Gregg Marshall Should Stay At Wichita State Until Perfect Opportunity Arises

Gregg Marshall is a hot commodity. Any college basketball program with a head coaching vacancy is going to have Marshall at or near the top of their list. Now those programs are going to have to look elsewhere, as Marshall and Wichita State agreed to a new seven-year contract that will pay him roughly $3 million annually.

Marshall has established himself as an elite coach in college basketball, and with another 15 to 20 years of coaching still ahead of him, he has the potential to go down as one of the great college coaches of all time. A talent like Marshall can win at any program, but staying at Wichita State was the right move for him, at least at this juncture.

Marshall is building what Mark Few has built at Gonzaga. The West Coast Conference is a mid-major conference, but Gonzaga is no longer a mid-major team. Perennially ranked in the top 10, Gonzaga has established themselves as a Final Four contender every year. So much so in fact that Few, who has never reached a Final Four, is now being labeled as a tournament underachiever despite coaching at what is technically a mid-major school.

Marshall has already accomplished more in his short tenure at Wichita State than Few at Gonzaga. Marshall led the Shockers to the Final Four in 2013, proved they deserved their No. 1 seed last year battling an underseeded Kentucky team to the wire and proving they were underseeded themselves this year by defeating Kansas and returning to the Sweet 16. Marshall will build what Few has built at Gonzaga, but even better. Wichita State is now a team with national attention. Marshall will battle Kansas for recruits as the Shockers are slowly becoming more of the big brother rather than the little brother to their in-state rival.

Marshall has built Wichita State into a power, and a move to a school like Alabama is a lateral move at best, despite its location in the SEC. Marshall has earned the level of being “big man on campus.” He should never consider going to a football school. He should be at a school that bleeds basketball, and Texas, despite its huge resources, is a football-first school.

Marshall should stay at Wichita until the perfect opportunity presents itself. That may be next year or in five years, but there’s no rush for Marshall. Perhaps John Calipari will take another run at the NBA and Kentucky will come calling. Perhaps Duke or North Carolina will dial up Marshall when Mike Krzyzewski or Roy Williams retire. Perhaps Marshall will consider Indiana when Tom Crean is eventually run out of town in an attempt to return that program to the heights Bobby Knight once had it.

Going to a football school is beneath Marshall. He’s one of the best coaches in college basketball; in fact, the argument can be made that there are none better. Marshall will probably leave Wichita State at some point, but he doesn’t need to look for that opportunity; the right opportunity will come to him, and one thing is certain: That opportunity was not available this year. Marshall will continue to dominate the college basketball landscape as the Shockers’ head coach — at least for now.

Bill Zimmerman is a featured writer for www.RantSports.Com. Follow him on Twitter, like him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.