LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The games are a trivial pursuit. They have been for several weeks around the University of Louisville men’s basketball team.
This dismal season will end in 19 (March 8) or 20 days when the Cardinals exit the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament in Brooklyn, New York.
The ACC Tournament is supposed to be a celebration of the league’s energy and traditions. For the Cardinals, the trip to New York City will be the final milestone to survive as the program transitions to the only thing that matters:
Who’s going to fix this mess?
I’ve heard all the names that you’ve heard: Knicks’ assistant coach Kenny Payne, a former Cardinal player; UCLA coach Mick Cronin, a former U of L assistant; Baylor coach Scott Drew, the reigning national champion; Eric Musselman, the current Mr. Fix-It at Arkansas; Mike Boynton of Oklahoma State, one of the most respected young Black coaches in America, and don’t forget Steve Pikiell, who has turned Rutgers into a program to fear in the Big Ten.
I could go on. There’s no hard word count on speculation.
At this point, the future of the program is the responsibility of Glenn Sugiyama of DHR Global, the search firm U of L hired to identify top candidates and Josh Heird, the Cards’ interim athletic director. Expect Sugiyama to talk to representatives of coaches but not the media. A primary purpose of paying a search firm $100,000 is to keep names out of the media cycle. As one insider explained it, a coach who wants the job but fears he will not land the job does not need his players, AD, boosters and fans to know about his wandering eye.
There is a flip side: A guy who doesn’t want the job but would like a raise at his current stop will be happy to have his name tied to a job as juicy as the Louisville job.
Somebody like Bruce Pearl, perhaps?
Sugiyama’s task is to sort the contenders and pretenders. Expect him to settle on three to five candidates and present the names to Heird. The voices of the U of L board of trustees will also be heard.
The serious negotiating will begin when teams start falling out of the NCAA Tournament. As one source told me, there’s no way Louisville will hire a college coach whose team is not playing in the 2022 NCAA Tournament.
Italics were necessary there because of Payne. He belongs on the short list because of his work as a top assistant at Kentucky as well as his Louisville connection. Payne has the support of a substantial group of former U of L players who want him to become the program’s first Black head coach.
Payne is qualified. Payne is ready. Is Payne interested? Here’s another way to say it: Does Payne have better options?
After 10 seasons at Kentucky, Payne is finishing his second season working for Tom Thibodeau with the New York Knicks. Last season, the Knicks were an NBA success story that resulted in Thibodeau being voted Coach of the Year. This season, the Knicks have become as much of a mess as the Cardinals.
On Wednesday night, as Louisville lost its seventh consecutive game for the first time in more than eight decades, the Knicks blew a 20-point lead in a loss for the third time in 11 days.
The Knicks slipped 3 1/2 game behind the Hawks in the race for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, and New York faces a demanding schedule after the NBA All-Star break.
The New York tabloids used words like “disgrace,” “choke” and “mangled” to describe the team’s play.
Speculation about Thibodeau’s job security has escalated. If the Knicks make a change, would Payne take over in Madison Square Garden?
Hmmmm. Plot twist.
The rumor mill is about to move into overdrive. Several insiders mentioned Drew’s name this week. Check the attendance numbers for the defending national champions this season:
The Bears have averaged 8,098 fans over 14 games, more than 2,000 less than capacity at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas. Remember: This is after winning the 2021 national title with a top-10 team for most of this season.
Maybe Drew would listen to a legitimate push from a place where basketball matters.
Musselman was the flavor of the week last week after his Razorbacks toppled No. 1 Auburn. Put your shirt back on. My sense is Musselman loves Arkansas, which loves Musselman because of his entertaining style of play.
And Arkansas fans will love him even more next season because Musselman has signed the nation’s second-ranked recruiting class.
Stay tuned. There will be more discussion about everybody on the speculative list of contenders. Names will emerge — and disappear.
The serious basketball is about to escalate at U of L. The only guarantee is that it will be more fun than this season.
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