Question of the Week: Who Will be Arizona's Next Coach?

As usual, I'll start things off with some brief comments before y'all post your thoughts. First, Livengood should probably be fired, and I should be named AD.. my first order of business would be hiring.. drum roll please.. Jamie Dixon. If only because I love the idea of Dixon facing his mentor Howland multiple times a year.

Any other outside candidates you guys think are feasible?

maybe its just the whole west coast thing, but Few seems like the perfect guy. Dixon's style and everything scream midwest or northeast. Who knows if he could recruit down her

Lon Kruger, UNLV. It's a longshot, given what he's built in Vegas, but if they could get him for 5-10 years...then hand it over to Josh Pastner. Far-fetched, but you never know.

I think Cal, Dixon, Izzo, and Few are all pretty comfy where they are now, and it will take a lot to pry them away. They'll probably end up with Sean Miller or Scott Drew. Both have proven they can recruit and coach.

Well, I disagree. There is no way Arizona is going to pay their next coach as much as Pitino is getting at Louisville, as much as Donovan is getting at Florida. They aren't going to be paying "stupid" money.

Contrary to popular beliefe, not all coaches are slaves to money, and not all will jump at the next job that offers them a bigger paycheck, regardless of the circumstances of the job. Arizona is just a run of the mill, BCS job, whose whole identity was Lute Olson. A few of the candidates just need to be scratched off the list right now. For instance, Few at Gonzaga turned down Indiana in 2006 without even picking up the phone. IU can pay every bit as much as Arizona, and the job is far more elite than Arizona is.

I think Drew is your best bet. All of the other coaches in the list have it made where they are. Drew is bringing Baylor to national attention, and the natural progression is to go rebuild a team that has a tradition of winning. Arizona is just that.

If Few goes to Arizona, it won't be because of money. It will be because he knows he'll NEVER win a Championship in Spokane. And no, Arizona basketball didn't die when Olson stepped down. But hey, whatever helps you sleep at night.

I'd take a crack at Drew as well. Baylor has academic restrictions that inhibit it's recruiting, and the Baylor brand name is just not strong enough in the basketball world. At best it's just going to be another solid program in the Big 12.

Sean Miller has an extremely close relationship with the AD at Xavier who just gave him a huge raise. Xavier's recruiting is at a point now where Miller is landing top 100 players on a regular basis. No one in the A-10 can consistently beat him on players, and I expect to see his program begin to separate from other teams in the league.

I think guys like Miller have the best jobs in college basketball, period. They may not make 2 million a year, and they may not be able to pile on Burger Boy recruits like UNC or UCLA can, but they still get more money than they can spend, they are able dominate their league, they are able to make deep runs in March, and they have to deal with a fraction of the job pressure that comes with coaching at a high level BCS school. The media and booster scrutiny is really intense at BCS jobs. Xavier will never ever fire Sean Miller, and they will have zero reason to fire him if the Xavier program keeps getting the kind of talent it's getting.

Having that kind of stability in a college basketball world that experiences 50-60 coaching changes each offseason....it's something that you can't even place a dollar amount on when it comes to having peace of mind. I would never leave Xavier if I were him.

I don't think Mark Few KNOWS he can't win a national title at Gonzaga. If you go to draftexpress.com, this year's Gonzaga team has more players on the 2009 and 2010 NBA mock draft lists than any program beside UConn and North Carolina. 7 of his players were top 50 recruits coming out of high school with at least one major recruiting service. That's a fact. Yes, if he coached at Arizona, he would have some recruiting access that he doesn't have now, but many would agree that he CAN'T win a national title at Gonzaga. That program hasn't come close to reaching its glass ceiling yet.

That is:

Yes, if he coached at Arizona, he would have some recruiting access that he doesn't have now, but many would NOT agree that he CAN'T win a national title at Gonzaga. That program hasn't come close to reaching its glass ceiling yet.

Randy Bennett. Saint Mary's coach. Watch SMC make the 2nd round this year and Mills become a 1st round pick, and Bennett will become a hot commodity.

I must be missing out on something. Why does everyone think that Pastner will one day be this great coach?

Hmmm....just thinking outside the box.
How about Avery Johnson?

Arizona candidates:

Reggie Theus - Theus can and has a good shot at taking this spot. He will parlay his recent NBA stint (recent article in the media on this, by the way) into serious consideration for the Arizona job. Well known, good recruiter, and like Lute - a poster boy for the program. His western connections and Pro connections can lure top recruits.

Dana Altman - This offer will be in the 2.5 - 3.5 range. Hard to turn down Dinars in this range. Altman is a proven winner (over 500 career wins in his portfolio) and has consistently won at all stops in his career. His job with Creighton, given the small school size, nonmajor conference, and academic hinderances inherent at a top school, has been phenomenal. He is a consistent winner and a very undervalued coach. He and his staff already have a very capable west coast recruiting pipeline - which will allow him to garner top western recruits back to Arizona. Call him the Darkhorse.

Arizona needs to go big time with the new coach. Tucson and Arizona live and die by the basketball team. All football means is basketball season is right around the corner. Losing 5 in a row to ASU is UNF---BLE and action must be taken. Just getting into the dance and having the nation media saying Arizona shoud not be in can not countue. So I agree thet the Alims will step up and bring in a youg but big time coach who can pick up where Lute left off and bring Arizona back to it place as a top 5 team every year or the money will dry up.

He doesn't have the story Zona is looking for, but he does have the hype. Mike Anderson of Missouri is going to be one hot commodity, pick him up because he will be able to recruit better athletes of anyone but one of the top 10 coaches in America. Which of the top 10 in America will bolt for Zona...not many.

Take him above anyone on the list except Calipari, maybe Dixon, and maybe Mark Few as a larger stretch. Will any of them go to Zona? Calipari might be the closest thing if he gets amongst the 3 largest contracts in the country, but he probably likes his cushy job and even softer league. Dixon will probably not go, he's been muting offers for years and needs the big east for his style anyways. Mark Few, he also has a cushy league, but I'm not sure if he'll ever get a better offer than Zona in the next 5 years (unless my beloved Huskies go outside of their backyard).

Yup..he is flying under the radar...and his contract is up...and he purchased a $1 million home in Tucson...and U of A would pay top dollar for him. After U of A beats him in the tourney...he will be going.

I believe that in order for Arizona to get back where they were they need to hire an established proven head coach my pick would be John calipari he runs an exciting up tempo offense which sells tickets and can recruit the top talent (derick rose tyrik Evans) year in and tear out he is going to cost a lot of money but just like running a business in order to make money thou have to spend money

IasNJf Thank you ever so for you post.Much thanks again. Awesome.