Obviously it’s very early to start talking about contenders at Fairfield, but there are already a bunch of names being floated around. Here are some of the names I’ve heard during the early stages of the Stag’s search….

Bob Simon – Associate Head Coach Fairfield. Has been at Fairfield for four seasons. Has the support of Cooley for the job. AD Gene Doris is rumored to want a guy with head coaching experience which would eliminate Simon, but until we know that for sure, he looks like a legit contender here.

Paul Hewitt – Former Head Coach Georgia Tech. Before GT, he coached at Siena (in the MAAC – the same league Fairfield), where he had tremendous success – he was 66-27 (38-16 MAAC) in three seasons. Hewitt and Doris are also both NYC guys.

Norm Roberts – Former head coach St. John’s. His name has been floated out there. Not sure how serious of a candidate he will be.

Andre LaFleur – Assistant Coach UConn. Has been at UConn for the last 9 seasons. The UConn carries a lot of weight in the state of Connecticut. Definitely appears ready to take over his own program.

Aki Collins – Assistant Coach Marquette. Prior to his three seasons at Marquette, he was an assistant under Cooley at Fairfield.