Kansas State Coaching Search: Could They Pull the Reverse on the SEC and Hire Mark Fox of Georgia?
By Jason Lisk
If Gregg Marshall (Wichita State) and Shaka Smart (VCU) were not interested in Illinois, I don’t see them emerging at Kansas State. John Groce of Ohio has emerged as a name mentioned for Illinois with his Big Ten regional ties, but I don’t see him getting involved in Kansas State. Another name I’ve seen mentioned is Steve Alford at New Mexico. I don’t see it. He has enough ability to have success at New Mexico, and was a 5-seed in the NCAA tourney year, that I don’t think he bolts unless it is a top 15 job at a major conference.
Tad Boyle’s name has emerged, and has been mentioned everywhere as the leading candidate, which tells me his agent has done a good job setting him up for a pay raise at Colorado. Boyle has Big XII ties, since the Buffs were just in the conference, and he played at Kansas. I think he’s staying at Colorado, where he just won a conference tournament title, rather than go back to competing against his alma mater. Of course, the best one I’ve seen is the Topeka Capital-Journal, which included Kim Mulkey, coach of the undefeated Baylor women’s team, among its potential candidates. That is some high quality trolling.
When Frank Martin was hired, he was not a clear choice and was promoted as a top recruiting assistant, responsible for getting Michael Beasley to Manhattan. The Wildcats could go either the assistant coach/recruiter route again, or with a head coach looking for a payday or promotion in conference level.
Here are five names that I think the Wildcats should realistically look at:
1. Steve Henson, assistant at Oklahoma. He’s the home state boy, and starred on the 1987 team with Mitch Richmond that went to the Elite Eight. He has expressed interest. The long-time assistant to Lon Kruger is ready for a coaching job, and it’s just a matter of whether his alma mater thinks he is ready for a Big XII one.
2. Orlando Antigua, assistant at Kentucky. Manhattan is not the easiest place to recruit. Martin did an excellent job of it. Antigua is a top recruiter on Calipari’s staff. Why not go after another recruiter who can get guys to come to Kansas? Antigua is another guy who is at least ready for a high mid-major coaching position, and the Cats could boom or bust with this move.
3. Ben Jacobsen, head coach at Northern Iowa. Jacobsen has done an excellent job at Northern Iowa, though they missed the tournament. It doesn’t hurt that they beat Kansas a couple of years ago in the NCAA tournament, something that would probably sell with the fan base.
4. Russ Springmann, assistant at Texas. Another long-time assistant who is an excellent recruiter, Springmann knows the Big XII region and brought plenty of name talent to Austin, including Kevin Durant (and he named his first child Durant as a result).
5. Mark Fox, head coach at Georgia. Would I take Georgia over Kansas State in a vacuum? Yes, but Fox is in year three and just took a step back. He was at Nevada, and is from Kansas, so he has no prior ties to the Southeast. He played at Garden City Community College and was an assistant at Kansas State from 1994 to 2000. If he can get a raise over his base salary, and some additional security (competing in a seven team division where the opponents are loaded Kentucky, likely top ten Florida, tourney teams Missouri and Vanderbilt, a bubble team in Tennessee, plus now Frank Martin at South Carolina can’t be soothing), I could see a surprise move here.
[US Presswire]