Arkansas fires coach....looking for new one....

[Dossenator]

Well, Frank Broyles fired Arkansas mens Basketball coach Stan Heath yesterday.

According to sources the top candidate to replace him is Texas A&M coach, Billy Gillispie.

They say if that does not pan out that the next two coaches that will be approached are: Kansas coach Bill Self and USC (Southern California) coach Tim Floyd.

Here is a link to the latest story.

http://story.scout.com/a.z?s=10&p=2&c=630194

I would love to see any of those guys at Arkansas. They will pay top dollar to get someone good. Arkansas is in a strong Basketball conference. It's facility is one of the best in the country...only Kentucky's Rupp Arena challenges it in the SEC. And the Hogs lose no one from this years team. Not to mention the past success the UofA has had in basketball. It will be interesting to see who Arkansas is able to hire.

[Eric]

Word around Michigan is that UofM is looking for Lon Kruger, UNLV's head coach, to take the job at Michigan.

Lucky you, Dossenator, your program is willing to hire a big name. That's the price Michigan pays for being a football school, I guess .

Minnesota got Tubby Smith. Indiana got Kelvin Sampson. Why can't Michigan go out and hire somebody? I mean, I'd try the Tim Floyd-route. Go for a fired NBA coach. Bernie Bickerstaff and Terry Stotts are out there. So is Larry Brown

Back to the original topic, I think any of those 3 coaches would be nice fits at Arkansas. Arkansas has a pretty good basketball program. Remember, they got an 8 seed 2 years ago and earned a 12 seed this year, so there is obviously some talent. Add a good head coach, and the Razorbacks might be back on the way from one-and-done to Sweet 16-material in one season.

[Dossenator]

It seems like Michigan would go out and try and get a big name as well. Michigan has had success in basketball. I do remember....very fondly in 1994 Arkansas beating Michigan on their way to the NCAA Basketball Championship. Yes, Arkansas in the past has had an exceptional program but it was slipping at the end of Nolan Richardson's time at Arkansas. What hurt Nolan...besides his ridulous mouth in front of the media, was that he was getting incredible verbal commitments from players and they would jump straight into the NBA. That happended to him several times, and then Ark lost some top notch recruits when the whole Nolan Richardson thing went down. Stan Heath inherited a program that was down. He has done a fine job bringing it back, but the fans in Arkansas always have the win now attitude. Who ever comes in this next year will have a great opportunity to win. Arkansas returns all of it's players...they had no seniors this year. Ark returns the SEC defensive player of the year as well as the SEC freshman of the year. I have all ready read articles that say the Hogs will be the team to beat in the SEC next year. We will have to wait and see....but the right coach could do some damage. Anything less that the sweet 16 and fans will be calling for the new coaches head after his first season...whoever it is.

Here is a little bit of history of what the next coach has to live up to...

Eddie Sutton and Nolan Richardson built Arkansas into a baskeball power:

From 1977-2007 (30 year span)....Arkansas has appeared in 24 NCAA tournament.....9 sweet 16 appearances.....5 elite 8 appearances....4 final four appearances....2 championship game appearances....and won the National Champioship in 1994. They won numerous SWC and a couple of SEC championships as well. From 1979-1999 (20 year span...Arkansas was 1-5 seed 13 times during that span....they were a number one or two seed several times during that span). Arkansas fans will put the new coach on a short leash. Hopefully they land a big name and can get back on the winning track.