Finding a basketball fit at Utah

When I first read that Cuonzo Martin had replaced Bruce Pearl as coach of the Tennessee Volunteers, I said to myself: “Huh?”

Never heard of the guy.

Since when did a Southeastern Conference team need to go to a dinky school like Missouri State to get a coach? I mean, the Tennessee contract pays millions. The exposure is enormous. And it had to get its coach from Mizzou State?

I’m not even saying Martin can’t coach. He might be brilliant. But you expect a coach at a place like Tennessee to have a bigger resume. Likewise, I was surprised when Utah had to go to Eastern Washington to hire a coach when it replaced Rick Majerus.

A lot of factors figure into the hiring of a coach. Sometimes what appears to be a premiere job isn’t viewed that way by candidates. For instance, Tennessee probably couldn’t get a coach from a BCS conference to come to Knoxville, largely due to the fact the school is facing possible NCAA sanctions.

Who wants to start out a couple of steps behind?

Other factors that can diminish normally attractive jobs:

1.Status at the school. At best, men’s basketball is a third fiddle at Tennessee, following football and women’s basketball. That sort of situation seemed to factor into Stew Morrill’s move from Colorado State to Utah State. CSU’s football program was thriving under Sonny Lubick and Morrill probably saw that basketball could be king at USU.

2.Talent, or potential to recruit talent. Often a vacancy appears because the program is at low ebb. Can a coach turn the program around fast enough to avoid being fired himself?

3.Competition. Do you really want to take a job where you’re seldom if ever going to win your conference? Hello, Wyoming and Washington State.

4.Predecessors. Word is a lot of candidates didn’t want the Utah job several years ago because they were following Rick Majerus. While most coaches have enough confidence to believe they too can win, Majerus was a legend. It’s hard to measure up to that.

5.Timing. Sometimes, a logical candidate just doesn’t feel it’s the right time to move. A few people turn down a school and suddenly the No. 4 candidate becomes the No. 1 (See Ray Giacoletti, Jim Boylen) candidate.

That said, I still think Utah will get a coach with good credentials. I don’t think the talent pool is that bad at Utah. The Pac-12 beckons. But mostly, I think coaches realize they’re not following Majerus. It might not be that hard to show an improvement.