A television analyst expects the University of Iowa to move quickly in naming a new basketball coach. Steve Alford resigned last week to become the new coach at New Mexico and Mac McCausland expects Hawkeye athletic director Gary Barta to name a replacement as soon as possible.
McCausland says there’s a group of players now looking for a leader and you have new recruits who need to know what is happening with the program. McCausland says time is of the essence, but he says you dn’t want to make a mistake in hiring.
As for possible replacements, McCausland mentions Creighton’s Dana Altman, Bruce Pearl from Tennessee and Marquette’s Tom Crean. He says Lon Kruger of UNLV is another name that has come up and McCausland says there was some speculation that Kruger was talking to Michigan.
McCausland expects Iowa to go after an experienced head coach and doubts an assistant coach at some program will be considered. McCausland says Minnesota signing Tubby Smith is a big step up for them, and there are a lot of top coaches in the Big Ten, which means you need an experienced coach for game situations and recruiting at Iowa.