TAMPA – Josh Brooks’ phone has been blowing up.
Interest is high in the potential men’s basketball coaching opening he’s expected to have at Georgia in the coming days. A lot of coaches are showing interest – or feigning interest – and it’s always hard to tell which is the case.
That’s the biggest challenge that Georgia’s young athletic director will face in the coming weeks. With the considerable assistance of Parker Executive Search, the 40-year-old Brooks is about to make the biggest hire of his career 13 months into the job. An important piece of that is to determine what coaches are viable candidates and which ones merely are mining the territory for their own gain.
At least two of the candidates that UGA – and numerous other programs – had shown early interest in have since been locked down.
Wake Forest coach Steve Forbes on Monday signed a long-term contract extension and raise after earning ACC coach-of-the-year honors.
“I didn’t have to go to them,” Forbes said in a video teleconference with reporters. “They came to me, and I never lost one ounce of sleep about it. I knew (athletics director John Currie) and my agent would get it done. And they did.”
Likewise, USC coach Andy Enfield received a six-year contract extension Tuesday. Both coaches were on Georgia’s radar. They also were on the radar of Maryland, which has been in the market for a coach since December and also is using Parker. Enfield received a graduate degree from Maryland while assisting the Terrapins.
That doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of other candidates from whom the Bulldogs can choose. There’s little question that they will meet at some point with Xavier associate head coach Jonas Hayes.
People familiar with Georgia’s search said that Hayes, a former UGA basketball letterman and assistant coach, plans to actively pursue the position, should it come open as expected after the Bulldogs’ season ends. But Hayes does not have head coaching experience. A strong recruiter, he’ll have to convince the Bulldogs’ brass that he knows what he’s doing from the bench as well as present them with a detailed plan to succeed.
Hayes is coaching Xavier in a hard-fought Big East Conference tournament matchup against Butler on Wednesday in New York.
Georgia also is expected to make a pass at Cleveland State coach Dennis Gates. A longtime FSU assistant like Enfield, he also has recruiting ties to Atlanta. The Vikings (20-10, 15-6) were just bounced in the semifinals of the Horizon League Tournament on Monday and await their postseason appointment.
Murray State’s Matt McMahon and Providence coach Ed Cooley are among the coaches capturing the interest of potential suitors in this year’s cycle. But it is the coaches and their agents who ultimately hold the power. In some cases, coaches really are not interested in going anywhere. And that sometimes goes double for a place like Georgia, which is perceived as major rebuilding job housed in an aging building across the street from a burgeoning football behemoth.
Sorting through the contenders and the pretenders will be the Job One for Brooks, and it’s a tough one.
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