hunter fordInterim Alabama basketball coach John Brannen may have thrown his hat into the coaching search by overseeing a 79- 58 Tide victory over Illinois in the opening round of the NIT last night.

Two more realistic candidates for Alabama’s vacant head basketball coaching job will square off in the NCAA Tournament, Friday afternoon.

Gregg Marshall will lead the Wichita State Shockers against Tom Crean and the Indiana Hoosiers, at approximately 1:45 p.m., CST, at Omaha.

Marshall has led the Shockers to four consecutive NCAA Tournament bids.  His 2013 team reached the Final Four.  His 2014 team went 35-0 before falling to Kentucky in the third round of the Big Dance last season.   Marshall guided the Shockers to a NIT Championship in 2011, defeating Anthony Grant and Alabama in the championship game.

Before landing at Wichita State, Marshall had a successful tenure at Winthrop, guiding that program to seven NCAA Tournaments in nine seasons.

Marshall has been named a fan favorite to replace Grant, in a recent Al.com reader’s poll.

Crean has been hailed by some Hoosier fans for raising the once proud IU program from the ashes.   He inherited a program that had been decimated by NCAA sanctions.

He suffered three losing campaigns before leading the Hoosiers back to the Big Dance three of the past four seasons.

Indiana made it by the skin of its teeth this season.  The Hoosiers lost eight of their last twelve games to end the regular season this year.  Many Indiana fans have turned on Crean, and rumors are flying he’s ready to skip town, with a player or two in tow.

In his previous job, Crean led the Marquette Eagles to five NCAA Tournaments in nine seasons, including a Final Four appearance in 2003.

Crean has a relationship with Nick Saban, stemming from his stint as an assistant coach for Michigan State basketball coach Tom Izzo.  Saban and Izzo were compadres when Saban coached the Spartan football squad in the 1990’s.

Here are a few more fish, that could be in the sea of Alabama basketball coach candidates.

The 2015 Alabama Crimson Tide, with Brannen at the helm, lives to fight another day in the NIT.   The Tide takes on the Miami Hurricanes, Saturday, in Miami.   The game will be televised by ESPN at 10:00 a.m. CST.

 

 

25 thoughts on “Brannen coaches Tide to NIT win: Potential Tide coaching candidates Tom Crean and Gregg Marshall will meet in Big Dance”

  1. Dayton comes back and beats Boise St. tonight due in no small part to the home court advantage’s influence on the officiating. Boise absolutely got screwed in the end but it’s a textbook case of what we all know is true.

    It’s far past time for it at Coleman, Bill Battle. Far past time.

    1. Brother!

      The next Tide BB coach may very well be someone we have not thought of yet.

      Crean, however, is my guess

  2. UAB pulls of upset of Iowa State! Wow!

    And I hope Alabama can win the NIT!

    Why not? Tide as to play on the road Saturday, but….we’ll see

  3. big 12 pulled a choke job today. two #3 seeds go down.

    halfway thru day 1, my bracket is trash.

  4. Y’all must be psychotic. Even starting to believe Crean would leave Indiana for us is a joke. Leaving a school like Indiana to coach is is almost as crazy as someone saying Coach Saban is leaving Bama to coach at Indiana next season. Let’s be realistic fellas.

    1. yeah, you sound like the same folks who said we needed to stand pat with Mike Shula.

      “it’s not that good a job anymore.”

      “nobody wants the job.”

      “who are you gonna get???”

      i certainly hope Bill Battle isn’t listening to the nattering naybobs of negativism around the basketball program.

  5. How about Mark Gottfried, He’s a proven winner everywhere he’s been and proven he can get his teams to the NCAA tournament and win. He even coached one of his teams to a number one ranking!

    Oh wait………never mind!

    1. might be a good choice!

      but oh……wait, there’s this thing he has for Capstone co-eds.

      fk off dumbass.

      1. Saban had that same problem at LSU, but that doesn’t keep bumps like you from worshiping him. So why the double standard?

        1. last i checked, Saban wasn’t terminated at LSU over a supposed issue w/ co-eds.

          you got a bad case of dumbass, don’t you.

          1. Last I checked Gottfried wasn’t terminated over a supposed issue w/ co-eds either, that was just rumors by you dumbass gumps for firing one of your own and a good one at that! There’s no way Gottfried would have received a full buyout if that was true, unless U of A is run by gumps dumber than your dumbass! I don’t know what you “checked”, but maybe you should go check the facts next time.

            And dumbass for your information, Saban quit before his shit hit the fan, and going to the pros was his cover and way to get out of town. He wasn’t ready for the pros as he later proved, and he couldn’t just walk away from LSU. A team he had just won a National Championship with and who had just made him the highest paid head collegiate head coach at the time!

            I would tell you to think about it, but I know that would be taxing you gump capabilities!

          2. “Saban quit before his shit hit the fan, and going to the pros was his cover and way to get out of town.”

            total pile of crap. the Saban’s have close friends in Baton Rouge, it’s common knowledge and if LSU had another shot at Saban, they’d can Miles in a heartbeat to get him.

            you’re fabricating that story out of whole cloth thinking somebody’s stupid enough not to call you on it.

  6. Archie Miller coached his ass off last nite getting an undermanned team past Providence.

    6 scholarshipped players.

    not one over 6′-6″ tall.

    granted, the no. 1 seeds haven’t been placed in better conditions. Dayton has played in Dayton and Columbus OH.

    but you can’t discount his coaching. last nite’s performance is gonna land him a big money contract somewhere.

    he should sign it, then cut the selection committee a check.

  7. Brannen is doing his job…He will leave with Grant for his next gig…Someone will snatch both of them up very soon…BAMA and Uncle Bill BETTER find a WINNER on the level of SABAN or HIS Backside will be GONE too…This is NOT what Mal had in mind…If SABAN and Izzo are such good PALS maybe we should hire Izzo and pay him 10 mil…

  8. well, right off the bat they’ve fucked this all up.

    “swing for the fences”.

    “sources close to the program”.

    whatever. they’re gonna wind up hiring a sloppy second. (or third) mark my word.

    thanks Bill.

  9. Where is your article criticizing Saban and Bama for their wife beating player? You are so quick to judge Auburn and other schools for giving players a second chance and low and behold Bama is harboring a wife beating thug. You are as pathetic as your slimy university. What a freaking joke!!! Signing a convicted felon and then acting surprised when the thug goes and beats up another girl. Trash trash trash!!!! Tuscaloosa is a damn embarrassment for the state of Alabama. Wife Beater U!

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