Coaching Search Cloaked In Secrecy
by Jay Coulter on Mar 22, 2010 1:00 AM CDT
in Basketball
Email
PrintLike him or not, you've got to give credit to Auburn Athletic Director Jay Jacobs. He keeps his cards close to the vest when conducting a coaching search. Just as Gene Chizik seemingly came out of left field to be Auburn's new football coach, a week into the basketball search, the direction Auburn is heading is anyone's guess. Jacobs has been as invisible as Osama Bin Laden in the hills of Pakistan.
Friday afternoon, CBS Sports writer Dennis Dodd set off a firestorm when he proclaimed Auburn was close to an agreement with Minnesota coach Tubby Smith. With those flames cooling, speculation has turned back to former Auburn great Chuck Person and a late surprise candidate.
Inside the Auburn Tigers reported Sunday that Jacobs may now be targeting Wright State coach Brad Brownell. Hearing that news, the two most pressing questions are where is Wright State and who is Brad Brownell? Breaking out the Rand McNally we locate the school in Dayton, Ohio. They play in the Horizon League where Brownell lead them to their first NCAA tournament appearance in 14 years last season.
This past year, they compiled a 20-12 record and lost to Butler in the conference tournament final. Prior to moving to Dayton, Brownell led UNC-Wilmington to two NCAA tournament appearances in four years. Despite the decent resume, a Brownell hire would go over like a turd in the punch bowl. Then again, who am I to question the hiring practices of Jacobs?
Meanwhile, reports out of Minneapolis are that Smith may be leaning toward remaining with the Gophers. Citing an unnamed source, The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported Sunday that someone close to Smith said that, "(He's) not interested in the Auburn gig because he "doesn't feel like rebuilding again."
With only one starter returning for Auburn next year, that's something Smith needs to think long and hard about. At 58 years of age, he should still have juice left in the batteries to turn around the Tiger program. Reports have surfaced during the past year that Smith is not completely happy in Minneapolis.
Despite making nearly $2 million annually, he's been promised numerous upgrades to the program including new practice facilities. None have come to fruition yet. Obviously, Auburn fills that need nicely.
At the same time Smith is grabbing all the attention, Person is getting a late push by former Auburn players. Many fans dismissed the notion of bringing in someone with no head coaching experience. However, a Sunday story by Birmingham News writer Kevin Scarbinsky paints a picture of a man with tons of street cred within NBA circles. Person was a finalist for the Chicago Bulls job in 2008. He now serves as an assistant for Phil Jackson with the Los Angeles Lakers.
"He has all the tools to be a high-impact coach at any level," Dallas Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle told Scarbinsky. "He'd be a great hire for Auburn if they could pull it off."
Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak says Person is the real deal. "If they didn't think he could bring something to the table, they wouldn't have invited him into the group," Kupchak said.
Ten days into the search we know little more than we did in the minutes following Jeff Lebo's dismissal. Jacobs circle of advisors are either very small or very loyal and able to keep their mouths shut. The amount of information coming from "unnamed sources" is almost zero. Auburn may be minutes or weeks from hiring a new coach. With its signing class already full, there's no rush.
My vote is for Tubby Smith? How about you?
20 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I don't really know what I'm talking about....
but since I made a jerk of myself on the Barkley site, I’ll just continue on my roll…..
It seems like Tubby Smith is the wrong guy if we want to make a statement (and pay alot of money). He was clearing trending in the wrong direction at Kentucky, has been o.k. at Minnesota, but aren’t our sights set higher than what Minnesota is doing currently?
As for Persons, probably would be a great coach, but I think we make a big mistake in hiring a coach without a degree. I know all the aruguments for hiring him without it, but please remember that Auburn is first a learning institution. If it wasn’t for the academics, we wouldn’t have sports. How do you try to convince a kid who wants to leave school for whatever reason, to stay, when you couldn’t find the time in 25 years to come back and finish your degree. Not to mention the conflict it will create / fuel between the academic and the athletic sides of the Auburn house.
I think there has to be a better option out there.
Valid concerns on the degree issue, but ones that could be lessen with Chuck copleting it (he's close)
aubtigerman
"The reason you come to Auburn is because of Auburn people.This is a special place, from the coaches all the way to the fans" - Andrew McCain OT
I don't disagree....
with that idea. And maybe it could be put in a very positive light if pursued in the right way. I think my point is more with saying “damn the torpedoes” and just blowing it off.
The hiring of Tubby could be the coup de grace...
… of a coaching hire … except would we be willing to pay him more than the football coaches make and how long would he stay ? He has 2 records in coaching : one is producing winners and the other is changing jobs.
It is evident to most that I agree with former Auburn Coach Sonny Smith that Chuck Person is the man for the job. However if its not Chuck, then I’m pulling for Tony Barbee.
aubtigerman
"The reason you come to Auburn is because of Auburn people.This is a special place, from the coaches all the way to the fans" - Andrew McCain OT
Love to see Brownell go
As a Butler fan, I’d love to see Brad Brownell leave the Horizon League. He’s resurrected a dormant program in our conference, and has Wright State consistently #2 or pushing Butler for the league crown. He’s at a crappy school for recruiting – boring campus, commuter school, decent facilities – but has still attracted top talent, including an Ohio State transfer next year. If he had more to work with they would pushing Butler for league supremacy. He’s been on the short list for several BCS vacancies – including Indiana. Hope you get him and take him off our schedule!
