After Jay Jacobs quickly pulled the plug on Tony Barbee's disappointing tenure as men's basketball head coach Wednesday night, the Auburn athletic director now has another coaching search to conduct, his fourth since December 2012.
Jacobs said he wants a coach to compete for SEC championships in light of the department's major investment in the program with Auburn Arena, and he wants to move with this search as quickly as possible.
With Jacobs' hires of Gus Malzahn, Sunny Golloway and Clint Myers this past year, one would think Auburn is going to go for a splash hire in men's basketball.
We as the sports staff of The Auburn Plainsman have compiled a list of 10 coaching candidates for Auburn men's basketball. Some are big names, others are lesser-known up-and-comers in the coaching ranks, but we feel each of these candidates are improvements on paper from the program's last few hires.
Bruce Pearl (231-99 in 10 seasons at Wisconsin-Milwaukee and Tennessee)
Bruce Pearl seemingly is the name at the top of everyone's short list, and for good reason. Pearl has a history of reviving SEC programs mired in mediocrity.
After guiding Southern Indiana to a Division II National Championship in the '90s, Pearl made a name for himself at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, where he led the Panthers to 86 wins in four seasons, including a run to the Sweet 16 in 2005.
All in all, the Volunteers reached the NCAA tournament in six consecutive seasons under Bruce Pearl, a stretch that included three Sweet 16 visits and the program's first Elite Eight in 2010.
Pearl's teams played at a frenetic pace and employed full court pressure, creating energy and passion both on and off the court for the Tennessee basketball program. Pearl doesn't come without baggage, though. Pearl was fired from Tennessee in 2011 after it was discovered he lied about recruiting violations and covered up a substance abuse violation by a player. In addition to sanctions, the NCAA gave Pearl a three-year show-cause penalty, meaning that sanctions would follow Pearl even if he was hired at another school.
Pearl's show-cause violation is up in August, meaning he'll be one of the hottest names on the job market. There's certainly baggage here, but if Auburn is looking to make a splash and hire a proven SEC winner, there are few better options than this one.
-Eric Wallace / Sports Reporter
Ben Howland (390-199 in 19 seasons at Northern Arizona, Pittsburgh and UCLA)
Auburn fans are howling for Jay Jacobs to hire a winner, and few options have won quite as often as Ben Howland.
The former Weber State guard had his first success at Pittsburgh, where he took the Panthers to back-to-back Big East Regular Season Championships and Sweet Sixteens in 2002 and 2003. Howland was then hired at basketball powerhouse UCLA, where winning is counted in NCAA Tournament Championships and not just appearances.
Howland's Bruins won three consecutive Pac-10 titles from 2006-2008 and reached three consecutive Final Fours in that same span. In his time at UCLA, Howland was never short for talent. Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Jrue Holiday, Darren Collison and Arron Afflalo are just a few of Howland's former players still making a name for themselves in the NBA today.
Howland was fired from UCLA in 2013 following a "disappointing" 25-9 season, for a little context on UCLA's impossible standards, so he's certainly one of the most proven names on the market. There are good hires and then there are home run hires, and for Auburn, Howland would certainly be the latter.
-Eric Wallace / Sports Reporter
Tommy Amaker (314-208 in 17 seasons at Seton Hall, Michigan and Harvard)
Of all the long shots on this list, Tommy Amaker might be the longest shot. But I would make Amaker tell me he does not want the Auburn job, considering the current success he had at Harvard and the past experience coaching in major conference basketball.
Amaker was a fixture at Duke during the Blue Devils' NCAA Tournament success of the late 80s and early 90s as a player and later as an assistant coach. After four consecutive postseason appearances as the young head coach of the Seton Hall Pirates, Amaker left for Michigan, where he consistently posted solid seasons but never was able to break into the Big Dance. Despite his NIT success, he was fired at Michigan and later picked up by Harvard.
Amaker took the Ivy League school to its first Big Dance in 2011 after snapping the program's long streak of losing seasons the year before. Harvard has dominated the Ivy League the last four seasons, and Amaker could make the Crimson the next Wichita State or VCU with the recruiting classes he has hauled in recent years.
Amaker would be far from the usual mid-major hire. He has experience at the highest level as a player, assistant coach and head coach, and he has taken a program from virtually nothing into one of the most feared teams outside the power conferences. Amaker is a long shot, but I think he deserves at least a call to see if he wants to rebuild a program in a bigger conference.
-Justin Ferguson / Sports Editor
Tubby Smith (525-244 in 23 seasons at Tulsa, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota and Texas Tech)
Tubby Smith, the current head coach of Texas Tech, has led a long and successful career as a head power-conference coach.
Smith has won regular season conference titles nine times, while winning his conference tournament five times.
While at Kentucky, Smith led a dominant teams, winning the SEC Tournament in 1998, 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2004. Smith was also named the SEC Coach of the Year in 1998, 2003 and 2005.
Although he has been in Lubbock for one year as the Texas Tech head coach, Auburn could realistically make a run at the former SEC coaching giant. With his success at Georgia and Kentucky, Smith definitely knows what it takes to win in this conference.
-Taylor Jones / Sports Writer
Rick Stansbury (293-165 in 14 seasons at Mississippi State)
Another potential target for Auburn could be former Mississippi State head coach Rick Stansbury.
Stansbury was hired at Mississippi State in 1998 after serving as an assistant coach for the Bulldogs since 1990.
He led the Bulldogs to two SEC Tournament Championships in 2002 and 2009, while winning the SEC Regular Season Championship in 2004 and winning the SEC West Division Championship five times.
