Here’s what I have so far today. Still waiting to hear more on Central Arkansas, but here’s some slag to chew on…..
Some of the candidates to replace Pat Douglass at Cal-Irvine are:
Ken Ammann – Concordia College Head Coach. His team is currently 30-3. Concordia is located in Irvine.
Phil Matthews – Assistant Coach at Nebraska. Played at Cal-Irvine. Former head coach at San Francisco.
Eric Raveno – Head Coach at Portland. Was an assistant coach at Stanford during Cal-Irvine AD Mike Izzi’s 16-year tenure as an administrator in the Cardinal’s athletic program.
Tod Murphy – Head Coach Gordon College. Cal-Irvine alum who played in the NBA. Spent 6 seasons as an assistant at UCI. Led his team to the NCAA tourney this year (24-5).
Rumors are swirling out of Iowa about the fate of Head Coach Todd Lickliter. Iowa is 38-58 in Lickliters three seasons (10-22 this year) and most believe that a change will be made. Some say he’ll get fired, others say he’s going to step down. With 4 years remaining on his contract, I would bet that he’s going to wait to get fired so he can receive the buy-out money.
Marist AD Tim Murray has given his full support to Head Coach Chuck Martin. After a 1-29 season, Murray has said that Martin will definitely return for his third season.
Two DIII head coaches have surfaced as possible replacements at Dartmouth. Williams head coach Mike Maker and MIT head coach Larry Anderson. Maker’s team is currently 27-1 and ranked #2 in the nation. He is a long time DI assistant and spent 11 seasons as an assistant at Dartmouth. Anderson had his team ranked in the top 25 for most of the season before being upset in the first round of the NCAA DIII Tournament. His current roster is comprised of Ivy League level guys. Both know how to recruit without scholarships – a must for any Ivy coach.
In a strange situation, Florida Gulf Coast has decided to extend the contract of head coach Dave Balza. Most thought that his contract was up after this year, and he may not return. New AD Ken Kavanagh met with Balza earlier this week and learned that Balza signed a one-year extension in 2008, putting him under contract through 2011. Now not only will he return, he will do so with an extension through 2012. Balza, who made $95,000 this year, will continue with annual increases of $5,000, paying him $100,000 next season and $105,000 in 2011-2012. Also, the entire staff has been told that they will return as well.
