Finally back from the Motor City….what a long trip!! The games were great (Ford Field is pretty nasty), and there were a lot of coaches out there, but everything was so spread out. Most of us coaches stayed in Windsor – right across the river from Detroit. The border crossings were a huge problem – worse than anyone expected. On average, each crossing took about an hour and a half. The traffic in the Windsor tunnel was a nightmare (why did they build a tunnel with only 1 lane in each direction??) Hopefully the Final Four doesn’t return to Detroit – if it does, I’m not going! I’m actually looking forward to the ease of Indianapolis next year!
Anyway, while I was gone, the DirtTeam did a great job of keeping the news and jobs updated. Here are some thoughts on what’s gone down over the past few days:
Interesting choice by Memphis to promote Josh Pastner. I’m sure he’ll be fine there, but a lot of guys turned this down before it fell to Pastner. Floyd, Pearl, Anderson, Drew, Hamilton, and Kellogg all withdrew from consideration. Makes you wonder if the job is not all it’s cracked up to be. Good article about Pastner and the hiring process:
http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2009/apr/06/diaper-dand…
Arizona made a great hire in Sean Miller (it took them long enough!) Miller has a much better chance of winning a National Championship at Arizona than he did at Xavier. Xavier should hire assistant Chris Mack. He’s a Xavier alum and from Cincinnati. He’s done a great job serving as an assistant over the past 5 seasons, and deserves this.
http://www.goxavier.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/mack_chris00.htm…
Boston University will hold an 11:00am press conference today to announce the hiring of Patrick Chambers.
Chambers has been at Villanova since 2004 and was promoted to associate coach last year. He brings great experience to BU and should do a great job for the Terriers. There were a lot of local guys passed up for this job, but it appears AD Mike Lynch (and PES) have made a pretty good choice. Here’s the link to the press conference:
http://www.goterriers.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/040609aaa…
The search to replace Ritchie McKay at Liberty is heating up. AD Jeff Barber has been in touch with 5 candidates so far. They are:
Current Liberty Assistant Brad Soucie
Marquette Assistant Dale Layer
Virginia Tech Assistant Ryan Odom
Charlotte Assistant Rob Moxley
Oklahoma Assistant Mark Cline
Former Rice Coach Willis Wilson is also reportedly interested, but no contact has been made. McKay had done a nice job at Liberty (although the departure of Seth Curry will hurt), so there is no reason to think Soucie won’t be the hire here.
Good job by Siena offering Fran McCaffery and extension. After winning first round NCAA games in each of the past two seasons, he deserves it! Siena did the right thing by locking him in for a while.
I am hearing that the Georgia Southern job is Charlton (CY) Young’s to turn down. The Georgia Tech Assistant and Georgia Southern alum is the logical choice, and a decision is expected shortly.
