On Day One of Kansas State’s search for a new basketball coach we examined a few of the known candidates for the job.
Today, we do the opposite. Here is a look at everyone we know who is out of the running or wasn’t interested from the beginning:
Mark Fox
The Georgia coach is a Kansas native and worked for the Wildcats as an assistant from 1994-2000. He was also highly successful as the head coach at Nevada and has taken his teams to four NCAA Tournaments. That track record combined with his connections to K-State had some thinking he would make a push to come back to Manhattan. But it doesn’t seem like he is interested. He sent out a tweet yesterday to reassure Georgia fans that he will remain with the Bulldogs.
Kelvin Sampson
I don’t know that anyone was tossing his name around for the job, but Oklahoman columnist Berry Tramel reports he is not a candidate. Sampson was a successful coach at Oklahoma and then Indiana before a string of NCAA recruiting violations forced him out of the college game and into the NBA. Sampson is a respected assistant with the Houston Rockets, and has been mentioned as a potential head coach in the NBA. But he remains under the NCAA’s dreaded show-cause penalty through 2013. Don’t expect any college to seriously look at him until after that expires.
Bruce Pearl
John Currie helped bring Pearl to Tennessee, and he coached some great teams with the Volunteers. But he also got in trouble with the NCAA, and would face recruiting restrictions if he returned to a college sideline. K-State president Kirk Schulz has indicated on twitter he won’t be considered for the job.
Larry Eustachy
On Tuesday, I received word that the Southern Mississippi coach and former Iowa State head man was interested in coming to K-State. On Wednesday, I received word that K-State representatives have politely informed him he won’t be considered. Eustachy won two Big 12 championships at Iowa State and took Southern Miss to the NCAA Tournament this year, losing to K-State in the second round. But he has plenty of old baggage. He is a good enough coach to return to a power conference, but he might be better off avoiding the Big 12.
Lon Kruger
Plenty of K-State fans would love to see the former Wildcats player and coach return to his old stomping grounds. He turned UNLV into a Top 25 team, and has had success at several different jobs — K-State included. He is in a rebuilding phase at Oklahoma, but still managed to beat K-State twice this season. But he told me on Tuesday that he is not interested in returning to his alma mater. Instead, he recommended his top assistant, and a former K-State great, Steve Henson.
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