USC fans, the proverbial writing is on the wall for the Darrin Horn Er”ror” at the University of South Carolina. The USC men’s basketball team is in such disarray on and off the court it is laughable. We learned yesterday that USC Athletics Director Eric Hyman and Coach Horn ate lunch with a local radio host & former USC Linebacker, Corey Miller, to “clear the air” on the public perception of Coach Darrin Horn’s progress with USC men’s basketball. If you do not live in Columbia or listen to Corey Miller on AM-560 (3-6 p.m. Monday-Friday), the former New York Giants Linebacker has been a boisterous mouthpiece of the anti-Horn sentiment that has been brewing for the last two seasons. Bottom line in college athletics is wins and losses! Since February 2, 2011, when USC defeated LSU 64-56 in Baton Rouge the Gamecocks are 2-18 in SEC Conference games (1-9 this season) that includes an opening round loss to Ole Miss in the SEC Basketball Tournament last year.
When the calendar turns to April 1, 2012, Hyman should give Coach Horn his pink slip and begin the monumental task of rebuilding this beleaguered basketball program. Under the terms of Horn’s contract, USC would have to pay him $2 million if he’s fired prior to the end of the current season. After April 2012, however, the buyout drops to $1.25 million. Hyman will be the biggest April fool if he does not rectify the problem that he created, when, in 2009, in the USC AD’s infinite wisdom, he decided to restructure Horn’s contract after one year at USC when the Gamecocks finished 21-10, 10-6 SEC record and a first round NIT home loss to Southern Conference opponent, Davidson. BTW, in Horn’s first year the SEC was as bad a conference in basketball as it had ever been in years.
So to make a long story short here are six names, IMHO, that should be on Eric Hyman’s speed dial after April Fool’s Day. This list includes realistic candidates that meet monetary obligations and one or two pipe dreams. I would prefer a candidate to have won at multiple schools to demonstrate an ability to win in different environments. This list is strictly my opinion!
USC Basketball Coaching Candidates:
1. Greg Marshall (Wichita State University) – Marshall is a South Carolina native (born in Greenwood, SC) and has coaching roots within the Palmetto state. Marshall is in his fifth season as the Head Coach at Wichita State University. The Shockers play in the “uber”-competitive Missouri Valley Conference, and this year the Shockers have positioned themselves for an invitation to the NCAA Tournament, as long as WSU doesn’t suffer a complete meltdown in the next couple of weeks. In less than five years at WSU, Marshall has compiled an 82-55 win/loss record (.600% winning percentage) to go along with a 38-34 MVC Conference record. Marshall has suffered only one losing season while at WSU and that was his first year. The Greenwood native has also gotten the Shockers into the post-season every season except the 2007-08 campaign. Just this week, Wichita State entered the Top 25 poll for the first time since 2006.
Prior to accepting the Shockers head coaching position, Marshall cut his teeth in Rock Hill at Winthrop University where he made Cinderella look pedestrian every year when it came time for the Big Dance and March Madness. While at Winthrop, Marshall accumulated a 194-83 win/loss record (.700% winning percentage) over a nine-year period. He guided the Eagles to seven NCAA Tournament berths.
One side note to remember on Marshall. He signed a contract extension after last year, which included a $325k buyout clause. If you are not familiar with WSU Athletics, then you might want to Google Koch Brothers. If you are not familiar with the Koch Brothers, Charles & David, just listen to a liberal/left-wing progressive talking head for a few minutes on television or the radio. These two brothers are the fourth richest ($50 billion) Americans, according to Forbes magazine last year. To put these brothers’ wealth in perspective, Charles Koch is the 18th richest man in the world compared to T.Boone Pickens (Oklahoma State Alumnae), who is somewhere in the 200’s per Forbes magazine. Now guess what the arena name is called where the Shockers play basketball? If you guessed the Charles Koch Arena then you are right! Charles Koch has donated a ton of cash to WSU over the years, and the sentiment in the WSU Athletic family is that the Koch brothers may write a blank check to keep Marshall in Wichita where basketball is the only cash crop in the athletics department. Just something to ponder if/when Marshall is contacted about the USC basketball job. After this season IMHO, Marshall will be a top two or three coaching commodity this off-season. Hyman and the USC Board of Trustees better be ready to ante up a ton of Benjamin”$” to bring back a beloved native son. It was rumored last year that N.C. State offered Marshall around $1.95 million to coach the Wolfpack, but reportedly Marshall turned down the offer to wait for his dream job to open up at South Carolina.
2. Buzz Williams (Marquette University) – Williams is a native of Greenville, Texas. Williams is in his fourth year at the helm of the Golden Eagles where he has amassed an 89-41 (.068% winning percentage) overall record and a 41-25 Big East Conference record (.062% winning percentage). Williams has guided the Golden Eagles to the NCAA Tournament all three previous seasons advancing to the Sweet 16 last year. Marquette University is a member of the Big East Conference and currently 22-5 (9-3, Big East Conference record) this season. Williams has been a Head Coach at two institutions, Marquette and New Orleans University (member of the Sun Belt Conference), and has only suffered one losing season (New Orleans in 2006-07). Marquette is a private institution so therefore is not required to release its employees’ salaries. I do know that Alabama tried to lure him to Tuscaloosa before turning to current coach Anthony Grant.
