Brad Stevens’ staying put, a trend?

Brad Stevens just signed a 12 year extension at Bulter. Good for the balance of power in college basketball. If Gordon Haywood returns, mark the Bulldogs as Final Four (if not Champion)  favorite for next year.

Is this a growing trend that top mid-major coaches see that grass really isn’t greener over yonder? Of course, the program has to have tipped (in a Gladwellian sense) to a certain point for this law to apply. Think Mark Few of Gonzaga, and Chris Peterson of Boise State.  As college sports  become more and more of a business, financier athletic directors and  “what have you done for me lately” attitude at BCS conference school,  don’t be surprised to see the trend continue.

Maybe the bigs will have to start doing what the mid-majors have been doing more consistently, hire from within. It sure worked for Butler, right? Plus Mike Dunlap of Oregon,  Ron Bradley of Clemson and Rusty LaRue of Wake Forest are all great candidates; all with head coaching success.

Next Wake Forest Basketball Coach

Before We list some Demon Deacons candidates, I’m going to get on a soap box for Dino Gaudio:

• 19-17, 24-7, 20-11

X’s and O’s aside, enough said. Now some possible names:

Brad Stevens: Small academic school vs. small academic school. ACC vs Horizon. Hmmm…. Stevens lived the first two years of life in the Carolina to the south. He could easily stay put, but stranger things have happened.

Frank Haith: Out with an old Skip Prosser loyalist, in with a new one?  We’ve listed him as a Hot Coach ever since his NCAA berth and turn around season last year.

Chris Mack: This time the Xavier-to-Wake Forest pipeline might not be oiled. Mack’s another one of Skip Prosser’s protégés, but the Xavier coach is likely content with his Musketeers’ direction.

Jeff Battle: Removed himself from contention citing wife’s battle with cancer. He still should be honored on this list though.  Send your thoughts and prayers to his family.

Rusty LaRue: A Demon Deacon basketball alum and current assistant who has previous head coaching experience at Greensboro College.

Gregg Marshall: Lots of Mid-major success. Lots of ties in Carolina.

Brad Brownell: MSNBC’s Mike Miller offers this option “who used to be at UNC-Wilmington and has produced four straight 20-win seasons.”

A Dukie trio: Could either Jeff Capel III, Tommy Amaker, or Johnny Dawkins return to the Research Triangle, without a blue tie? The former two have recently signed contract extensions.

Tubby Smith: Speaking of contract extensions, come on Minnesota. Tubby is a Carolina native.

Links: Tulane offers Rice, more Stevens talk

• Steve Donahue will be the next Boston College coach.
• The New Orleans Times-Picayune is reporting that Tulane has offered the Green Waves job to Mike Rice Jr., ending the speculation that Ernie Kent would land there.
• Brad Stevens aside, the Register Guard asks if Oregon could be targeting an NBA coach like Rich Adelman or John Lucas II.
• According to Fox Sports’ Jeff Goodman, Sam Houston is tapping current assistant Jason Hooton, while the Charlotte job is down to Joe Dooley, Russell Springmann, Alan Major, and Pat Kelsey–all top flight assistants.
• Brad Stevens is the talk of the town. Andy Katz talks to the Butler AD, while Chad Ford speculates that Stevens could bypass college coaching altogether. Mark Stevens, Brad’s father, says Brad isn’t going anywhere. And are we really going to MMQB the Hoosier job opening from two years ago? Finally, here’s the CC Quote of the Day:

“This is a business. There’s a lot of change, and it happens often…But the thing that I have always felt about Butler is just how much I like Butler.” – Brad Stevens

Next Clemson Basketball Coach

Here’s a working list of candidates:

Ron Bradley: The current Associate Head Coach has been with the Tigers during past successful years. Plus he has over fifteen years of head coaching experience at smaller schools.

Frank Smith: He rose with Oliver Purnell. Will this Assistant Head Coach carve his own path with Tigers?

Steve Donahue: He’s hot and likely headed for Boston College. But stranger things have happened.

Brian Gregory: Hot off a NIT Championship, could Gregory take the same path as Oliver Purnell? Flyers to Tigers?

Joe Dooley: The Kansas assistant coached in the neighborhood at ECU in the 1990s.

Billy Gillespie: The former Kentucky coach keeps coming up in the carousel this year.

UPDATE: (April 6)

Steve Wojciechowski: Known for his energy on the bench. If he is ever going to be consider a successor to Coach K, he’ll have earn his chops a quality school like Clemson.

