Who will lead Longwood next?
A new era of Longwood Basketball will soon begin, so the most logical question on most Lancer fans mind is, who will be next to run the program?
Before we talk about specific candidates (just scroll down if you want to get to that) let’s talk about how the next couple of weeks will play out.
The Roster
As of right now, the only players slated to leave Longwood are BK Ashe and Chuck Glover. That probably changes a lot now as a few players will undoubtedly transfer with the coaching change. It’s just a nature of the beast.
Another thing to remember is Longwood currently has one open scholarship and three signees for the Class of 2018. Those recruits are basically free agents now and it will be up to the new coach to once again sell Longwood to them. I would hazard to guess that the new coach will have to fill six or so scholarships in a condensed period of time.
The Process
Five years ago the Longwood coaching search lasted just about three weeks, but it did start later that year with Mike Gillian’s resignation on March 14. Jayson Gee was officially named the Longwood coach on April 3. I would expect a similar timeline this year, especially with the recruiting needs that we’re about to face.
Last time out, Longwood hired former Wake Forest and South Carolina head coach Dave Odom of Collegiate Sports Associates to be the consultant for the search. These firms typically cost a university between $25,000-$50,000 for basketball head coaching searches and provide both candidate identification and privacy. The traditional “search committee” approach is something a bit out-dated and not really the norm any more.
With that being said it will be interesting to see if Troy Austin flies solo on this one or hires another consulting firm. Last time around CSA identified Gee and Rusty LaRue as the two best fits for Longwood. LaRue was a former player of Odom’s and is no longer coaching college basketball.
What should we be looking for?
Obviously winning is the biggest thing that we will want out of the next head coach, but here are some other priorities I would rank high for the new bench boss.
- Local Ties: Have someone who can recruit the state of Virginia and the continuous players Richmond, Hampton Roads, and the DMV are churning out on a regular basis.
- Build with Freshmen: Historically, we’ve been too reliant on JUCO transfers and traditional transfer. We’ve rarely seen the opportunity for a lineup to grow together and develop continuity over a two, three, and even four year course. It’s ok to supplement your roster with a talented transfer or two, but it’s no way to build a roster. If you need a blueprint, look no further down the road than Radford where Mike Jones continues to build young, deep, local rosters.
- Embrace History: Longwood has a deep basketball history and the next coach needs to embrace that and start to bring the alumni from across the years back to Willett Hall. Longwood also has a TON of high school basketball coaches as alumni and that’s another untapped resource we really need to use and make people feel like they are part of the program at large.
Alright, now for the good stuff… let’s get to some logical candidates that would make sense for Longwood.
Go Local
John Krikorian, Christopher Newport: Personally, my top candidate to become the new Longwood bench boss would current Christopher Newport head coach John Krikorian. Krikorian is 180–48 in seven years at CNU, has lead the team to three straight NCAA Tournaments, and went to the Sweet 16 last year. His 17 man roster only has one player from outside Virginia.
Lonnie Blow, Virginia State: A defensive minded coach and former assistant at Old Dominion, Blow has been the CIAA Coach of the Year at two different schools. His Trojans are 24–3 and earned the top seed in the CIAA Tournament this year. Former Lancer legend Mo Sumter is also an assistant coach for Blow right now.
Bryant Stith, ODU: The former Virginia standout and NBA player is in his fifth season at ODU where the Monarchs have seen success under Jeff Jones. Before coming to ODU, Stith was a 10 year head coach at Brunswick High School where he won three state championships.
JD Byers, VCU: Byers has never been a head coach, but he’s no stranger to the Big South. The former Radford assistant spent three years under Mike Jones before joining Mike Rhoades at Rice and now VCU. He knows what it takes to build a program after resurrecting both Rice and Radford.
Dane Fischer, George Mason: Fischer was a finalist for the Dartmouth job recently and has been a long time assistant of Dave Paulsen at George Mason and Bucknell.
Duane Simpkins, George Mason: Keeping with the George Mason theme, Duane Simpkins was a standout DMV athlete at DeMatha, played at Maryland, and has been an assistant at George Mason and UNC Greensboro recently.
Go Regional
Mark Prosser, Winthrop: If Pat Kelsey would’ve coached UMass longer than 10 minutes last spring then Mark Prosser would probably be the head coach at Winthrop right now. He’s the son of former Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser and has been a large part of the Eagles success under Kelsey. He’s been an assistant at Bucknell and Wofford. Prosser was a head coach for one season at Brevard, where he went 5–23. That one season is hard to judge though, as he left to join Winthrop in a surprise move.
Kyle Perry, USC Upstate: The Athletic Director and Perry were both fired on Thursday in a bit of a strange move. It’s seems the AD is out because of alleged harassment claims, but it was odd to let Perry go that same day with no connection to that. Many have thought Perry would be a solid coach in the region for awhile, but he’s never jumped at a job since he was the heir apparent to Eddie Payne at Upstate. When Payne abruptly retired this Fall, Perry took over and went 7–25. This guy would’ve been an attractive candidate a year ago and it’s silly to think one year would change that.
Young Guns
Pat Beilien, LeMoyne: The Michigan head coach’s son has done quick turnarounds at both West Virginia Wesleyan where he went 12–15 his first year and 20–12 his second year, and LeMoyne where he was 10–17 his first year and 22–7 his second year. This year he’s lead the Dolphins to another phenomenal 23–6 season and they aren’t done yet. He also has the local ties from going to high school in Richmond when his dad was the Spiders head coach.
Joey Rodriguez, VCU: Want to make a splash? Hire the spark plug of VCU’s 2011 Final Four team. Rodriguez is one of the most likable dudes in the game and has been an assistant coach at Benedictine in Richmond and has also held posts at Central Florida and Rice. A guy like JRod would definitely fire up the fan base, but he would have to match his inexperience with good people around him.
Jamal Brunt, Miami: Their is no doubt that the former Richmond assistant and current Miami assistant is an up-and-comer in the coaching ranks, and would be a good fit for a school like Longwood.
David Boyden, Radford: If you’ve seen a guy firing up the Radford bench this year then it was new assistant head coach David Boyden. Boyden was a standout at Hermitage High School in Richmond and has been an assistant at Western Kentucky and Tennessee Tech. He was also an All-Sun Belt performer at Western Kentucky in the early 2000s.
Retreads
James Johnson, North Carolina State: The former Virginia Tech head coach and Powhatan native started his career as an assistant at Longwood, so why not bring him back. Johnson has had stops at Hargrave, ODU, Elon, Charleston, Penn State, George Mason, Clemson, and Miami in his 22 years of coaching.
Blaine Taylor, UC Irvine: The former ODU and Montana head coach is in his second year as an assistant at UC Irvine. Taylor was 239–144 at ODU and went to the postseason eight years in a row. Obviously he has tremendous ties to the area and could the jumpstart that Longwood needs.
Michael Perry, ECU: Perry is the current interim head coach at East Carolina and was previously the head coach at Georgia State. The former Richmond grad is 70–88 as a Division I head coach and has also been an assistant at Richmond, Virginia Union, and Georgia State.
Hey, why not?
Chris Carrawell, Marquette: Our AD is a Duke guy, Carrawell is a Duke guy…so why not? Carrawell was a finalist at Furman last year and has spent time at his alma mater and the Nets G-League affiliate.
Rick Pitino: He’s available.
We’ll have more in-depth profiles and other names within the coming days.
