With Lute Olson having walked off into the sunset of the Arizona desert, speculation is hot about who will replace him in the long term.
Because it sure won’t be interim coach Russ Pennell or assistant Mike Dunlap.
As Greg Hansen of the Arizona Daily Star put it, when your coach of a quarter century was a cross between John Wayne and Cary Grant, his replacement must be someone Large and in Charge.
So who fits that description?
John Calipari? Jamie Dixon? Mark Few? Sean Miller?
Coach Cal’s name has been bandied about by some Arizona newspapers, but consider these facts. Under his new contract, Cal makes $3.35 million per year, according to Dan Wolken of the Memphis Commercial Appeal. And that doesn’t even include Cal’s benefits from the mega-deal Memphis signed with Nike.
By comparison, Olsen made between $1.3 and $1.5 million according to a published report.
“Everything has (financial) limitations,” Arizona AD Jim Livengood told Hansen. “But that’s not the way we’re going to go at it.”
On top of that, Memphis is coming off an NCAA championship game appearance and may not be far from getting back. With Tyreke Evans at the point in the dribble-drive motion offense, and players like Darnell Dodson, Nolan Dennis and Will Coleman coming in and John Wall, Dominic Cheek and Xavier Henry all considering the Tigers, the future looks bright in Tennessee.
As for Jamie Dixon, he’d be a great get. A North Hollywood native, he was an assistant under Ben Howland at Northern Arizona from 1994-98 and later followed Howland to Pitt, where he ultimately replaced him when Howland took the UCLA job.
But think again.
Aware that Dixon was a hot commodity and had been pursued by MIssouri and Arizona State, Pitt just locked him up with an extension through 2015-16 that will pay him $1.5-$1.6 annually.
Dixon has had his salary more than doubled the last three years. He was making about $600,000 when he was hired by Pitt in 2003.
On the court, he has a Top 10 team that will contend for the Big East championship this year and beyond. Pitt has talented recruits Dante Taylor, J.J. Richardson and Talib Zanna coming in. And they, like Memphis, are still alive in the Dominic Cheek sweepstakes.
Mark Few at Gonzaga and Sean Miller of Xavier would be ideal replacements.
Both are rising stars and Livengood would do well to reach out to them if he hasn’t already.
lengend / October 26, 2008
Instead of circulating the usual suspects, arizona would be smart to inject some new young blood to add some pep in their step and be able to compete with the USC’s and UCLA recruiting wise. I would suggestion from Grant from VCU, Capel Vtech, and even NY’s own Tiny Morton. Tiny has the making of the new Pitino and Calipari if given the opportunity and the cost wont be as much as the usual suspects and still getting you the same results. For those who dont know who I am talking about Tiny Morton is the head coach of Lincoln HS in Brooklyn, and coached Sebastion Telfair and now Lance Stephenson, along with a host of other D1 players. He has won like 8-10 city champioships in the last 12 yrs along with about 3 or more Federation Cups and not even 40 yet. Time to open that door and let the new Lawrence Frank and Magini in.
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Alessandro / October 26, 2008
Tiny Morton?
Wow. This is not an opening at a CHSAA school. This is Arizona, a top 15-20 college job.
Frank and Mangini paid their dues as long-time professional assistants before becoming head coaches.
Ethically, Morton does have the makings of a new Calipari or Pitino. Capel would be a good choice, but the timing may not be right.
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ybbodeus / October 26, 2008
Is that the presumption here, that Calipari and Pitino are ethically challenged? If so, what’s the explanation for how they’ve managed to keep their programs relatively clean with the NCAA feds and graduating players, at least in Calipari’s case?
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lengend / October 26, 2008
What dues did mangini and frank pay that tiny hasnt to disqualify him as a college coach? If anything his coaching experience and being at a public school winning numerous championships, not catholic or private, should be more than enough. What made donovan or tim floyd or Coach K qualified NBA coaches?
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rickey939 / October 29, 2008
Eddie Sutton…..duh.
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