Stansbury was named the 2004 SEC Coach of the Year and also led the Bulldogs to their highest win total in Mississippi State history during the 2001-2002 season with 27 wins.
With an impressive 11 postseason appearances in his 14 seasons in charge of Mississippi State, Stansbury reportedly has expressed interest in returning to the SEC with the Auburn job. An established name in the conference, Stansbury could be the name to lead Auburn back up the ladder.
-Taylor Jones / Sports Writer
Jeff Capel (175-110 in nine seasons at Virginia Commonwealth and Oklahoma)
Jeff Capel, a former standout player at Duke University and current assistant coach there, could be another strong candidate for the Auburn men's basketball head coaching job.
He became a head coach at Virginia Commonwealth University at 27 years old and was the coach there for four years. Capel led them to a record 79 wins with a .658 winning percentage.
Capel has also been an assistant on the USA Men's team when they won the gold medal in the 2005 FIBA Tournament in Turkey.
Capel was named the head coach of University of Oklahoma in 2006 and lasted there until 2011. During his tenure there, he recruited multiple McDonald's All Americans, including current NBA All-Star Blake Griffin. While at Oklahoma, he made two NCAA Tournaments and even advanced to the Elite Eight once. He also averaged 21 wins per season there.
-Kyle Van Fechtmann / Sports Reporter
Seth Greenberg (367-276 in 22 seasons at Long Beach State, South Florida and Virginia Tech)
Although Seth Greenberg's coaching tenure ended in April 2012 at Virginia Tech, I think he deserves a solid look as the next Auburn basketball head coach. Greenberg led the Hokies to a No. 5 seed in the 2007 NCAA Tournament and also led them to multiple victories over No. 1 teams in the regular season. Greenberg left Blacksburg with the second-most wins in program history compiling a 170-123 overall record.
Despite the fact that Greenberg only made the NCAA Tournament once at Virginia Tech out of nine seasons, several of his assistants left for head coaching jobs elsewhere and he had to fill coaching jobs during each offseason.
Even though Greenberg is an analyst for ESPN now, and it may take a lot of money for Auburn to hire him, I believe it's finally time for Auburn to shell out some money and hire a coach who had a good record at an impressive basketball conference like the ACC.
-Kyle Van Fechtmann / Sports Reporter
Michael White (70-29 in three seasons at Louisiana Tech)
\0x200BMichael White is simply the hottest up-and-comer in college basketball at the moment. A former player and assistant coach at Ole Miss who excelled at recruiting the Southeast, the 37-year-old White has spent the last three seasons at Louisiana Tech, where he has posted back-to-back regular season conference championships.
White has ties to the SEC and the state of Alabama, where he was a top assistant at Jacksonville State, and his up-tempo, full court-pressing style of basketball would play to Auburn's guard-heavy roster for next season.
I know Auburn fans would be wary of hiring another hot mid-major candidate after the failed Tony Barbee experiment, but unlike the former Tigers head coach, the energetic White has had more than just one good year at a smaller school and would come with great coaching and recruiting experience in the SEC. \0x200B
-Justin Ferguson / Sports Editor
Donnie Tyndall (167-99 in eight seasons at Morehead State and Southern Miss)
Donnie Tyndall might not be the most well known name for Auburn fans, but the Southern Mississippi head coach would bring a proven track record of winning to the Plains, should he get the job.
The 43-year-old Tyndall inherited a 4-23 Morehead State team as his first head coaching job in 2006 and rapidly turned the Eagles into an Ohio Valley Conference power. The Eagles made the NCAA Tournament twice under Tyndall, including a Third Round appearance in 2011.
Now at Southern Miss, Tyndall's Golden Eagles are 53-15 in his two seasons in Hattiesburg and are currently poised to make the NCAA Tournament at 26-5.
Tiger fans are certainly tired of mid-major hires, and deservedly so after the failures of Jeff Lebo and Tony Barbee, but Tyndall would bring a more sustained track record of success to the Plains than either of those two. Considering the current state of the program, Jay Jacobs could do a whole lot worse.
-Eric Wallace / Sports Reporter
Tod Kowalczyk (200-175 in 12 seasons at Wisconsin-Green Bay and Toledo)
This mid-major, less-intriguing name is completely out of left field for most Auburn basketball fans, and for good reason. Kowalczyk has spent his entire coaching in the Midwest (including an assistant coaching stint at Marquette when NBA star Dwayne Wade was on campus), but his track record with rebuilding programs is stunning.
Kowalczyk took over a dreadful Wisconsin-Green Bay team in 2002 and rattled off five winning seasons in eight tries. He never broke into the NCAA Tournament in a one-qualifier conference like the Horizon League, but he is on the verge of a remarkable transformation at Toledo.
Following a dismal rebuilding season, Kowalczyk took a senior-less Toledo team from 4-28 to 19-17 and a couple of wins away from the Big Dance. His up-tempo 2013-14 Rockets are on the verge of making it to the NCAA Tournament this season with an impressive 26-5 record in a competitive MAC league.
But another thing that sticks out about Kowalczyk is that he has turned around the Toledo program while being sponsored by Under Armour. After Allen Payne's tweet Wednesday night about Auburn continuing to struggle with the Maryland-based apparel company sent Auburn fans and writers in a frenzy (I for one think the UA ordeal is a minor issue that people are blowing out of proportion, but that's all for another post), Kowalczyk is proof that you can succeed in this game while being an Under Armour school.
-Justin Ferguson / Sports Editor
What do you think of our list? Have any more candidates you think we should add? Who is your pick for Auburn's next men's basketball head coach? Tweet your responses @TheAUPlainsman or email the staff at sports@theplainsman.com.
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