I'm not impressed with any of the names that have emerged to this points thanks to Scott Kushner's solid work. But I also don't expect any of those guys to get the job.
Doug Gottlieb I can't imagine getting the job. I like his work on radio and CBS, but he also comes across as self-absorbed and carries some baggage, both from his college days and from inflammatory statements he has made that have gotten him in trouble. Plus, it's hard for someone in his financial position to do the necessary work to succeed. It would be far too risky a hire.
Anthony Grant, whom I covered at Florida as an assistant, is one of the nicest guys I've ever met. He also failed as a coach at Alabama, and if you can't win at Alabama, I don't see why someone would bet on you winning at Tulane. Two of Grant's three predecessors at Alabama--Wimp Sanderson and Mark Gottfried-won a lot more than Grant, and his successor at VCU, Shaka Smart, won at higher level than Grant. He does not appear interested anyway, and that's a good thing in my book.
James Jones, who coached Yale to the tournament this year, appears to be a good coach. But he's been at Yale for 17 years and never had a legitimately good team until 2015. He made the CIT twice, which is no different than Conroy's level of success, before finally having an NCAA-tourney caliber team the past two seasons. And last year Yale blew the automatic bid by losing to a horrible team in its last regular season game. Plus, the recruiting is totally different at Tulane than Yale, so Jones, to me, is a huge question mark.
Tulane has a lot to offer. It's one of 86 teams in leagues that have virtually every game nationally televised--the Power 5 leagues plus the Big East and AAC--and that matters. It's unclear how much Dannen can pay a new coach, but the guys mentioned so far are either retreads or have major question marks.
I've also heard rumblings about how Middle Tennessee coach Kermit Davis should be in the picture. This is a team that did not win CUSA, finishing three games behind UAB, then benefitted from UAB losing on its home court in the CUSA tournament before beating Old Dominion 55-53 in the championship game. Middle Tennessee played out of its mind to beat Michigan State in the first round, an upset I think is the biggest in NCAA tournament history, before falling flat in a 25-point loss to Syracuse. He did not win a division title in his first nine years at Middle Tennessee but has been pretty darn good the past five years. Again, he would hardly be a home run hire even though he has Louisiana experience as an associate coach to John Brady at LSU.
I'm surprised Chris Beard's name has not surfaced. He's won right away everywhere he has been, including Arkansas-Little Rock this year. In general, I much prefer the quick-fix guys over people who needed a really long time to become successful at their schools.
Doug Gottlieb I can't imagine getting the job. I like his work on radio and CBS, but he also comes across as self-absorbed and carries some baggage, both from his college days and from inflammatory statements he has made that have gotten him in trouble. Plus, it's hard for someone in his financial position to do the necessary work to succeed. It would be far too risky a hire.
Anthony Grant, whom I covered at Florida as an assistant, is one of the nicest guys I've ever met. He also failed as a coach at Alabama, and if you can't win at Alabama, I don't see why someone would bet on you winning at Tulane. Two of Grant's three predecessors at Alabama--Wimp Sanderson and Mark Gottfried-won a lot more than Grant, and his successor at VCU, Shaka Smart, won at higher level than Grant. He does not appear interested anyway, and that's a good thing in my book.
James Jones, who coached Yale to the tournament this year, appears to be a good coach. But he's been at Yale for 17 years and never had a legitimately good team until 2015. He made the CIT twice, which is no different than Conroy's level of success, before finally having an NCAA-tourney caliber team the past two seasons. And last year Yale blew the automatic bid by losing to a horrible team in its last regular season game. Plus, the recruiting is totally different at Tulane than Yale, so Jones, to me, is a huge question mark.
Tulane has a lot to offer. It's one of 86 teams in leagues that have virtually every game nationally televised--the Power 5 leagues plus the Big East and AAC--and that matters. It's unclear how much Dannen can pay a new coach, but the guys mentioned so far are either retreads or have major question marks.
I've also heard rumblings about how Middle Tennessee coach Kermit Davis should be in the picture. This is a team that did not win CUSA, finishing three games behind UAB, then benefitted from UAB losing on its home court in the CUSA tournament before beating Old Dominion 55-53 in the championship game. Middle Tennessee played out of its mind to beat Michigan State in the first round, an upset I think is the biggest in NCAA tournament history, before falling flat in a 25-point loss to Syracuse. He did not win a division title in his first nine years at Middle Tennessee but has been pretty darn good the past five years. Again, he would hardly be a home run hire even though he has Louisiana experience as an associate coach to John Brady at LSU.
I'm surprised Chris Beard's name has not surfaced. He's won right away everywhere he has been, including Arkansas-Little Rock this year. In general, I much prefer the quick-fix guys over people who needed a really long time to become successful at their schools.