An Early Look At The Coaching Carousel

As the coaching carousel starts to slowly turn - NC State has an early seat - speculation, as usual, runs ahead of events.

So here’s Pat Forde’s trove of rumors, speculations and innuendos. Some of the schools mentioned: Indiana, Illinois, LSU, Georgia, Clemson, Ohio State and Iowa. This reminds us of a few years ago when ACC coaching was mediocre and changes were inevitable. The SEC and Big Ten could use some new blood.

The most interesting bits to us:

• “Dayton’s Archie Miller already has had his name bandied about plenty, which makes sense as an [NC State] alum who has done great work at Dayton. The school will clearly seek to engage him in discussion, but it’s expected that this search will go beyond Miller for multiple reasons. Miller may have concerns about working under athletic director Debbie Yow and her unknown successor...On the other side of the equation, at least one power program did its due diligence on Miller a couple of years ago and decided against pursuing him.“
• Tom Crean is a “nonstarter” for NC State.
• Wichita’s Gregg Marshall is the “perfect fit” but it would take a huge offer. He’s got a great deal at Wichita, and that’s a real basketball school and has been forever, but still: an ACC job, with all the resources and visibility that entails, would trump what Wichita offers. Well, the ACC’s coffers are bulging so State has money to spend. Back up the truck, Debbie.
• If Clemson fires Brad Brownell, the options might include VCU’s Will Wade, a Clemson grad, Winthrop’s Pat Kelsey and, if lightning strikes, Marshall. Post-Winthrop he might have taken the Clemson job but now? Why in the world would he do that?

Marshall is a great coach but more importantly, he would counter the ACC’s modern tendency towards corporate dullness. The ‘70s and ‘80s were great because you had strong personalities like Lefty Driesell, Norm Sloan, Dean Smith and Jim Valvano.

Duke students used to salivate when any of them came to town. It was a massive carnival atmosphere and even better when those guys responded, as they often did.

Marshall would bring some of that anarchy back and as Steve Spurrier taught everyone, poking your finger in the other guy’s eye is, in the end, good business.