on May 5th.