Billiken_JG

So, as you all know, Rick Majerus won't be returning to SLU due to health reasons. This season, we have Jim Crews as the interim head coach. Between Crews' age and his lack of looking like a good long-term option, plus none of the current SLU assistants appear ready to take over either, I'd say that the overwhelming consensus is that SLU will be looking outside of the program for a new coach at the end of the season, regardless of how well SLU does.

I know several A-10 schools have done coaching searches over the last couple of years. Over at a SLU fan site, we have been bringing up different names, some of which sound better than others. I guess I just wanted to know if any of you have come across names in your schools' searches that intrigued you, or just any up and comers that could be in a position to coach in the A-10 next season.

hawkhill

Wainright? Saw him on the bench at Marquette last night. He has a handle on the whole midwest thing. A little long in the tooth though.

ace93

I hear Dereck Whittenburg is available.

AdamtheFlyer

It depends on what you want. Do you want safety or do you want the chance to catch a star on his way up? All about Risk/Reward.

Prying Matthew Graves from Butler wouldn't be easy, but if I am SLU he's one of the first calls I make.

John Brady at Arkansas State would seem like a good candidate. Took LSU to a final four. Really good coach. May not have a high ceiling, but he would likely keep SLU relevant and competitive.

Pat Kelsey, former Xavier assistant and current Winthrop head coach is going to climb the ladder pretty quick. A year or two early for that level of job? Maybe. But better to catch that kind of talent a little early than a little late.

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Sure, I've been called a xenophobe, but the truth is, I'm not. I honestly just feel that America is the best country and the other countries aren't as good. That used to be called patriotism.

BM-GW

Gregg Marshall.

They should start calling him right now.

Bill Russell

Mark Schmidt?

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SpiderInTheMixingBowl

Sarcasm is notoriously hard to detect on the Internet. I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are being sarcastic.

Just in case let's do a pros/cons of old Jer.

Pros:
1. Loves to tell anecdotes. He strings them together like popcorn on a string.
2. His first teams at Richmond (with Beilein's players) played tough. Really tough. They had some amazing and near-amazing comebacks from being down 30+ points.
3. He comes up with the occasional good quip. I remember a good one about Phog Allen Fieldhouse.
4. His presentations on Senior Night were outstanding.

Cons:
1. He has demonstrated utter incapacity to manage the relationship between the basketball program and the school administration. He tried playing "Chicken" with the administration with marginally qualified recruits. It ended badly. Really badly.
2. Even his toughest teams still stunk at rebounding. When you consider his grinding style, rebounding is especially important. He knew that and still couldn't fix it.
3. His teams got a lot worse once he was getting his own players. It seemed if he had contracted Danny Nee-itis from this good friend at Duquesne.
4. In recruiting, he does not have a particularly good eye for talent especially in comparison to Mooney. See KA vs Merritt.
5. He does slimy package deals and ends up with some bad staff members.
6. If things go bad, he has a tendency to truly crater the program. If we had not been bailed out by DePaul, we would have been in an abyss. As it was, it took Mooney 3 seasons to turn things around.
7. His record at DePaul.

SLU would be better off keeping Crews than hiring Wainwright.

AdamtheFlyer

Good luck with that. He's going to be perhaps the hottest name on the coaching market this offseason. The only hotter names could be Stevens and Smart, and UCLA is probably the only possible opening those two would consider. Texas would be a very long shot with those two, more likely a spot for Marshall to land. But come mid-March, Gregg Marshall will be attached to damn near every opening.

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Sure, I've been called a xenophobe, but the truth is, I'm not. I honestly just feel that America is the best country and the other countries aren't as good. That used to be called patriotism.

spider23

Come on SITMB - every program needs a good kick in the nuts and total tearing apart from time to time. It makes those good runs and wins that much more sweet.

How's the sarcasm meter looking on the above?

Bona Wolf for Pope

Chris Mack will probably be available.

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SpiderInTheMixingBowl

Sarcasm Detection Score = 9.9396031657

antboy

They'd need to be ready to pay him Majerus-level money, as he's well-compensated at Wichita St. I assume that SLU won't owe Majerus now, and can divert those resources to the new coach? I think most fans at Charlotte wished we'd been able to hire Marshall before he got his big payday at WSU (he reportedly was interested, but we still had Lutz and there was also apparently mutual dislike with the Charlotte AD).

What constrained Charlotte, in-part, was having to pay Lutz and the new hire. The AD giving Lutz a contract extension so soon before firing him was a really bad move. It meant Charlotte had to go after someone unknown and couldn't compete for some of the up-and-coming coaches from smaller schools.

My impression is that SLU won't have that constraint. They could probably get a well-known coach, like Marshall. Rice who's coaching UNLV might be interesting. Not sure they can get him, as I assume UNLV also pays well. I also wonder about the Murray St. coach.

Kelsey will probably get there eventually, but it'd be nice to see how he does as a head coach before giving him a big payday. Charlotte interviewed Kelsey, but didn't hire him, and he ended up down the road at Winthrop.

SpiderInTheMixingBowl

Rick Byrd.

Tennessee couldn't pry him away from Belmont but who knows maybe SLU could?

rusty X

I do not know the names, but many schools have had great luck by tapping into the Charlie Coles' (Miami of Ohio) coaching tree. Chris Mack, John Groce, Mark Schmidt, and many more. I am sure somewhere in there is a top assistant who would flourish in St. Louis.

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A10fan2

I don't think Mack ever coached with Coles.

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He has since made the same "prediction" this year. CLASSIC