Gregg Marshall: The Wichita St. coach grew up in South Carolina and previously was the nearby Winthrop head coach.

South Carolina Sports News adds former assistant and current VCU Shaka Smart to the list, as well as Stanford’s Johnny Dawkins. It would be hard to consider Dawkins leaving for anything but the Duke job, considering he at preeminent West Coast basketball-plus-academic school. They also point out that Brad Stevens was born Greenville.

The Brad Stevens Sweepstakes

There are Hot Coaches, and there is Brad Stevens.  He proved in yesterday’s championship that he requires a “Pants on Fire Hot” category all by himself.  He’s poised, articulate, even-keeled and carries himself beyond his years. His team plays hard-nosed yet disciplined, and he’s shown a solid game management prowess. And he’s a stats geek, a more admirable quality than not.

So does Stevens bounce this year?  Likely not, but regardless, the ball is in his court. Let’s look at the last couple job openings and how they relate to Stevens:

Oregon has clearly targeted him after a series of misfires. Oregon has by all indications been targeting Stevens before he made the Final Four. A cross country jump of this magnitude would be surprising considering Stevens has never left his Hoosier state. But speaking of Hoosiers, if the Indiana job opened in 10 years or so, he would be in a good vantage point to make the jump back home.  Eugene is a small, family-friendly town, and Oregon just so happens to have a new arena, new athletic academic center and Uncle Phil Knight (the Nike c0-founder). Having said this, Stevens’ star might have surpassed Oregon this weekend, despite all the glitz and green.

DePaul also has some dreamers. Similar, though not to the extent of Oregon, DePaul is  committed to ponying up for the right candidates. In Stevens, you have a candidates who breathes the Midwest, and has mined the region for some under-the-radar gems. Stevens would jump into one of the premiere (if not the best) conferences with an excessively rich talent pool in his backyard. Not a bad combination. And similar to Butler, the tradition is already there. He’d be given the time and patience to harken back the old Ray Meyer days.

Either of these jobs would be compelling, but Stevens’ career path points to nontraditional priories. Passion over financial stability, vocation over ambition. If Stevens was the type who jumps at every chance of promotion, wouldn’t he likely still be in his old life at Eli Lilly?

And let’s not forget what happened to Stevens’ predecessor Todd Lickliter last month. Surely, AD  Barry Collier will remind him of this, and many more things.

So Brad, where is the grass greener? Will Butler join the Stepping Stones list?

UPDATE  (April 6):  DePaul has their guy, but the Clemson Tigers job just opened. Brad Stevens was born in South Carolina, according to this list.

And don’t assume the Brad Steven suitors are just in college. ESPN’s Chad Ford says his coaching style fits the NBA and the Indiana Pacers should consider the Butler coach.

Links: Fans choose Mack, Pennell hired, Henry’s down to KU and UK

• Assistant Chris Mack interviewed at Xavier, and so might South Carolina’s Darrin Horn.  According to the Cincinnati Enquier, the candidate list includes,  Siena’s Fran McCaffery, Butler’s Brad Stevens, Wright State’s Brad Brownell, Ohio’s John Groce, Western Kentucy’s Ken McDonald, Bowling Green’s Louis Orr, and TCU’s Jim Christian. Stevens and McCaffery recently got extensions while Brownell is staying mum. Mack remains the fan favorite. Click on the tab above for other “Hot Coaches.”
• Arizona new coach Sean Miller is doing his own coaching search. Will he retain his current assistants, and/or add someone with left-coast recruiting pipelines, and/or add his brother Archie? Both Sean and Archie have learned under the cross state rival.
• Speaking of the Wildcats, Russ Pennell lands at Grand Canyon.
• Xavier Henry gets his release from Memphis, probably either to follow DeMarcus Cousins to Kentucky or his family tradition to Kansas.
• Josh Pastner wasn’t expecting the Memphis offer; he was in his sweatpants when it happened.

Link: Bulldogs’ updated candidate list

With Mike Anderson staying at Missouri, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution “turn[s] to Plan B” for the Georgia job:

The criteria set forth by Georgia athletics director Damon Evans and UGA President Michael Adams at the outset of its coaching change —- they fired Dennis Felton on Jan. 29 —- was for an experienced, successful Division I head coach. A few coaches who fit that description are Clemson’s Oliver Purnell, Baylor’s Scott Drew, Xavier’s Sean Miller, Butler’s Brad Stevens and Penn State’s Ed DeChellis.

For links to each of these and other coaches Wikipedia page, click on Hot Coaches.