coaching changes – Rush The Court

Bruce Pearl to Auburn Sends Shock Waves Through SEC

David Changas — Tue, 18 Mar 2014 18:15:59 +0000

Talk about hitting a grand slam. As first reported by ESPN.com’s Jeff Goodman, Auburn hired former Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl as its new head coach this morning. Pearl, who is still subject to a show-cause penalty until August and will not be able to have contact with recruits over the summer, inherits the reins of the program from Tony Barbee, who was fired last week after four seasons at the school. Needless to say, the hire is a major splash for a program that hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 2003 and has essentially been an SEC also-ran throughout the tenures [...]

Silent Knight? I’m Not Buying It.

jstevrtc — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 23:56:19 +0000

John Stevens is a featured writer for RTC. His column appears on Tuesdays throughout the season.

So of course now there’s speculation that Bob Knight is headed to yet another school where all he’ll have to do is change the logo on his red sweaters and he’s good to go. I obviously don’t know if he’ll end up taking the position, but despite Knight’s feeble attempt to downplay the issue, I think we can say for sure that he’s considering it.

Questions, Indeed… (photo credit: daylife.com)

Note how the initial reports stated that “a friend” of Knight’s stated that he [...]

Would Knight Make a Good Fit at Georgia?

rtmsf — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 23:46:51 +0000

By now you’re already heard all the hubbub about the possibility of Bob Knight leaving his ESPN media persona behind to get back in the saddle at one of these high-level SEC jobs that have recently opened. Put specifically, Georgia. From the AP report today:

Bob Knight could be ready to return to coaching and Monday said Georgia would be a desirable destination. “We would have the wherewithal to recruit and be able to compete with anybody,” Knight told ESPN on Monday. Knight, who resigned as the Texas Tech coach almost one year ago, said he would return to the sideline [...]

Checking in on the… SEC

rtmsf — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 20:09:31 +0000

Ryan ZumMallen of LBPostSports is the RTC correspondent for the ACC, SEC and Big West Conferences.

Meeks may very well inherit the conference with a Kentucky SEC Championship this season, but last night the Wildcats were shocked in a road loss to Ole Miss, whose 1-4 conference record was hardly intimidating. But the Rebels held the Wildcats to 38.5% shooting on the way to their first SEC loss. Kentucky still sits atop the SEC East standings with a half-game lead over Florida, and Ole Miss moves into third in the SEC West with a half-game lead over ‘Bama (trust [...]

The Mark Gottfried Effect: The SEC Is Wising Up On Its Coaches

rtmsf — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 06:26:44 +0000

There’s news coming out of Tuscaloosa tonight that doesn’t involve Nick Saban (although Utah’s demolition of the Tide a month ago may have led to this unrelated breaking news). No, the crimsontided stepchild of Alabama’s athletics program is the one driving the needle tonight – Mark Gottfried’s Philip Pearson’s basketball program. Er, formerly Mark Gottfried’s basketball program.

Photo Credit: Flickr.com

Today Alabama announced that Mark Gottfried, arguably the second most successful coach in Bama history (behind the irascible Wimp Sanderson), resigned amidst criticism over the state of his program in light of Ronald Steele’s decision to leave [...]

Sources: Lute Olson to Retire?

rtmsf — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:36:27 +0000

A mere two days after making comments to the media that he was “fired up” to be back for a new season, the Lute Olson Soap Opera continued in earnest today. ESPN (through Rays megafan Dick Vitale) is reporting that Olson is retiring from Arizona after 24 seasons at the school. (h/t The Big Lead)

Arizona’s Lute Olson is stepping down as the school’s men’s basketball coach, a source has told ESPN college basketball analyst Dick Vitale. Associate coach Mike Dunlap will take over the head coaching duties on an interim basis, the source told Vitale.

As of mid-morning [...]