Alabama Basketball: Greg Byrne has complicated options in coach search

Alabama basketball is at another crossroad and Greg Byrne is faced with a complicated set of options in hiring the next head coach.

Alabama basketball fans want Athletic Director Greg Byrne to hire a game-changer for the Crimson Tide. A coach who can transform Alabama basketball from a currently NCAA Tournament also-ran to a frequent Sweet Sixteen team and beyond.

Alabama basketball has never been to an NCAA Tournament Final Four. For a school with championships in its DNA, that shortcoming is glaring. To some Alabama basketball fans, it is inexcusable and proof Tide power brokers don’t value success for Alabama men’s basketball.

Other Tide fans believe the men’s basketball program has a ceiling not far from where it is today. They argue it is rare for schools to dominate in football and men’s basketball. Coleman Coliseum is seen as a major impediment to the program’s success. It is argued that elite college basketball coaches will never come to Tuscaloosa because they are unwilling to play second fiddle to anyone, even Nick Saban.

Some of the reasons Tide basketball is destined for mediocrity are not baseless. Even if all of the claims in the above paragraph were true, does it mean Greg Byrne should not attempt to transcend them?

As fans, we do not know what the Board of trustees and influential donors are urging Byrne to do. We suspect he wants to act decisively and not just settle on the best guy after a bunch of home-run hires turn him down.

Let’s assume Billy Donovan, Brad Stevens, Jay Wright, Tom Izzo, Mark Few and any similar stature coaches are not interested. Let’s also assume, for various reasons Rick Pitino, Kelvin Sampson, Sean Miller and others with serious baggage will not be considered.

What Byrne must do in considering the next tier of coaches is be very careful. The first standard is easy. Has the coach consistently won at a high level? Defining ‘high level’ can become murky because not every good candidate has high-level experience. If Byrne wants a ‘Final Four’ coach, Pitino and Thad Matta are pretty much the only options.

Matta would be a good choice if he is interested. He did turn Georgia down and though it may not have looked like it at the time, the Bulldogs had to settle for much less in Tom Crean.

So if Byrne is down to a list of coaches with less history of achievement, what should he do? Our suggestion is to hire a guy who can coach. We promise that is not a ‘Captain Obvious’ statement. Not all coaches are good teachers of the game, not all are good game coaches and not all are good motivators of young men.

As fundamentals of basketball continue to deteriorate nationally, recruiting has become the magic wand to championships. Recruiting is important but for guys like Mark Few and Brad Stevens, recruiting did not take them to coaching stardom. They can teach basketball fundamentals and get players to listen and adhere to sound principles. They are good game coaches as well. In short, they don’t just develop players, they build team units that can compete and beat teams filled with top national recruits.

Those of you shaking your head about Stevens, we are talking about his college career. What he has done or failed to do with the Celtics is a different game.

So where does this leave Byrne if all the coaches mentioned above are not options? Before we answer, we are quite willing to defer to Greg as having more specialized knowledge than ourselves. But if we were in his shoes, here is who we would chase.

For sure: Fred Hoiberg and Steve Wojciechowski

Hoiberg really needs no explanation. What he achieved at Iowa State was exceptional. Wojo is a tougher sell but it is hard to go wrong with a Coach K disciple who has had some coaching success.

Strong Hires if available: Buzz Williams and Chris Beard

Williams and Beard could be listed with Hoiberg and Wojo but neither is expected to be available. Some national, college basketball experts believe Buzz will go to TAMU and Beard will wait for Smart to be fired at Texas.

 Maybe: Steve Prohm and Eric Musselman

The strongest endorsement offered for either is they might be good choices. Neither has done anything to show they could lead Alabama basketball to Sweet Sixteen frequency, much less Final Four potential.

No: Andy Kennedy and Bucky McMillan

Kennedy has received a resurgence based on being glib on TV. He was an average coach at Ole Miss with no indication he would be any better in Tuscaloosa. Bucky may have a great college future but hiring a high school coach is nonsense. Lennie Acuff at UAH is a far better choice than either Kennedy or Bucky.

There are other names we could have added to the maybe list: Nate Oats at Buffalo; Mick Cronin at Cincinnati; John Becker at Vermont.

Making this process hard for Greg Byrne is the rising success of the SEC in basketball. The SEC will have three or four teams in the Sweet Sixteen. One of them is Auburn, led by serial NCAA cheater, Bruce Pearl. LSU has advanced after firing a coach widely suspected for ‘pay for play.’ While mostly forgotten, John Calipari’s Massachusetts and Memphis history includes NCAA violations Coach Cal called shocking but of which he denied any wrongdoing. Is there a new flexible standard where winning absolves guilt?

And, is there a potential cleansing process for a Rick Pitino similar to what Nick Saban sought to do with Hugh Freeze? Possibly, but unlike Freeze, Pitino has not gone through any public contrition.