Rumor: ESPN’s Doug Gottlieb Interested in Kansas State Coaching Job
With the departure of former head coach Frank Martin to South Carolina, the Kansas State athletic administration has a crisis of confidence on their hands, and must fill this open position post haste.
A few potential replacements for Martin have been mentioned in the press over the course of the past few days.
Guys like Colorado’s Tad Boyle, former Kansas State assistant Tim Jankovich, and former Wildcats player Steve Henson are all being mentioned as the primary targets for beleaguered athletic director John Currie.
Is there, however, a dark-horse candidate which could push to the top of the list just because of name recognition and potential recruiting implications, in spite of the fact he has no formal coaching experience?
If you are wont to believe this report, the answer is yes.
The candidate: ESPN basketball analyst and radio host Doug Gottlieb, who is still the all-time assists leader in Oklahoma State basketball history and tenth in NCAA basketball history.
Gottlieb expressed his interest in the position today during a phone interview with the Manhattan Mercury:
I’m pretty self aware and I understand that the idea is not necessarily out of left field, but it would not technically be the norm for an athletic director.
But I do believe if given the chance I would do it pretty well.
Could a big splash, and big risk hire be just what the Kansas State program needs right now to make people forget about the departure of Frank Martin, and the supposed lack of effort made by the Wildcats’ athletic administration to keep him in Mahattan?
Hiring a guy like Gottlieb would certainly be “anti-establishment,”and could have a nice recruiting impact, but is that impact worth the backlash and the potential risk of bringing an unproven coach into a market that has experienced some short-term success over the past few seasons?
The other question is whether Currie is in the position to take a risk of this magnitude on the heels of the departure of a major, big name coach. On the flipside, however, now may be the time to do just that.
Could Doug Gottlieb step out from behind the mic and onto the sideline?
Stranger things have certainly happened, but I would doubt it.
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