3. Brad Stevens (Butler University) – Stevens is a native of Greenville, SC before his family relocated to Indiana. Stevens is currently coaching in his fifth season with the Butler Bulldogs in the Horizon League, which is a very competitive mid-major conference. What more needs to be said about the 35-year-old Stevens’ accomplishments at Butler University located in Indianapolis, IN? Butler’s story over the last two years is material only reserved for the motion pictures! Stevens has been a staple on the Bulldogs bench for more than 10 years with the last four-plus being the Head Coach. Under his leadership, Butler has compiled a 133-37 (.078% winning percentage) overall record and a 72-16 Horizon Conference record (.082% winning percentage) in four-plus seasons. The biggest feats that the tiny Hoosier state university has accomplished are back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Basketball National Championship game where they lost to Duke in 2010 and UConn in 2011. Not sure of his buyout clause but Stevens ‘inked” a 12-year extension back in 2010 following the loss to Duke. One interesting note on Stevens is that he does not retain an agent in regards to his coaching contracts. His wife, Tracy, is a labor and employment attorney and she reviewed the legal jargon of his last contract back in 2010, per Seth Davis of CBS Sports. Home Run hire, IMHO!
4. Steve Prohm (Murray State University) – Prohm is a native of Vienna, Virginia. Prohm is currently in his first year as a head coach (24-1 overall record, 12-1 Ohio Valley Conference record) so that would be risky, but he has been a major contributor to the success of the MSU Racers basketball program, which is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference. Prohm succeeded former coach Billy Kennedy (left for Texas A&M) last year. Prior to being named Head Coach last May, he was an assistant at Murray State since 2006. He also served under Dave Dickerson, a Denmark-Olar, SC native, at Tulane University for one season (2005-06). Murray State last made the NCAA Tournament in 2010 where it upset Vanderbilt in the first round. Last year MSU lost in the first round of the NIT Tournament. IMHO, if USC wanted to go cheap Prohm would probably be a viable candidate to replace Horn. I doubt Prohm would be high on Hyman’s list.
5. Scott Drew (Baylor University) – Drew is a native of Kansas City, Missouri. Drew is currently coaching in his ninth season as the Baylor Bears’ Head Coach. Drew also coached one year at Valparaiso University (Indiana), 20-11 overall record. In 2003 Drew took over a scandal-riddled BU program after one player shot & killed a teammate, and the former Head Coach, Dave Bliss, tried to cover up the incident. The Bears basketball program was in shambles after the horrible incident and it took several “lean” years for Drew to rebuild the Baylor basketball program. The basketball team was on probation through 2010 but managed to make three consecutive post-season appearances (two NCAA Tournaments & one NIT appearance) in the midst of probation status. Drew’s body of work is very impressive in Waco considering all of the hurdles he inherited upon his arrival. Under the 41-year-old’s guidance, Baylor has compiled a 148-118 (.056% winning percentage) overall record and a 52-86 (0.38% winning percentage). Over the last four-and-a-half years, Baylor has averaged almost 25 wins per season and nine conference wins per season in a very competitive Big 12 Conference. Drew has also established himself as one of the top recruiters among the AAU circuit, which is a vital ingredient of any successful basketball program not named, Kentucky, Duke, UNC, Kansas or UCLA. IMHO, Drew would be another slam dunk hire to replace Horn. He has already proven an ability to rebuild a program in disarray and USC’s program is definitely a rutter-less ship! Since Baylor University is a private institution the dollar figure tied to his buyout is not available to the public.
6. Oliver Purnell (DePaul University) – Purnell is a native of Berlin, Maryland. I know he is the former Head Coach of the Clemson Tigers men’s basketball program but the man got the Tigers into postseason play six consecutive years, including three straight years into the Big Dance his final three years in Pickens County. In seven seasons at Clemson, Purnell amassed a 138-90 (.061% winning percentage) overall record and a 50-62 (.045% winning percentage) ACC record. To Purnell’s credit at Clemson, he won 93 games his final four years, averaging more than 23 wins per year, and averaged almost nine wins a season in ACC Conference play during that same span. Coach Purnell left Clemson in 2010 to pursue a job at DePaul University, which plays in the Big East Conference. He is currently in the midst of coaching his second full season for the Blue Demons with not much success. In less than two years, Purnell is realizing that the Windy City resurrecting project he signed up for back in 2010 is much more difficult than he may have anticipated. DePaul is the worst team in the Big East Conference even though it is in the city of Chicago where there is an abundance of basketball talent. His overall record at DePaul is 18-36 (.033% winning percentage) in one-plus years while he has endured major hurdles competing within the Big East Conference. The Blue Demons own a 3-26 (.010% winning percentage) Big East Conference record during Purnell’s tenure in Chicago. I know fans may balk at bringing in a former CU Tiger basketball coach, but Gamecocks fans need to set aside their disdain for their upstate brethren and look at what Purnell did recruiting wise and record wise while playing in the ACC. Purnell proved he could mine the state of North Carolina for talent (Charlotte metro area) that was under-utilized by UNC & Duke and he could go into the Atlanta Metro area and pull some talent up I-85 into Pickens County. Let’s face it, Purnell is an above average recruiter that has a proven track record of winning in tough places. DePaul is a tough place to win. He finished 7-24 last year and this year his team is a game under .500 (11-12). So he is making progress in a tough Big East basketball conference. Coach Purnell’s salary at DePaul University is reportedly around $1.8 million per season. He is currently in the second year of a seven-year deal.
SPURspective’s Slant: There will be coaching rumors surrounding the USC men’s basketball program until A.D. Hyman finally pulls the plug on this disaster. It is crystal clear that Horn is in over his head at Carolina and fan apathy is running rampant. It is embarrassing to watch a Gamecocks basketball game on national television in an empty cavernous arena known as the Colonial Life-less Arena. Horn’s buyout drops from $1.8 million pre-April 1, 2012, to $1.25 million post-April 1st. Another season of Coach Darrin Horn at the helm of USC basketball would further bury South Carolina into the basketball abyss and just make the next head coach’s job that much more difficult.
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