Who is Gary Walters Calling?

I can't say whether Penn's and Temple's searches for head basketball coaches last season were done the same way, and my guess is that they were not. I thought that Temple fared better than Penn, as Fran Dunphy had proven himself more in the national arena than Brown's Glen Miller, although Miller did a good job at Penn this season. Ironically, of course, it was Miller who went to the NCAA tournament this year (albeit with all of Dunphy's recruits, even the frosh) while Dunphy is in the process of rebuilding at Temple (and the Owls weren't invited anywhere).

Temple AD Bill Bradshaw gave more visibility to his process than Penn AD Steve Bilsky did to his. Bradshaw admitted that he telephoned many different head coaches and authorities in the game and asked them their opinions as to who he should hire. He spoke with, among others, Coach K, and Coach K quickly surfaced Fran Dunphy's name (for what it was worth, so did I, as Dunphy was the logical choice for Temple). It seemed like Bradshaw spoke with dozens of people, and he kept on coming back to Dunphy. When you reach out and build that type of consensus, your decision almost makes itself.

So, if Princeton AD Gary Walters were to embark upon such a process, who should he call? I would suggest calling Coach K, Roy Williams, D John Thompson III, Bill Carmody, Dave Leitao (UVA), Dave Odom (South Carolina), Kevin Stallings (Vanderbilt), Trent Johnson (Stanford), Bob Knight and many others who seem to be able to balance academics and athletics the way the Ivies do. Talk with them about your vision for the qualities this coach should contain, refine your vision if necessary, and then ask them about possible candidates. Be upfront about the difficulties a head coach can face in the Ivies (read: recruiting and financial aid) and then build your pool. See if you hear several names on a repeat basis. His task certainly won't be as easy as Bill Bradshaw's (he was looking for established head coaches primarily), but it will be interesting as to what he would find out. Perhaps a rising star.

Would he hear the name Chris Collins, one of Coach K's assistants at Duke? Would he hear Sydney Johnson, one of JTIII' s assistants and Georgetown? These conversations would be most helpful, and the responses invaluable.

As with any industry or profession, people trade names and notes all the time. People run into each other at conferences and meetings, the same way coaches run into each other on the recruiting trail, at talent showcases and at coaching conventions and clinics. Invariably, up-and-comers build reputations, and head coaches form impressions and file names away for future reference. If you read "Blue Ribbon", you'll notice that assistant coaches and head coaches come from a wide variety of schools, so if you see that a head coach went to North Dakota State and the top assistant went to Long Beach State, they probably met somewhere at a tournament or at a prior employer and struck up a relationship.

Phil Collins (during the time he was with Genesis) once sang that "I know what I like, and I like what I know." This saying holds true for most of us, and it probably holds true for Gary Walters. What we don't know is whether what AD Walters knows and likes goes beyond his comfort zone of Princeton family members, and whether his days on the NCAA DI Men's Basketball Selection Committee have given him insight that goes beyond the Princeton hoops family tree. He is bright, and he has insight, and I'm pretty sure he's built up a (very) strong list of contacts. The question remains how deeply he'll tap into them to fill this position.