Laying it all out there.
Photo by Keith Gillett/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
If you listened to last night’s Twitter space then a lot of this will be repetitive. If you didn’t, that’s fine, I still love you.
Here’s the state of the Louisville basketball coaching search as I know it to be at 11 a.m. on Tuesday:
After talking to folks close to both Josh Schertz and the U of L search Monday night, I believe the job is Schertz’s if he wants it.
Two things here:
1) Schertz is still coaching Indiana State. The Sycamores are hosting Cincinnati tonight at 9 in the NIT quarterfinals. That obviously complicates things a bit.
2) Before the “Dusty debacle,” it was widely assumed that Schertz was headed to Saint Louis. Schertz could still stick with SLU, and the fallout from yesterday’s “death threats debacle” could play a part in that decision. He also may have actually signed a memorandum of understanding with SLU, which could cost seven figures to get out of.
I have no idea what the timeline for this decision would be, but I would assume Josh Heird is going to want an answer one way or the other as soon as possible.
If Schertz doesn’t take the job, there are two primary options Louisville will choose between: Charleston’s Pat Kelsey and New Mexico’s Richard Pitino. I believe either would accept the job.
In the last three days Josh Heird has had direct contact with Seton Hall’s Shaheen Holloway and South Florida’s Amir Abdur-Rahim. Heird, encouraged by those assisting with the search, also spoke with the agent of McNeese State head coach Will Wade. Wade is not being considered, and there haven’t been secondary talks with the other two as of the time of me writing this.
Holloway still might be a candidate. There’s also at least some buzz surrounding Colorado State’s Niko Medved.
Louisville also made at least a preliminary inquiry about Marquette’s Shaka Smart and were informed in no uncertain terms that he was not an option.
So quick summary:
Job is Josh Schertz’s if he wants it. If he doesn’t, expect the hire to be either Pat Kelsey or Richard Pitino.
I say all of this at least halfway expecting us to hire someone out of the blue tomorrow morning that we haven’t spent one second talking about.
