Grippi checks in with the latest out of Detroit, where apparently Sterk and Co. have wrapped up whatever interviewing they will be doing this weekend.
One old name has resurfaced (so scratch whatever I said two posts down) and one new name has come up. I'm briefly going to discuss the postitives and negatives of each of the four names total that came up today (whether they interviewed or not - only Sterk seems to know for sure):
Ken Bone (Portland State Head Coach)
Positives: CougCenter approved, has won everywhere he's gone, and possibly the hidden key to success in Huskyland in the early-'00s. Experienced. Knowledgeable. A coach's coach.
Negatives: Up-tempo style may not mesh well with the current generation of Bennett Ballers. Also, if he leaves PSU for WSU, it can be reasonably assumed he'll leave WSU if a better opportunity surfaces.
Terry Porter (Former Phoenix Suns Head Coach)
Positives: Defensive-minded coach who was a horrible hire for the up-tempo Suns. Upon coming to their senses about it, he was fired by the Phoenix organization. Potentially Dick Bennett-approved (played under him), and could be an excellent recruiter.
Negatives: Nada in the college coaching experience column. Could be awesome, and could sink us back to the depths of the Pac-10 if he's not careful. Does he really want to come to Pullman?
Mike Davis (UAB Head Coach)
Positives: Experience. And, I guess, you could do worse.
Negatives: Fans of every program he's coached at pretty much hate his guts. He's also inherited two great situations: following Bob Knight and Indiana, and Mike Anderson at UAB. He kinda-sorta kept the momentum going at both, but ultimately has made each school less formidable during his tenure. Not CougCenter approved.
Mark Gottfried (Former Alabama Head Coach)
Positives: The newest name in the Cougar head coach hunt, this one is much more intriguing than Mike Davis. Gottfried has made the NCAA or NIT in a whopping 11 of 14 seasons that he's coached. Coached three years at Murray State, 10 and 1/2 at Alabama. His firing from the Crimson Tide is a bit of a joke - he basically got fired for one bad season, followed up by a second potentially bad season that Alabama didn't let him see the end of. Perhaps the Tide were just upset that he couldn't maintain momentum of the five straight NCAA tournament trips from 2002-06.
Negatives: Before you get all excited, here's the thing: he's only had three seasons where he's finished above .500 in the SEC. No Northwest ties. Another retread, and another Alabama-based coach that fans of his school hated. Our colleagues at RollBamaRoll had this to say upon his firing:
It should have been done a long time ago, but I'm glad they got it out of the way now. His year-end firing was inevitable, so I'm glad we went ahead and got it out of the way so we can actually start looking for a decent replacement.