Take a chance at: Mark Few
Unlikely, but worth a call: Randy Bennett, Gregg Marshall
More Realistic: Mark Fox, Ben Howland, Leon Rice
Backups: Tommy Lloyd, Eric Musselman, TJ Otz, Brandon Roy
Recommendation: Otz
Prediction: Musselman
No chance I'd want anything to do with Few ... and he's never leaving Gonzaga anyway because he's the kind of guy that likes being a big fish in a small pond.
Bennett I'm not crazy about here ... he'd almost certainly turn off the Seattle AAU community that you have to have a working relationship with to get the metro area talent. While he does have a decent international pipeline, his teams are only marginally athletically superior for the WCC and I just don't see that Alaska pipeline netting him the kind of players needed to be an upper PAC team. And to be honest, I don't think most of his St. Mary's teams are better than .500 in the PAC.
Marshall ... MAKE HIM SAY NO
Mark Fox ... why would we want to talk a guy who is one more non-NCAA year away from getting fired from Georgia?
Ben Howland's better days are behind him ... that's the kind of uninspired retread hire that a losing program makes.
Leon Rice ... decent backup option ... but honestly not a guy that you eat the entire buyout to go get ... he's not a needle mover or difference maker.
Tommy Lloyd ... I really don't want anybody from the Gonzaga tree
Eric Musselman ... to me, a slightly more upside hire to Leon Rice ... could have more downside ... I'd prefer him to Rice
TJ Otz ... I don't see why we would make the play to go get a guy who has minimal head coaching experience ... I expect he'll be a good coach at some point going forward but it'll probably be in the Big 12 or Big 10
Brandon Roy ... maybe in 10 years
From another thread about Fred Hoiberg ... more likely scenario is that he goes back to Iowa State and we take Steve Prohm from there without paying a buyout ... Prohm is a very good coach and I'd endorse him