| | By Andy Katz
ESPN.com
The Illinois coaching search will get quiet for at least a week as
Illinois athletics director Ron Guenther goes on a scheduled week-long trip
to Scotland Saturday.
Guenther is traveling with Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney on a
golfing swing that was supposed to include Lon Kruger before Kruger took the
Atlanta Hawks job Thursday.
Guenther is expected to make calls from Scotland but won't
meet with any candidates until at least June 4 when he returns from
Scotland.
|  | | Tulsa's Bill Self is Illinois' top choice to replace Lon Kruger. |
An athletic director would normally call another AD to ask for
permission to speak with a head coach. None of the expected top candidates -- Tulsa's Bill Self, Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings, Utah's Rick Majerus, Seton
Hall's Tommy Amaker, Arizona State's Rob Evans -- has been contacted.
But sources close to Self and Illinois have said that he is the
favorite.
The key factor in luring Self away from Tulsa will be if Illinois can
afford his hefty price tag. The Tulsa community raised $300,000 to bump
Self's salary to the $700,000 range after the Golden Hurricane went to the
Elite Eight last March.
But sources close to Guenther said
he and the administration know they'll have to pay the market price to get a
coach such as Self. Kruger's overall compensation this past season was $750,000. He'll make an estimated $2 million a year as the coach of the Atlanta Hawks.
"Ron will pay what he has to," said current New Mexico State coach Lou
Henson, who coached at Illinois for 21 seasons and led the Illini to the 1989
Final Four. "I was paid well for then, but not like they are now."
A source close to Self said he's wrestling with the possibility of
going to Illinois, if officially approached. Self committed to Tulsa after
the Elite Eight, instead of entertaining a possible offer from Georgia Tech.
But Self has never hid from the fact that he would be interested in a job in
a high-profile conference such as the Big Ten or Big 12.
He was a candidate for the Minnesota opening last summer and has
long coveted the marquee jobs in the Big 12 -- Kansas, Oklahoma or his
alma mater Oklahoma State, should any of those schools have openings.
Tulsa would have a hard time convincing anyone that Illinois isn't a
better situation. The Illini are a Big Ten title favorite and a potential
top 10 team next season, with all five starters returning. Illinois has always been one of the most coveted jobs in the Big Ten, but no one could get to it because Henson was entrenched there until his retirement five years ago. Since then, Henson has returned to the coaching ranks at New Mexico State, his alma mater.
Tulsa is the best job in the WAC and has been a fertile ground for
successful coaches (Nolan Richardson, Tubby Smith and Steve Robinson). But
it is known to be a stepping stone and Self will inevitably go to a higher
profile job.
"It's a very good job and even better one now because of their
facilities and the improvements they have made to Assembly Hall," Henson
said. "It's an outstanding state for talent."
Recruiting the state of Illinois is imperative to win at Illinois. Getting an
assistant who knows the state, and specifically Chicago, is a must.
Sources close to Guenther said he will seek some advice but will go
about the search on his own -- the same way he operated when he hired Kruger
away from Florida in 1996.
Guenther may feel some pressure to hire a minority coach because
there are no black head coaches at the school. But a source at Illinois said
the community wouldn't protest a hire such as Self because of his reputation as
being an outstanding tactician and demanding defensive coach.
Sources close to Vanderbilt's Stallings said he would be interested in the Illinois job.
Stallings, who is on vacation this week, still has strong ties in Illinois and is viewed as a success after
leading Illinois State to the NCAA Tournament in 1997 and '98.
Guenther is expected to make a run at some high-profile names, but it's unlikely he'd be able to pry them away from their current situations. Names mentioned include Mike Jarvis (who said he's staying at St. John's), Amaker (who said recently he's staying at Seton Hall) and Oklahoma's
Kelvin Sampson, who said the same thing Thursday.
"I'm locked in at Oklahoma," Sampson told ESPN.com. "I like where
our program is going."
The timing of the opening isn't bad with spring signing ending and
summer recruiting yet to begin. The Minnesota opening last August turned
some high-profile coaches off because of the timing (late in the summer) and the NCAA cloud
hanging over the program. That's not a factor at Illinois.
Creighton's Dana Altman, Bradley's Jim Molinari and Washington's Bob
Bender are possible candidates who could get in the mix. Former Seton Hall,
Golden State and Portland coach P.J. Carlesimo is available. But the No. 1
target to start with will be Self.
If Guenther decides to hire from within, former Henson player and
present Illini assistant Rob Judson has the inside track.
Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com. | |
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