RE: Providence gig
There’s no need to fret PC fans
01:00 AM EDT on Saturday, April 12, 2008
BY KEVIN McNAMARA
Journal Sports Writer
PROVIDENCE — It’s time for a little reality check for Providence College basketball fans.
They’re frantic these days. They’ve seen their coaching position sit vacant for nearly a month and now the perception is that no one of decent quality wants the job. Offers to two coaches have been turned down. The names circulating through channels close to the search aren’t very sexy. Are things really this bad?
The answer is no. First off, let’s all cut athletic director Bob Driscoll a little slack. He’s the only one who truly knows the ins and outs of the search, who he’s spoken to, who had no interest, who led him along and harmed the process. It’s also hard to criticize Driscoll over the two coaches he focused on and ultimately offered the job to.
George Mason’s Jim Larranaga was a favorite of the college’s for weeks, likely well before Tim Welsh was even fired. He had friends in the upper administration who felt he’d be a great fit and rally the PC community for all the right reasons. Once Mason was bounced from the NCAA Tournament, Driscoll made his move and eventually school president the Rev. Brian Shanley paid a visit to Larranaga’s home in Virginia. Despite being offered what insiders insist was the highest salary ever accorded a Friars coach, Larranaga turned his alma mater down.
Driscoll then talked to at least a half-dozen prospects at the Final Four in San Antonio. Rick Pitino and Billy Donovan were two of the coaches Driscoll spoke with. After trying to entice both coaches into returning to Providence (conversations that while bold were also necessary), it became clear that Travis Ford was available. Ford is a favorite of both Pitino and Billy D. from their days at Kentucky, and since he’d been rumored for weeks for jobs at LSU and South Carolina and therefore termed out of PC’s reach, that was a positive development.
PC would have loved to force Ford to take or leave a generous offer while the two sides spoke in Texas last weekend, but Ford literally had never stepped foot in Providence. He had to see the campus, The Dunk and downtown. That occurred Wednesday. On Thursday, he turned the job down.
Ford went out of his way to praise aspects of the Friars’ program he was unaware of before he met Driscoll.
Contrary to erroneous media reports of substandard facilities, PC is offering a fully rehabbed arena for the 2008-09 season, a new fitness center on campus, a new health and training area and work that’ll spruce up Mullaney Gym in Alumni Hall this summer.
The only reason Ford didn’t come is because he wasn’t up to the challenge. He denied this, of course, but he’s a coach who has won 24 and 25 games the last two years and could not make the NCAAs. The Big East sent eight teams to the NCAAs in March and Ford would earn $300,000 to $400,000 more at PC than UMass.
“No, not at all,” Ford said when asked if the challenge of winning at PC turned him away. “For me, actually that was exciting to me. But I think we have good things going on here [at UMass]. I think we have awoken a lot of people hopefully and I think there’s some business left to do here.”
PC’s Driscoll has publicly said he wants to aim high and find a great fit in his next coach. But was Ford really a home run? He’s 0-3 in the A-10 tourney and had never gotten the Minutemen to the NCAAs. He certainly isn’t a PC fit either. He’s Kentucky blue, through and through, and will ultimately be blowing his whistle in some big gym in the South.
There are some coaches with more accomplishments than Ford who will say yes to PC. Take George Washington’s Karl Hobbs or Florida associate head coach Larry Shyatt, for examples. Hobbs, a Boston native, is an intriguing coach. Throw out this year and PC probably couldn’t touch him. He’d be too good.
Before this year’s 9-17 whitewash, the Colonials won 23, 27, 22 and 18 games while advancing to three NCAA Tournaments and one NIT. Except for Xavier, no other A-10 program has enjoyed more success over the last five seasons.
Shyatt, 57, is the seasoned veteran who’s seen it all. He helped Donovan to national titles in 2006 and ’07 and is credited with stiffening the Gators’ defense. He was an assistant at PC under Rick Barnes and the head coach at Clemson for five years, where he took one team to the NIT finals but never to the NCAAs.
Is there legitimate interest on the part of Hall of Famer Larry Brown? Can Fran Fraschilla make the transition from TV analyst to Big East coach? Has Drake’s Keno Davis turned PC down?
None of those coaches may make your heart skip a beat, but right now, PC isn’t a heart-stopping program. That’s what Driscoll is trying to change, no matter how long it takes.
kmcnamar@projo.com
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