MU vulnerable? You bet. What if.......

Most don't want to talk about it, but I'm sure you're thinking it. What if? What if Tom Crean leaves Marquette in the next couple of weeks. Maybe it's Kentucky. Maybe it's Florida. Maybe it's Michigan. Maybe it's Michigan State. Maybe it's Arkansas. Who knows, the dominos are starting to tilt, but none have come down just yet. That starts on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week when Billy Donovan kicks off the entire party with his decision on Kentucky, where he is clearly target #1.

What if.

I hope it doesn't come to fruition, but if it does I am a nervous Nellie. Marquette is in a vulnerable position right now on several fronts.

#1) Who's got the list?

There is no athletic director. Sure, Steve Cottingham is currently serving the role of interim athletic director, but that's like having Babe Laufenburg as your backup QB and the starter just ruptured his achilles heel on the field. Cottingham is a solid attorney and has served Marquette well over the years. His taste in Badger friends is suspect, but as a UW-Madison graduate I suspect that is a cross Cottingham has to endure from time to time. But is he ready to be THE GUY after being on the job for 2 months as an interim AD? Call me paranoid, but I also would rather not have a BADger picking our next head coach for hoops, regardless of how loyal he's been to the school. Steve's a good guy, I've had the pleasure of working with him on several occasions. I don't think he has a bias bone at all, but you just never can tell what happens after a few years in Area 51 Madison.

I have no idea if he has his hat in the ring to be the permanent AD or if he is simply keeping the seat warm for the eventual hire. The problem is, if Tom Crean were to leave Marquette in the next few weeks due to some outrageous offer or a school like Kentucky that requires that leap into the firestorm, who's left to hire the next MU basketball coach?

Ah yes...who is left? Pretty scary. Would it be the folks that came up with the genius nickname of "THE GOLD"? That inspires confidence doesn't?

Most Athletic Directors worth their salt always have "the list". It's like the nuclear football. It's either in your head or it's in a file, but you always have a list of names that you believe would be a good fit for your institution for your various coaching positions. Even when you have the guy you want successfully in place, you must have "the list". You work the phones, you talk to other AD's, you talk to other coaches....always in an effort to know who is out there that might be able to help you someday.

Well, our "list" is most likely in the head of Bill Cords who just retired. Now, maybe Cottingham has a list. Maybe it's even a good list, but doesn't that just make you a bit nervous? Has Cottingham ever hired a coach before? Has he ever evaluated what type of coach is needed? I know he can handle the contractual side of things with a high level of aptitude, but often the hiring of a coach takes a bit of experience and a sixth sense. Sometimes it's a gut feeling. Cottingham gets the legal part, understands the sponsorship portion and the business side of athletics, but that's not the same as hiring a coach.

Cords wasn't perfect, but one intangible he had was hiring coaches. He was a coach himself at Washington State. He understood coaches and understood student athletes, that is a quality that I wish we had right now in the athletic department.

No doubt MU would solicit Cords' advice and probably engage in a search firm potentially. Knowing MU, they would probably also have a committee the size of a small African nation involved in the process as well, which only complicates things. This is where a strong AD makes all the difference in the world. An AD that can make a recommendation to the President and that recommendation is as good as gold (no pun intended). MU doesn't have that right now. It would be a committee decision made by a bunch of "feel good" types that want a "nice" guy as head coach and someone that can project the university well. I'm getting more nervous just writing that because you know it's probably true. Maybe they can bring Sherri Coe-Perkins back to lead the committee (heavy sarcasm)......starting to get my drift?

#2) Comfort Level

Related to #1 is comfort level. Coaches like to go to places where they feel they can work with the AD by and large. They want to know the AD that hired him will be there for the long haul because it ads a layer of protection to some extent. Without a permanent AD, if a coach had to be hired in the coming weeks they would have to accept the fact a new sheriff was coming to town to run the department...a sheriff that did not hire this deputy.

Think about it. If you interviewed for a major job and the CEO was to hire you as a VP, but told you he was retiring within a month after the new position was filled, would you take it? You might, but it would certainly factor into your thinking that your "boss" was leaving and here you are at a high level position barely on the job with a new boss about to come in. It's a factor, don't kid yourself.

As I stated, I hope it doesn't happen, but it could in the whacky world of college basketball coaching dominos. I have no doubt in my mind that Crean is interested in Kentucky. His friends Mike DeCourcy, Jay Bilas, and other media types are certainly pumping his name out there. Perhaps they are doing it on their own volition, perhaps not. Crean has high ambitions and so do the Kentucky maniacs they call fans, but it is one of the 5 great historical (hysterical?) jobs in hoopsville so he would be crazy not to want to be considered, even if nothing public is stated.

So in the background with all of this happening one would hope someone somewhere at Marquette University is asking the question.....what if....