Thursday, April 29, 2010

Sort of Silent

Written for your enjoyment by: Raff

There really hasn't been a lot of movement or a lot of noise surrounding the Mount coaching job today. It seems as if we might have gotten to the point where the sorting out has been done and now the decision needs to be made.

I did hear that there is the possibility of one more interview. It might be Kurt Kanaskie the Associate Head Coach at Penn State, but I had someone else tell me that it is Dan Earl from Penn State who has the real interest in the position. Kanaskie still seems like the better fit with his experience than Earl.

I also spoke with someone today who had real high praise for Mike Rhoades. Rhoades is the former head coach at Randolph Macon, having led the Yellow Jackets at the Division III level for 10 years, before becoming the assistant at VCU. Its been awhile since the Mount and the Jackets were connected on the basketball court and this would be an interesting situation. He brings the head coaching experience that the Mount seems to be looking for, he obviously has a lot of recruiting contacts in and around this area, but like Chris Harney - how that would translate to the DI level would be a question mark. I really don't know if the interest on either side has been too great, but the name has been mentioned and it came up again today. He would seem to fit into what the Mount would be looking for.

To recap:
The confirmed interviews are Strickland (former Dematha assistant and Coastal Carolina head coach & current NC State assistant), Jamion Christian (Mount alum, coaching experience at Bucknell & William and Mary), Martin Ingelsby (Notre Dame assistant), Brion Dunlap (current Mt assistant for 7 years).

Names that have come up too often to think its just a coincidence: Kurt Kanaskie (current Associate Head Coach at Penn State, former head coach Drake, IUP, Lock Haven), Chris Caputo (assistant George Mason), Mike Rhoades (assistant VCU, former head coach Randolph Macon), Chris Harney (St. Mary's (Md) coach), Robert Burke (assistant American, former assistant Georgetown).

Out: Names that surfaced that took other jobs - Kevin Nickelberry (Howard), Bill Courtney (Cornell), Chuck Driesell (Citadel).

The pool could be larger than that. But based on the information that I have, that is the best listing that I can come up with. I would expect that an announcement will be coming in the not to distant future.

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:56 AM

    The more I think about this the more I wish Cliff Warren gets the Job. I think the Mount needs a young black coach to be able to bring urban kids to emmittsburg. I also think he would have some type of loyalty to the school and want to put in even more effort. I know Christian is young but I worry about his experience as a coach. Dunlop I also have high on my radar. Of course anything I think doesnt matter and the Mount will screw this up somehow.

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  2. Anonymous10:05 AM

    Blacks are the best in sports! Don't you think it is kind of odd that only a few teams like Duke have so many whites and win the championship. Something tells me that title was bought. I mean really though, out of all these teams usually the white dominated teams are not that good, then all of sudden you have Duke with its whites and they win. I really think certain teams are paying for victories. College sports is getting so corrupt. Anybody knows that blacks are better than whites in sports. Look at RMU, all black and winning titles. Same for MSM mostly black and win titles. When more whites were on the team, MSM did not do as good and neither did RMU.

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  3. Here is my take on Warren - and I should have included him in this post...I still think he is a great candidate.

    He keeps getting mentioned for bigger jobs - but doesn't get hired - sort of like Turner Gill was at UB - kind of makes you wonder why.

    Maybe the concern is that the jump from the A-Sun to the major level is too big.

    However, Cliff needs to make the decision, does he want to be a long-term coach somewhere or does he want the opportunity to coach somewhere bigger. Although he is younger than some of the candidates...he is older that a few as well.

    I'd be in favor of CW as a long-term solution for the Mount - but I'm afraid it could be a short-term situation and might not end well for either side.

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  4. The Mount will never have another Jim Phelan and I dont think they should try to find a coach that will be here that long. In my opinion the Mount's best chance is to find another young hungry coach like Brown that wants to move up eventually. To hire a coach that is happy staying at the mount and doesnt have higher expectations about his career tells me something about that person. It may hurt the mount by having to do searches every 10 years but i think they will get a better product.

    Raff who is your top choice as coach? Also i enjoy your comments/thoughts

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  5. Need to clarify - I'm not necessarily looking for another Phelan...I just think with Warren - compared to the other young and up and comers - that his timeframe to want to move on would be shorter - unless he's looking to be here long-term.

    On my personal opinion...it doesn't matter. I trust the time and the effort that the administration has put into the search.

    I'm a bit of a conservative - so I appreciate those that have head coaching experience a little more. A name like Pat Flannery - if affordable - would be a must hire to me. But guys like Kanaskie, Strickland - and the guys with the DIII experience Rhoades and Harney are interesting as well.

    The last time we hired an assistant with no head coaching experience so I believe that could work as well. And the hire from within program has worked extremely well for the most highly regarded mid-majors in the country....Butler, Xavier and Gonzaga.

    However it falls, I'll be in the new coaches corner from Day 1.

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