Illinois Moving Forward With New Coaching Candidates
Well, we know by now that Shaka Smart is staying put at VCU.
For Illinois, the show must go on, and the Illini have now readjusted their list of potential coaching candidates, according to this Chicago Tribune report.
Late Thursday, additional speculation began to surface about Butler’s Brad Stevens. However, Stevens has already come out publicly and said that there has been no contact between himself and Illinois.
With that, Illinois now turns to a new wish list, and while two full weeks having already passed since the school’s decision to release Bruce Weber, speculation continues to arise into who the Illini will turn their focus towards.
Among those newly named candidates are Ohio’s John Groce, Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall, Duke assistant Jeff Capel, and Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins. Alabama’s Anthony Grant and Florida State’s Leonard Hamilton are also reportedly interested in the position, according to the report.
While rumors continue to fly, it is important to mention that other sources believe that Hamilton wants to remain with the Seminoles, and in fact he is already in contract negotiations to do just that.
Duke assistant Jeff Capel, who was released from his head coaching duties at Oklahoma following the 2010-11 season, has emerged as a new name in the fold, while fellow Duke assistant Chris Collins was another name that had surfaced recently.
Stanford’s Johnny Dawkins, a former Duke assistant coach in his own right, is currently preparing for a NIT semifinal match-up against UMass this Tuesday. So, unless Illinois continues to show patience in their coaching search, it may be difficult for the Illini to even to get in contact with Dawkins. Even then, would he even be interested in leaving Stanford?
With that, Ohio’s John Groce and Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall, two emerging mid-major coaches, do initially appear as two of the more stable candidates that Illinois has shown interest in.
On Friday night, Ohio’s season came to a close, as the Bobcats dropped a tough one, in overtime, against top seeded North Carolina. With that in mind, it will be interesting to see if Illinois begins to make a move at Groce.
As another round of potential candidates come into the light, it has been made clear that the open position at Illinois has been the early off-season story involving a coaching carousel that will likely continue to spin through the coming weeks and months.
As for now, let’s wait and see what emerges from this new list of candidates.
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