SDSU assistant coach Justin Hutson was seen on the campus of U. of  San Diego Wednesday, according to U-T San Diego, and is believed to be a candidate to replace Bill Grier as the head coach of the Toreros.

Hutson has been somewhat of a hot commodity this offseason as he was a finalist for the Nevada head coaching job, and is believed to be a candidate for several other West Coast Conference openings.

Other possible candidates for the head coaching position include Columbia head coach  and former USD assistant  Kyle Smith and current Cal State San Marcos head coach Jim Saia.

The school is expected to hold interviews next week at the Final Four in Indianapolis.

Names mentioned for Northern Kentucky include:

Xavier asst. Travis Steele
Alabama asst. John Brannen
Wyoming asst. Allen Edwards
Covington Catholic (KY) H.S. coach Scott Ruthsatz

Before promoting long-time assistant Tim Duryea, Utah State unsuccessfully wooed Herb Sendek, recently fired at Arizona St.

From utsandiego. com
 USD announced Tuesday night that it has hired a new men’s basketball coach named Smith.

Not Kyle Smith, considered the front-runner after spending eight years as an assistant at USD and nine years as Randy Bennett’s chief lieutenant building Saint Mary’s into a West Coast power and the last five years as head coach breathing life into a bottom-feeding Ivy League program at Columbia University in New York.

But Lamont Smith, a USD alum who has no head coaching experience and was the lead assistant with a New Mexico team that closed the season by losing nine of 10.

Smith, 39, is well-liked and respected in West Coast recruiting circles, and his resume includes stops at Saint Louis, Saint Mary’s, Santa Clara, Arizona State, Washington and New Mexico. He also played at USD under Brad Holland in the late 1990s, starting for an 18-9 team in 1998-98.

The most logical candidate was Eric Musselman, who played at USD in the 1980s and had two stints as an NBA head coach – and who had openly coveted the job, leaving pro coaching for college assistant jobs three years ago with the idea of one day returning to his alma mater. Musselman was in contact with USD athletic director Ky Snyder, according to several sources, but instead took the job at Nevada last week.

Kyle Smith interviewed at USD over the weekend, but sources said USD balked at paying his buyout at Columbia believed to be between $100,000 and $200,000.

SDSU assistant Justin Hutson met last week with Snyder, an SDSU alum, but never heard from USD officials again. He learned of Smith’s hiring from the press release.

The pool of prospective candidates, though, was likely limited by finances. Grier made nearly $650,000 in 2012-13, the last year federal tax records are available divulging his salary, but a large chunk of that was paid by former Oregon athletic director (and Grier’s close friend) Pat Kilkenny. With Grier out, Kilkenny’s money is gone, too.

USD typically does not divulge salary information, but Smith is expected to make about half of what Grier did. He was making $253,750 as an associate head coach at New Mexico.

 

 

It’s unusual for a coach to move a school within the same conference but VMI’s Duggar Baucum did so by taking The Citadel’s job. It must’ve been his dream job; he also applied there the last time it was open. 

VMI leads the nation in scoring almost every season due to  Coach  Baucum’s “loot and scoot’ offense.  They use full-court pressure and shoot for 3’s  39% of the time. A VMI guard described the offense, “Shoot before you turn it over.” 

Baucum said, “[Coaches] try to orchestrate every movement instead of letting [players] play. It becomes kind of like a wrestling match. There's teams in our league that run 20 seconds of false motion to get the shot clock down, and then run a set. I watch some teams play and it looks like the kids are in jail."

From ESPN.com
Alabama has expressed interest in Minnesota basketball coach Richard Pitino as a potential candidate for the Crimson Tide's open coaching position, according to a report in The Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The Star Tribune, citing sources with knowledge of the situation, reported the Tide are pursuing the 32-year-old Pitino as a potential fallback candidate if things fail to work out with Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall, thought to be the school's top choice

From CBSSports:

VCU men's basketball coach Shaka Smart is in discussions with Texas about its head coach opening, reports Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports. 

Rothstein reports that if Smart turns down the job, the Longhorns will likely "turn their attention to Utah's Larry Krystkowiak and Xavier's Chris Mack."

On Sunday, Yahoo's Pat Forde reported that Wichita State head coach Gregg Marshall is interested in replacing Barnes at Texas.

All 3 of Green Bay's recruits will honor their commitment if Green Bay names assistant coach Brian Barone as the new head coach. 

However, former Green Bay coach Tony Bennett has endorsed Gary Grzesk, a Green Bay alum who played under Bennett. For the last 9 years, Grzesk has coached at DIII St. Norbert. St Norbert was 24-2, falling in 3OT in the regional tournament to Elmhurst

I hope Smart goes to Texas.

Alblack : Any news on Bobby Hurley? I know his bro signed an extension at Rhode Island.

Posted by zorzii on 4/1/2015 4:45:00 PM (view original):
I hope Smart goes to Texas.

Alblack : Any news on Bobby Hurley? I know his bro signed an extension at Rhode Island.

Yesterday, he told Sports Illustrated that he expected to be Buffalo's coach again next season. He unsuccessfully went for the DePaul job and said, "nothing else interests me."  Buffalo returns 6 of thier top 8 players and, with his pay raise, Hurley is the top earner in the MAC

A columnist in the Macon Daily Journal, discussing the job at Kennesaw State. They fired their coach after just one season.

I believe the short list for the job is really short, and it consists of one name.

Current interim coach David Rivers.

Why? Rivers has a relationship with A.D. Williams that, as he said, that goes “way back.” When the former Notre Dame and Los Angeles Lakers point guard was hired, he moved back to the United States after playing and coaching in Europe for nearly 20 years. 

Sending Rivers packing after only one season, after uprooting him and bringing him more than 5,000 miles across the Atlantic, might look worse to other potential candidates than firing a first-year coach that began to make strides toward bringing the program back to respectability.

Keeping Rivers would also likely mean the opportunity to keep assistant coach Jon Cremins. The nephew of former Georgia Tech coach Bobby Cremins is known as an outstanding recruiter, knows the Atlanta area well and was key in helping get Wilson to campus.

Liberty has hired Virginia assistant Ritchie McKay.  He previously coached at Liberty from 2007-09.  In 2009, they were 23-12 and led by freshmen star Seth Curry. Curry transferred to Duke and McKay went to join Tony Bennett's staff at Virginia.  Prior to Liberty, McKay was head coach at Portland Stl, Colorado St., Oregon St.,  and New Mexico