5 CANDIDATES RAMS ARE LIKELY TO CONSIDER AS THEIR NEXT HOOPS COACH
How about former women’s star Becky Hammon, now an NBA assistant? Maybe, but others seem more likely.
By getting out of its contract with Eustachy for only $750,000, Colorado State will have a decent amount of money to work with in its search for its next men’s basketball coach. It’s unlikely the next person the Rams hire will make close to what Eustachy — who was set to earn more than $3.07 million in salary over the next three seasons — hauled in, but that doesn’t mean the quality of candidate will be lacking. And beyond the five primary coaches listed here, there’s always Becky Hammon, the former All-America women’s basketball player at CSU who is a full-time assistant for the San Antonio Spurs and appears destined to be the first female head coach in NBA history.
Here are a few other coaches the Rams are likely to consider as their next basketball coach:
Craig Smith, South Dakota, head coach
The safe money is on Smith to return to CSU. When Tim Miles took over in Fort Collins in 2007, Smith was his director of operations that season before becoming an assistant coach for the Rams for the next three seasons. He helped transform CSU from a team that went winless in Mountain West play to three consecutive postseasons (CBI, NIT and NCAA Tournament). When Miles left for Nebraska, Smith went with him and spent two seasons there as an assistant before getting the head coaching job at South Dakota. Smith has gone 77-53 in his four seasons with the Coyotes and won last year’s Summit League regular-season title. South Dakota (24-7) enters this week’s Summit League tournament with the No. 2 seed.
Niko Medved, Drake, head coach
Medved is another former assistant for four years under Miles at CSU. He was the one holdover when Miles left and coached under Eustachy for a year before getting the top job at Furman, and he quickly turned that program around. After four seasons with the Paladins, leading them to two CIT berths and a share of last year’s Southern Conference title, he’s now in his first year at Drake and already has the Bulldogs with 16 wins entering the Missouri Valley Tournament after they had won 14 games the past two seasons combined. He was CSU’s top recruiter and has a career record of 78-85.
Jeff Linder, Northern Colorado, head coach
A native of Lafayette and a former assistant under Ricardo Patton at CU, Linder is in his second season at a Northern Colorado program that’s trying to recover from reduced scholarships and recruiting sanctions as a result of NCAA violations under former coach BJ Hill. Despite the hurdles, Linder has the Bears a victory shy of their first 20-win season since 2011 — UNC’s only trip to the NCAA Tournament. Linder spent six seasons under coach Leon Rice at Boise State and was a key component to helping build the Broncos into regular NCAA Tournament contenders, including berths in 2013 and 2015.
Grant McCasland, North Texas, head coach
He spent one season turning around the Arkansas State program with one of his best friends, associate head coach Ross Hodge, and the two are now at North Texas. Hodge was an assistant for five seasons under Eustachy, four of them at CSU. Hodge is highly regarded by players and CSU administrators for his character and is known for his recruiting ability, which helped CSU land major junior college and Division I transfers such as Gian Clavell, Emmanuel Omogbo, Stanton Kidd, Tiel Daniels and Antwan Scott. McCasland and Hodge are seen as a package deal, but now that those two are coaching in their home state of Texas, it could be difficult to lure them to the mountains.
Jase Herl, CSU, interim coach
At 30 years young, Herl is leading the Rams through the rest of this season. Since Herl took over Feb. 10 in the wake of suspensions to Eustachy and associate head coach Steve Barnes, CSU is 1-3. The Feb. 10 victory over San Jose State snapped the team’s seven-game losing streak, but what followed were losses of 21 and 33 points to Fresno State and Boise State. But Saturday, the Rams were within reach of upsetting No. 20 Nevada in Reno before falling 92-83. Despite the results, under Herl, CSU has played with a renewed sense of energy with his direction, and he has been lauded by players and administrators for his character. Other names to watch: Becky Hammon (San Antonio Spurs assistant), Leonard Perry (Pacific associate head coach), DeMarlo Slocum (Utah assistant), David Grace (UCLA assistant).