re: List of Possibilities to replace Coach JJ

I think by now, this is legitimately worth talking about. The party is over on the Jones era. Just ask the players.

My thoughts from the thread on The Rant:

Alleva's list would be:

Jay Wright
Gregg Marshall

Then once he became offended at the audacity of those coaches asking for HUGE salaries, he would go hire David Patrick back from TCU and hope he has some other all-world Godchild in some foreign country.

Everyone would love Bill Self, Gregg Marshall, etc, but I think the list has to be guys who might REALISTICALLY consider the LSU job. This isn't a bad job at all. There are many good players just in the TX/LA/MS tri-state area alone. The right guy could win, and win quickly at LSU. Once that happens, the fans will come back. If LSU fans are willing to pack the PMAC for women's basketball (in the Sue/Pokey days) and gymnastics because those teams are ranked highly, they will certainly show up for Men's basketball if they can consistently win.

I think a realistic list could include:

Steve Prohm (Iowa St.) - Bama grad; coached in LA as an assistant for 7 years. Recruits the state and his top recruiter is from Mississippi. Early 40's. He's at the "little brother" school in a state not necessarily known for pumping out top athletic talent. Plus he's in a brutal conf. Maybe he wants to get back down south where he could have an easier job with less expectations, especially if Fred Hoiberg gets fired by the Bulls. Is paid about $1.5 mill. Certainly LSU should be able to increase that since they are already paying $1.5 mill for the garbage Jones puts out.

Buzz Williams (Va Tech) - Very successful at Marquette and has started to turn VT around. Curious why he would he would leave a very successful MU to go to a never-has-been in VT. Still, he's relatively young. He's a TX native with some ties to LA. A big personality. He would immediately work to regain fan interest a la Bruce Pearl. The ACC is a slaughterhouse, especially when you are at the #2 school in a state where the flagship (UVA) has become a consistent power.

Mike White (Florida) - Doesn't seem likely that he would make a jump seemingly "down" from UF to LSU, but he's a NOLA guy who had great success in this state (La. Tech). Just like it won't be easy for the guy who follows Saban at Bama, it's hard to follow a legend in Billy Donovan. He can come home to Louisiana and not have to be judged against unreal success of Donovan. Basically he is in a Les Miles position -- really good is not good enough over there.

Richard Pitino (Minnesota) - Very young (34) but obviously has the name recognition and hopefully the family pedigree. Has struggled at Minn., but seems to maybe be finding his footing this season. You could argue it may be easier to get players at LSU than Minn. Still, it's obviously a risk because there is no guarantee he would ever be as good a coach as his dad and the results haven't been outstanding.

Will Wade (VCU) - another very young guy (34), but he has had good success at Chattanooga and now at VCU. A southern guy (Nashville native) who is known as a pretty good recruiter as well as coach. VCU has certainly become a very good job, but you'd have to believe LSU can outbid any salary they could put out there.

Chris Collins (Northwestern) - Son of Doug Collins and Coach K protege (which hasn't always equaled results). He's taken a graveyard program in Northwestern and started to make them competitive in the Big 10. The worry would always be that Duke is the dream job as Coach K can't have too many years left, but he may be willing to leave NU because, quite frankly, coaching there is like trying to swim with one arm tied behind your back. No matter how much effort you exert, there's only so much you can do

Kermit Davis (MTSU) - One of John Brady's early assistants. Knows LSU and has done a good job at MTSU. Would almost assuredly take the LSU job if offered. Still, despite good success, he's been at MTSU for a long time, which makes you wonder why no other power schools have tried to grab him. There have been plenty of SEC jobs come open during his time at MTSU, including Vandy and Tenn., and Davis never seemed to be a big player. Is he just a slightly better Johnny Jones?

Rick Stansbury (WKU) - Probably a little under-appreciated at MSU, but had some very good years there. Obviously knows how to recruit LA/MS/TX. He would walk to BR to be LSU's HC. Still, is a SEC re-tread the direction we want to go? No question he would be better than Jones, but there seems to be a pretty clear ceiling for him as well.


Personally, Williams would be my first call in that group. I think he would do really well recruiting TX and LA and would generate some excitement among the fans almost immediately. He took over a dump of a program in Va. Tech and in year 3 has turned them into a player in the ultra-competitive ACC. That was after a 6 year run at Marquette in the then brutal Big East which saw two Sweet 16 appearances and one Elite 8 appearance. He could do a GREAT job at VT and still only finish in the middle of the ACC with teams like Duke, UNC, Louisville, UVA, Notre Dame, Syracuse, almost always in national contention. It would be much, MUCH, easier to win in the SEC which consist of one powerhouse (UK) and 13 other programs that can vary anywhere from decent to bad depending on the year.