After what Jay Jacobs has accomplished...
With hiring Polawski(sp), and Chizik, I am ready to trust his judgement on this.
I know there are several people who do not like Jay Jacobs on here, but you can not argue with his hiring of he last two big sport coaches at Auburn.
I like Tony Barbee, I would also like to see Chuck Person come back and get his degree, and coach at his alma mater. I would not be upset with the hiring of Tubby Smith either, although Mike Davis, and Mr. Anderson would be a lot farther down my personal list.
WAR EAGLE!
Come and join me at http://tigerbloggin.blogspot.com
2nd on Brad Brownell
Living in Dayton and going to UD games I’ve been watching and listening to what Brownell has done from afar. It was quite an accomplishment for WSU to get a coach of his quality. Since arriving at Wright State CBB has:
1) He has won.
2) He has won consistently (4 straight 20 win seasons).
3) He has won consistently at a school that is a commuter campus (although it has larger student population than our AU).
He is not the high profile coach we may need but he is an up and coming coach. He will be a coach at a BCS school soon. I don’t know if he is the right fit for AU but he could very well be the CGC for AU basketball. If he is indeed a turd in the punch bowl, then he is the candy bar for which we would all hope .
Lebo had a good record at Ut-Chat. before coming to Auburn, too. Who cares? The level of competition is garbage. We need to hire a PROVEN WINNER! We don’t need to take a chance on another “up and comer.” That would look real good. Break in the new $90M arena with a coach that nobody has ever heard of. We need to go after Tubby and Mike Anderson until they tell us no three or four times. Those guys have proven that they are flat out winners at the highest level. I fail to comprehend why fans want to settle for these mid major coaches instead of going after the best. We’ve spent nearly $93M on a brand new arena! Go out and get a big name coach! Somebody that we KNOW is going to win. I don’t want to see us take a chance and “hope” that one of these other “up and comers” will come in here and MAYBE win. We hired an “up and comer” six years ago and look at us now. Go after the best, JJ!
Any truth to the rumors that Auburn is interested in the UNT coach
Johnny Jones?
I have seen a couple of mentions in the Sun Belt forums but nothing in the national or major conferences.
JD’s like, "you want some fucking pitching? Here’s all the pitching you can stand. Now choke on it, bitches!"- RCCook
Please God no
You know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?
by jd is legend on Mar 22, 2010 9:48 PM CDT up reply actions
Wichita State in Dayton?
I would say your Rand McNally is broken. Wichita State is nowhere near Dayton, Ohio. They also play in the league with Northern Iowa, not Butler.
I find this blog not too informative since there is so much fiction in it.
Tubby
Auburn never had a shot at Tubby. Why (1) would he come here for less money than his is making at Minn and (2) would Auburn pay as much for a BB coach as for the football coach whose program is pretty much paying for the basketball program ? Meanwhile I hate to see one of the AU blogs hammering a candidate without even knowing anything about him. He may not be your candidate but it’s not fair to taint him before anyone has a chance to evaluate him. But since his name has been made public, I doubt Brownell is actually a candidate. A candidate’s name being leaked is probaby the kiss of death.
You guys are gonna blast me on this...
But, I honestly think that Auburn will catch all sorts of hell if they don’t hire a black coach. I’m not saying we have to, but do we really want to go through the bad publicity again? Me personally, I still think Mike Anderson is the way to go but it seems tough to get him. There are good coaches around and I really hope we get one. I can deal with whatever color he is, I just want a winner personally. All I’m saying is, I don’t want to see my beloved school get dragged through the mud yet again. It’s honestly painful to hear and see.
Why should we have to hire a black coach?
We should hire the best coach. I’m tired of everybody saying we need to hire a black coach. We need to hire the guy who is best-qualified for the job. Who cares what his skin color is.
You know what they call a quarter pounder with cheese in France?
by jd is legend on Mar 22, 2010 9:49 PM CDT up reply actions
Well, there's Charlie Barkley for one ...
“Most people always think the white guy is the best guy for the job. That’s why we have no minority coaches … because a majority of the people who run these schools are white.”
~ C. Barkley
Tubby would be a homerun......
and would be the best chance to get a coach that would be as near a sure thing as we could get. I will still be shocked as hell if we get him but he would be my first choice. Mike Anderson will not come to AU unless we offer him mega bucks and I don’t see that happening……can you see a time when the AU basketball head coach’s salary is bigger than the Football coach’s salary? Me neither and that’s what it would take to get Anderson. Tubby might come for the same money he is making at Minnesota and that would be about equal to Chizik’s salary…….and that’s why I think it’s a very very very slim chance we get him. As far as any top mid major coaches coming to AU…..the chances are getting slimmer every day…….with the Coaching Carousel getting more open seats AU is getting bumped down the pecking order in a hurry. I normally am not the doom and gloom kind of guy but I just don’t see this ending well for our basketball program.
I would have gone to bammer if my grades hadn't been good enough to go to AU
To all of the paranoid conspiracy folks...
I figured I would just mention that Auburn is going to interview Bob Marlin for the head basketball coaching vacancy. First of all, I just want to say that’s a damn awesome name. But beyond that, the guy is the Sam Houston State Head Coach. Look, I am not saying there is anything to it at all as I thought and thought and couldn’t come up with some sort of connection. Haha, it just is funny I guess, especially if Auburn does hire him and Rollison does in fact end up going to Sam Houston State. Hahaha, wow that’s just kind of crazy to me.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
