Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
1. Gregg Marshall - He’s so obviously the best available candidate. Fantastic coach, excellent player development, familiar with the region, still relatively young, and available. He’ll obviously need to do a song and dance act to apologize for his actions, but our country loves comeback stories. He’d have us competing for SEC titles by his third season.
2. John Beilien - Proven winner with a unique system that is a real differentiator at the college level. Excellent coach that the fanbase would fawn over. Knows the Midwest well. Downside is he’s 68 but that is starting to mean a lot less in a world where Jim Boeheim is coaching in his late 70s.
3. Sean Miller - See the comeback story blurb on Gregg Marshall. Bill Self has five Level 1 violations and is just out there coaching and recruiting like nothing ever happened. Mizzou needs to decide what’s more important - a winning basketball program or gaining the approval of media twerps like Dan Wetzel, who will bash the hire for 48 hours before moving on to something else.
4. Thad Matta - Reportedly he’s interested in coaching again and his back/foot problems forced him to resign at Ohio State are resolved. Fantastic coach and recruiter and still young in his mid-fifties.
5. Darian DeVries - Drake’s coach, long-time assistant under Gregg McDermott. MVC coach of the year in two of his first three seasons.
6. Chris Jans - New Mexico State’s coach, long-time assistant under Gregg Marshall. Great coach and developer of talent. Won the league his first three seasons at NMSU with three coach of the year awards.
7. Randy Bennett - this will be a controversial addition but I absolutely love the way his teams play. He relies heavily on international recruiting but I think Mizzou could benefit from a differentiator like this.
8. Joe Pasternak - UCSB coach, former associate HC under Sean Miller at Arizona. He’s a name on the rise and is in his mid-forties. Finished top 2 in league at his first four seasons at UCSB.
9. John Becker - Vermont coach, won his league five years in a row, still in early fifties. Wouldn’t be the most exciting hire but could be a sneaky good one, similar to McCaffrey at Iowa or Pikiell at Rutgers.
Other Names Considered:
Rick Pitino - reportedly has a $10 million buyout. If true that’s not happening.
Gregg McDermott - love him but doubt he leaves Creighton for this mess.
Bryce Drew - people would hate this but I think this could be a sneaky good hire. He got screwed by injuries at Vandy.
John Thompson III - had a lot of success at GTown but not sure if he’s a fit for us right now.
Ben Jacobson - steady success at UNI but feels like he’s trending down.
Russell Turner - UC Irvine coach, has won consistently but has strong ties to Cali.
Kim English - stop.
1. Gregg Marshall - He’s so obviously the best available candidate. Fantastic coach, excellent player development, familiar with the region, still relatively young, and available. He’ll obviously need to do a song and dance act to apologize for his actions, but our country loves comeback stories. He’d have us competing for SEC titles by his third season.
2. John Beilien - Proven winner with a unique system that is a real differentiator at the college level. Excellent coach that the fanbase would fawn over. Knows the Midwest well. Downside is he’s 68 but that is starting to mean a lot less in a world where Jim Boeheim is coaching in his late 70s.
3. Sean Miller - See the comeback story blurb on Gregg Marshall. Bill Self has five Level 1 violations and is just out there coaching and recruiting like nothing ever happened. Mizzou needs to decide what’s more important - a winning basketball program or gaining the approval of media twerps like Dan Wetzel, who will bash the hire for 48 hours before moving on to something else.
4. Thad Matta - Reportedly he’s interested in coaching again and his back/foot problems forced him to resign at Ohio State are resolved. Fantastic coach and recruiter and still young in his mid-fifties.
5. Darian DeVries - Drake’s coach, long-time assistant under Gregg McDermott. MVC coach of the year in two of his first three seasons.
6. Chris Jans - New Mexico State’s coach, long-time assistant under Gregg Marshall. Great coach and developer of talent. Won the league his first three seasons at NMSU with three coach of the year awards.
7. Randy Bennett - this will be a controversial addition but I absolutely love the way his teams play. He relies heavily on international recruiting but I think Mizzou could benefit from a differentiator like this.
8. Joe Pasternak - UCSB coach, former associate HC under Sean Miller at Arizona. He’s a name on the rise and is in his mid-forties. Finished top 2 in league at his first four seasons at UCSB.
9. John Becker - Vermont coach, won his league five years in a row, still in early fifties. Wouldn’t be the most exciting hire but could be a sneaky good one, similar to McCaffrey at Iowa or Pikiell at Rutgers.
Other Names Considered:
Rick Pitino - reportedly has a $10 million buyout. If true that’s not happening.
Gregg McDermott - love him but doubt he leaves Creighton for this mess.
Bryce Drew - people would hate this but I think this could be a sneaky good hire. He got screwed by injuries at Vandy.
John Thompson III - had a lot of success at GTown but not sure if he’s a fit for us right now.
Ben Jacobson - steady success at UNI but feels like he’s trending down.
Russell Turner - UC Irvine coach, has won consistently but has strong ties to Cali.
Kim English - stop.
