The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Top coaching targets emerge
Nearly a week after Kevin Ollie was fired as UConn men’s basketball coach, a group of candidates appears to have emerged as his top potential replacement.
Dan Hurley, Thad Matta and Frank Martin are coaches that athletic director David Benedict is believed to have targeted. It’s not clear at this point whether UConn has been in touch with Hurley, the head coach at Rhode Island. But that may be because URI is currently playing in the NCAA tournament. The Rams beat Oklahoma in their first-round game on Thursday and will play Duke on Saturday.
All indications are that Hurley is at or near the top of UConn’s wish list.
Matta, who has battled health issues in recent years, pulled out of consideration for the Georgia job on Wednesday, telling ESPN he couldn’t dedicate himself to the position at this time. One source close to Matta said he likely feels the same way about UConn or any other job right now, although other industry sources indicated that Matta should not be entirely discounted.
According to multiple sources, Martin, currently the head coach at the University of South Carolina, has been in contact with UConn. A fiery personality in the Jim Calhoun mode, he is signed through 2022.
In a story in the Columbia (S.C.) Post & Courier, Martin denied that he had been contacted by UConn.
Sources indicate that Tom Crean, the former Indiana and Marquette coach who currently works at ESPN, had also been in contact with the school. However, Crean was announced as Georgia’s new coach on Thursday night.
Calhoun, meanwhile, remains an option if UConn strikes out on its top tar-
gets.
Names such as St. Bonaventure’s Mark Schmidt and Vermont’s John Becker have been mentioned in media reports, but UConn is expected at this point to go for a more high-profile hire.