Anthony Grant has reached an agreement with the University of Alabama to become their new head basketball coach. The decision came not long after Billy Donovan decided to remain at Florida (a job Grant coveted). The deal is worth in the neighborhood of $2 million per season. The official announcement is expected in the next
News
Gillispie Fired at Kentucky
As we expected, Billy Gillispie was fired today at Kentucky. Here’s a link to the press conference and the video: http://www.ukathletics.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/032709aa… Florida’s Billy Donovan would be the "hot" name here, but he just withdrew his name from consideration, opting to remain in Gainesville. I would expect Oklahoma State’s Travis Ford (a UK alum), and Villanova’s
More Random Coaching Rumors…..
I am starting to hear Jay Lawson’s name more and more at Boston University. The highly successful DII head coach (Bentley College) would make an interesting choice, given the amount of quality assistants out there. On 3/15, I had Lawson listed among my "long shots" to get the BU job. Apparently he has moved up
Anthony Grant Visits Alabama
Anthony Grant visited Alabama yesterday. He arrived on campus at 10:00 and was taken to the Presidents mansion for his first meeting. Grant was accompanied by his wife and also met with football coach Nick Saban. Here’s a picture from the visit: http://blog.al.com/bamabeat/2009/03/anthony_grant_checks_out… He left campus late last night without and announcement being made. I
Auburn’s Cooper will be hired at Tennessee State
Auburn Associate Head Coach John Cooper will be the next head coach at Tennessee State. A press conference has been scheduled for tomorrow. Cooper has spent the past 5 season on Jeff Lebo’s staff at Auburn. He has also worked at Oregon and South Carolina. The Kansas City, Mo., native led Wichita State in scoring
Watching High Point Press Conference Live…..
Press conference just started – you can watch live here….. http://www.highpointpanthers.com/… The new coach is……..Scott Cherry (we called it last night!) Some notes from the press conference: It was the AD’s decision to make the hire according to the President of the University. The AD said Tubby Smith (a High Point alum) helped in the
Cherry to be Hired at High Point
South Carolina assistant coach Scott Cherry is expected to be named head coach at High Point tomorrow afternoon. A 2:00pm press conference has been scheduled. Cherry came to USC from Western Kentucky when Darrin Horn got the job last spring. He played on UNC’s 1993 national Championship team and was on the staff at George
Hot Rumor: DII job to open
Mercy College Head Basketball Coach Tony Staffiere will resign following Mercy College’s 0-27 (0-18 ECC) season according to a well placed source. Staffiere is one of the few part-time head coaches left at the DII level, making his job almost impossible. Until this job goes full-time, the DirtKing can’t recommend it to anyone. We’ll publish
Southwestern Oklahoma State University Coach Steps Down
Southwestern Oklahoma State University Head Coach Todd Thurman has resigned as the schools basketball coach, but will remain as the Athletic Director. Wayne Anderson will assume the interim head coaching duties and maintain the players mandated academic progress checks as well as begin the initial contacts for recruiting. Thurman was 55 and 27 in his
DII Interim Jobs
Two DII schools currently have Interim Head Coaches – Kentucky State and the Southern Connecticut State. With the season winding down, it will be interesting to see what happens with these positions. Will the schools open the positions up, or retain their current interim coaches on a permanent basis. Former Georgia Tech standout Clarence Moore
Rutgers AD Finalists
Rutgers has narrowed their AD search to three candidates. They are former Rutgers football player Tim Pernetti, who now works for CBS sports, North Carolina-Wilmington athletic director Kelly Mehrtens and Akron athletic director Mack Rhoades. Why is this important? Most likely the first order of business will be for the new AD to deal with
Report: Alabama interested in Purnell
Kevin Scarbinsky from the Birmingham News (AL) reported that he has inside knowledge that Alabama is interested in Oliver Purnell as their next basketball coach. http://blog.al.com/kevin-scarbinsky/2009/02/scarbinsky_clems… However, in response to this article, Purnell said that he has not been contacted by UA, and does not plan to go anywhere. http://www.independentmail.com/blogs/greg-wallace/2009/feb/2… In my opinion, Purnell stays