Being Bipolar

It’s official. The University of Memphis has hired a replacement for Coach Calipari. AP reported that R.C. Johnson had planned to make a “wow” hire for the next coach. I think it is certainly a shocker, but I am not sure wow would be the term I would use.

Josh Pastner spent six years as an assistant coach at Arizona. He did coach under Calipari for one year. However, the 31-year-old has never been a head coach, which leaves one to question whether he is capable of stepping in and leading the Tigers to a victorious season. Will this young man prove to be a strong recruiter or will U of M Athletic Director R.C. Johnson end up regretting his new hire? Only time will tell.

Bob Winn, Memphis athletics spokesperson, says the University of Memphis will hold a press conference Tuesday, April 7, 2009 at noon Central Time to formally introduce Pastner as the new head coach. I am anxious to see how the fans and supporters will take to this new hire. I am not certain that it will be a warm reception. Of course, many diehard fans will not readily accept anyone as the new head coach.

With the coaching position filled, hopefully the Tigers can stop fretting over the situation and begin focusing on the next season. I am certain this will help many of the recruits make their decision. I also anxiously wait to find out how this will affect their decisions.

I would love to hear your opinion on this breaking news.

In a shocking turn of events, UT Vols head basketball coach Bruce Pearl shunned the offer made by the University of Memphis and signed a new six year contract to remain at the University of Tennessee. I do not expect Memphis Tiger fans to be upset by this as only 40% of respondents to a poll by a Memphis news channel thought that Pearl could handle the job.

Tim Floyd decided not to accept the offer from Arizona, but don’t count on him filling the open coaching position at U of M. Like Pearl, he agreed to stay right where he was and signed a new contract with USC.

So who is Memphis considering since what was considered the top two contenders is out of the running? Baylor coach Scott Drew is on the list and so is former NBA coach Reggie Theus. Sean Miller, head coach at Xavier, is also still on the list of possible replacements. Drew and Miller are both great recruiters, which was touted as being an important factor in candidates for the Tigers head coaching position.

While finding a replacement coach is a pretty slow go, Memphis seems to be burning through candidates pretty quickly. This leads to the question: Is University of Memphis Athletic Director R. C. Johnson looking for Mr. Right or Mr. Right Now? During his recent press conference, he stated that he wanted to take his time and find a top-notch coach to take over the program. Are the boosters and fans putting so much pressure on him to fill the position that he is rushing the process?

I would love to hear your opinion on the ongoing search to decide who will replace former Memphis Tigers coach, John Calipari.

It seems Tim Floyd is out of the running for the Memphis coaching job, as he has been offered a multi-million dollar contract with Arizona.

Rumors were swirling around the internet yesterday that Memphis is interviewing Bobby Knight. WMCTV 5 in Memphis reports that he has indeed been flown in for an interview, so those of you who thought this was simply an April Fool’s joke can rest assured that it isn’t. He did indeed interview for the position on Wednesday, April 1.

So far, the most serious offer on the table was made to a somewhat unexpected coach right here in Tennessee. UT Vols basketball coach Bruce Pearl has expressed interest in the open Tigers coaching position at the University of Memphis. It has been confirmed that the U of M has offered Pearl a seven year,  $21 million deal. This information was just released.

I suppose now we will have to wait and see if Pearl takes the job, but considering that he is highly interested in becoming the next Memphis Tigers’ coach I would assume that we could basically consider this job filled. I see no reason why he would turn it down.

Despite University of Memphis Athletic Director R.C. Johnson’s claim that he did not wish to rush into filling the empty coaching position, this feels like somewhat of a snap decision. Johnson is under quite a bit of pressure from fans and boosters to get this vacancy filled. I’m not sure how this is going to play out considering that UT and Memphis are rival teams.

I’d love to hear your opinion on this recent development.

R.C Johnson, the University of Memphis Athletic Director, held a press conference in Memphis at Noon Central Time. He commended the efforts of boosters to keep Calipari and stated they had done all that could be done in the situation. He also stated that they have already started the process of replacing Calipari. Johnson stated, “My job is to get the best coach possible and that’s what I intend to do…Our basketball program is top notch and we want to get a top notch coach.”

Johnson also says that he has a list of 3-5 potential coaches. WREG of Memphis, TN reports that both Sean Miller and Tim Floyd are amongst those candidates. He also stated that experience and success in recruitment were important in a candidate, which seems to point towards Miller of Xavier. I’m just speculating here, folks, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Miller was his first choice.

John Calipari held a press conference outside his home at 1:30 PM Central Time. An emotional Calipari said he understood that people were angry, but “this program will go on”. He also stated that he told the four signed players to stay at the University of Memphis. He is uncertain as to whether or not the coaching staff will follow him to Kentucky. Calipari also acknowledged that he understood that this was a bad year but he was confident that the team would be fine.

Memphis fans, brace yourselves. It’s going to be a bumpy ride as we wait to see how it will affect this team next season.

I am getting a lot of traffic from people Googling “who will replace Coach Calipari”. The University of Memphis had considered Missouri coach, Mike Anderson. However, Anderson signed a new seven year contract with Missouri after passing on a sizable raise offered by Georgia. Now that he is officially out of the running, who else is Memphis considering?

I would like to throw out a few potential prospects – Xavier coach, Sean Miller and USC Trojans coach, Tim Floyd. Miller is a skilled recruiter, which may come in handy if some of the recruits decide to leave Memphis and/or follow Calipari to UK. Floyd has ties to the Mid-South region and has experience coaching in the NBA. I wouldn’t be surprised if Memphis begins actively courting one of these two coaches.

Of course, I didn’t come to this conclusion on my own. My uncle is a die-hard Memphis Tigers fan and has been for over 20 years. He owns quite a bit of Memphis State memorabilia from way back when the University still went by that name. He is, obviously, following the situation very closely and feels like Miller and Floyd would be obvious choices for a quick replacement of Calipari for the reasons I have stated above. Think about that for a bit.

Former University of Memphis coach, John Calipari, is scheduled to appear at a press conference in Memphis, TN at Noon Central Time today. I am uncertain as to what type of reception he will receive because if you happen to live close enough to the Memphis area and are able to hear their radio stations then you have probably heard some of the nasty comments made about Coach Cal’s sudden departure. It ranges from outright anger to “good riddance, traitor”. Local fans were on the edge of their seats awaiting Calipari’s decision and then crushed by Calipari’s departure of Memphis on a plane to appear at a press conference in Kentucky this morning to make the formal announcement.

Summing it all up, don’t be surprised if Sean Miller and/or Tim Floyd soon appear in the University of Memphis’ prospects for their head basketball coach.