This is an absolutely crazy time of the year! I have so much “dirt’ right now, I’m still trying to sift through all of it. Here are a few things for now. I will also have some “dirt” on a few small college jobs in Florida, a list at Ball State, and a Marist update later today (and I hope to watch some of the games this afternoon!)….
• Two separate sources have told me that Marquette DBO Jerry Wainwright is involved at Old Dominion. Wainwright was a DI head coach for 16 years – DePaul, Richmond, UNC-Wilmington, and holds a 244-225 career record. He joined Buzz Williams staff last June after spending one season as an assistant at Fresno State. I have heard that he is really itching to become a head coach again.
• An early “hot” name at Tennessee Chattanooga is New Mexico associate head coach Craig Neal. His younger brother Shane played at UTC during the Mocs’ glory years under Mack McCarthy. Apparently Shane is working in Chattanooga and has some juice in the athletic department. Craig Neal was third-round draft pick by Portland in 1988, and also played for Miami and Denver. Prior to his time at New Mexico, he was an assistant at Iowa. By all accounts, he was very close to getting the Colorado State job last off-season.
• It sounds like former Louisville assistant Walter McCarty, and District of Columbia head coach Jeff Ruland are both in the mix at Fairleigh Dickinson. McCarty played at Kentucky for Rick Pitino (won a National Championship in 1996) and spent 10 years in the NBA (New York, Boston, Phoenix, and the Clippers). Ruland is also a former NBA player who played in the league for 12 seasons (Bullets, 76ers, and Pistons). He has been the head coach at UDC for the past four seasons, and before that, he was the head coach at Iona (139-135 in 9 seasons).
• It sounds like Bob Knight is pushing hard for his former assistant Chris Beard to get the Angelo State job. Beard just completed his first seasons as the head coach at McMurry where his squad went 19-10. He was an assistant to both Bob and Pat Knight at Texas Tech from 2001-2011. In 2011-12, he was the head coach of the South Carolina Warriors (ABA) where his team went 29-0 in the regular season.
• I have heard that former South Alabama head coach Ronnie Arrow is interested in the Texas State gig. Arrow is a Texas guy – born in Houston and went to Southwest Texas State. He was 206-156 in 13 seasons at South Alabama. He was also the head coach at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and San Jacinto JC.
• I have heard a few names mentioned as possible replacements for Kareem Richardson on Rick Pitino’s staff at Louisville. The two that I have heard most are Chuck Martin, who was recently fired as the head coach at Marist, and Steve Forbes, the head coach at Northwest Florida State (JC). Martin did not have a great run at Marist, but was a proven recruiter for John Calipari at Memphis. He has also been an assistant at St. John’s, Drexel, Manhattan, and UMass. Forbes, who was on Bruce Pearl’s staff at Tennessee, has gone 57-4 in two seasons at NW Florida State.