Bill Self said no to Oklahoma State and all of T Boone Pickens millions. The rumor on the deal wnet from a $6 million signing bonus to $40 million worth of hedge fund stock. He answered the question of winning over money. Forgetting for the moment that Kansas will soon make him the highest paid coach in the country (roughly $3.6 million), he knows that winning a title at OSU is next to impossible. At Kansas he can win one every year. That is how high the passion and interest is there.
Besides, if he wants to coach for pure money, he can always wait a year or two and then take the Oklahoma City NBA job. No doubt it will be his for the taking.
Now OSU turns it’s attention to Billy Gillespie of Kentucky. That’s not going to happen either. In the end they will end up with a new coach without the type of splash the AD hoped for when he fired Sean Sutton. A possible candidate is Chris Lowery of Southern Illinois. He would be a great choice.
Speaking of Sutton, what a great deal he got. A head coach for only 2 years and he walks away with a settlement of $400,000 plus $20,000 a month for the next ten years regardless if he takes another job or not. Unbelievable!! I guess it pays to be Eddie Sutton’s son!!!
At the other OSU (Oregon State University) AD Bob DeCarrolis hired Craig Robinson from Brown. Are you kidding me? First, the AD pays a search firm $75,000 to give him names. How about doing your own job Bob. Then Billy Grier turns it down, Randy Bennett pulls out and Ron Hunter (IUPUI) pulls out of negotiations after he is told he has to give an answer without seeing the campus.
With this type of incompetence, how can DeCarolis keep his job. Finally, they choose Robinson over Ken Bone (Portland State) and Dean Demopoulos (Portland Trailblazers). Makes perfect sense if you live on Mars. Robinson is finishing his second year at Brown and has never been to an NCAA tournament as a head coach, assistant or player. He has no connections to the West coast, but oh yeah, he is Barack Obama’s brother in law. Makes perfect sense!!!
Providence Update: Travis Ford has turned down the job to stay at UMass. Next in line is Fran McCaffrey (Siena) and Tim O’Shea (Ohio), but don’t be surpirsed if there is a wild card in the deck. Possibly, Fran Frachilla from ESPN and a former Friar assistant.
Western Illinois offered their opening to Ray Harper from Oklahoma City, but he turned it down to go to Western Kentucky as an assistant. Look for former Bradley coach Jim Molinari to land the job.
