LSU Coaching Search Heats Up

Now that LSU has hired a new athletic director, the school can turn its attention to finding John Brady's successor as basketball coach. Numerous names have been floated as possible candidates and more will surface in the near future.

While at the Final Four, LSU officials talked to a few candidates, reportedly including Washington State's Tony Bennett and Standford's Trent Johnson. Bennett has since released a statement stating his intentions to remain as Washington State. The other top candidate for the job was UMass coach Travis Ford, but in an email release last night, he said that "I do not want to be considered for the job." Another coach who pulled his name from consideration is Clemson's Oliver Purnell. So where does that leave LSU's search?

Throughout the season, Virginia Commonwealth's Anthony Grant was the hot candidate. Basically, everyone in Tiger Town thought it was a done deal that Grant would be on the LSU sidelines next year, especially with Grant being a former Florida assistant and LSU System President John Lombardi's ties to Florida. Since the season ended and VCU didn't make the NCAA Tournament, Grant buzz has died down. It's unclear if he's even still being considered, but with other candidates withdrawing their names, Grant's name may resurface.

With new AD Joe Alleva come to LSU from Duke, many former Duke players and assistants are being mentioned as possibilities. Guys like Duke assistant Johnny Dawkins and Notre Dame Mike Brey have surfaced as candidates this week. Other names that have been thrown around include Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy, Baylor coach Scott Drew, North Texas coach Johnny Jones or even interim LSU coach Butch Pierre.

With the landscape of college basketball being what it is today, LSU needs to have more of a sense of urgency with its coaching search. LSU was one of the first schools in the country to have a coaching vacancy, yet many other programs have hired coaches in the past few weeks. The LSU job still sits unoccupied. With recruits wondering who the coach will be and players like freshman Anthony Randolph deciding to enter the NBA draft, it's key that LSU get a coach in place sooner rather than later.

I'm not saying the new coach could have convinced Randolph to stay at LSU, especially with him being projected as a top 5-10 pick, but it wouldn't have hurt for him to know that a top-notch guy was in place if he wanted to stay at LSU.