Five potential LSU basketball coaching candidates to replace Johnny Jones

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/839252325818585090

It was a historically awful season for the Tigers, who went 10-20 (2-16 SEC) in the regular season and set a school record with 15 straight losses. Jones has made one NCAA tournament appearance in five years at his alma mater.

Jones' fate was long sealed as the season spiraled out of hand. Thus, athletic director Joe Alleva has has had [sic] plenty of time to consider his replacement.

Tom Crean, Indiana

Crean has made nine NCAA tournament appearances in 16 seasons, and three of the misses came in years where Indiana was reeling from sanctions induced because of Kelvin Sampson's scandal-plagued regime.

He is a flawed candidate, of course...

Eric Musselman, Nevada

Former NBA head coaches are becoming all the rage in the southeast these days, as evidenced by Avery Johnson turning up at Alabama...

Kermit Davis, Middle Tennessee State

A mid-major grinder who has earned a second shot at running a power program. Davis has turned MTSU into the power program of Conference USA, going 17-1 in league play this year...

What about Mark Gottfried?

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/MicklesAdvocate/status/839296633057730561

It's been apparent for weeks that Jones' job status might be in jeopardy after LSU, which was 8-2 in nonconference games, started struggling just before league play began in late December.

The Tigers eventually lost a school-record 15 games in a row, a streak that finally was snapped with an 82-72 win over Tennessee on March 1.

LSU will fire basketball coach Johnny Jones after the SEC tournament, according to multiple reports. Here are some candidates, listed in alphabetical order.

A slideshow of candidates are presented alphabetically from Chris Beard to Buzz Williams.

[jbcarol]

 Jeff Goodman‏Verified account @GoodmanESPN Mar 7

Another name you can cross off the list for LSU is Rick Stansbury. He has been working behind the scenes, but source told me, "No shot."

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/839631349996797952

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/LSUBeatTweet/status/839632024700846080

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/839662949551771648

Now, with the season over and a 10-21 record in the books for LSU, the speculation can begin about what may be next for the Tigers basketball program.

Jones comments on his job status:

"Can't tell you anything, really. I've been putting all of our time and attention into these guys and trying to prepare and get ready for this game. I'm like you, heard about it and read it, seen it on TV and told these guys that it wasn't about me, it's actually about them, and we'll prepare and do the things we've been doing and so they could have a great experience, and, unfortunately, came up short tonight.

"But that's about the gist of it, and I'm sure I'll look forward to hopefully visiting with someone in the near future so I'll — as I know, I'm sure you guys will know."

On whether he would provide a defense of his team's performance to AD Joe Alleva:

"I don't have any excuses about what happened this year. Shoot, I've got the keys, driving the bus. It was a tough year for us and I think people go through tough years and I think you can look at when I came in and the first four years where we were and how we're building the program and some great things were happening and on the court, off the court, you name it."

On whether he's had discussions with Alleva:

"No, no, not about the job or anything like that. So, not any conversation about our season and I'm sure that will happen, hopefully, here in the near future."

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/839986710083751939

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/RabalaisAdv/status/839998074118426624

Sad because this was Jones' destination job. He's a Louisiana guy. He played for LSU. He was an assistant at LSU. There is no job Jones would have left LSU to pursue. And there is no one who could tell you they don't like Jones and didn't root for his success. If likability could translate into wins and losses, Jones would have had the Tigers in the Final Four every year.

Jones didn't have the rèsumè to make a successful go of a Power Five conference job, even one he was as intimately familiar with as LSU.

Throw out his 15-16 turn as interim coach at Memphis in 1999-2000, a tough task for any coach. In 11 seasons at North Texas, Jones never won a Sun Belt regular-season championship, finishing with a 91-88 conference record. He checks out of LSU with a 42-48 Southeastern Conference mark, 90-72 overall.

LSU's first couple of teams under Jones were respectable. He guided the Tigers to a 19-12 mark in 2012-13 and 20-14 record in 2013-14, finishing 9-9 in the SEC in both seasons. That 2013-14 team also reached the second round of the NIT.

But starting with the 2014-15 season, Jones' teams underachieved. That squad oozed talent with Jordan Mickey, Jarrell Martin, Keith Hornsby, Tim Quarterman and Josh Gray. But Jones seemed to get less than what the Tigers could have been, a 24- or 25- win regular season team, going 22-11 and 11-7 in SEC play and blowing a nearly unblowable lead to North Carolina State in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Then there was last year's Ben Simmons-led team, the experiment gone awry. Simmons will end up missing his entire NBA rookie season with a fractured foot. And in his one season at LSU, Simmons was unable to help the Tigers overcome the fractures in their team chemistry.

LSU went 19-14 with a respectable tie for third in the SEC (11-7) but was embarrassed 71-38 by Texas A&M in the SEC tournament.

Then came another embarrassment: Jones' declined a certain NIT bid.

Athletic director Joe Alleva said at the time the decision to end the season rested with Jones, and indeed it appeared to set the coach up for an "NCAA or bust" season in 2016-17. Alleva should have insisted Jones take his team to the NIT, even if he had to suit up walk-ons. Who knows? Coming off three straight postseason appearances may have helped Jones' argument to keep his job this year.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/840259038180999169

[jbcarol]

 Andrew Lopez‏Verified account @_Andrew_Lopez 21h21 hours ago

#LSU has officially fired Johnny Jones, source confirms.

Source also says all 3 asst. - Randy Livingston, Robert Kirby, Brenden Suhr let go

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/MicklesAdvocate/status/840292122041409537

They could go for an older, more experienced coach with NCAA skins on the wall, a recent trend among fellow Southeastern Conference schools.

Or they could snag an up-and-comer in his 30s or 40s, although Alleva said during a news conference Friday that he's looking for a "proven winner."

LSU could also try to make a major splash and up the ante to bring aboard a big-name coach after Jones ranked near the bottom of SEC coaches with a package that paid him $1.5 million annually.

Whoever the winning [sic] candidate is, he'll have to re-energize the program and get the fan base back after attendance dwindled to fewer than 3,000 per game this season as the Tigers dropped a school-record 15 games in a row, finishing 10-21 overall and 2-16 in the SEC.

National experts said whoever it is will have to turn things around quickly.

The 55-year-old Jones, who had only one losing season in his five-year tenure, made the NCAA tournament just once in that time — in 2015, which ended a six-year drought for LSU.

ESPN analyst Sean Farnham said LSU's next hire will likely have to be an experienced coach because SEC basketball, despite its critics, isn't a "training ground" for young coaches.

"It's got to be the right hire," he said. "It's got to be somebody that's going to make a splash; it can't be a young coach with relative inexperience, because LSU is an elite-level program. It's not that long ago (2006) that they were hanging a banner in there for a Final Four trip. There's a ton of talent in Louisiana, and they need to protect that talent; they need to keep that talent."

Farnham said this year's historic collapse was a byproduct of last season's disappointment, when an expected NCAA tournament bid with eventual NBA draft No. 1 pick Ben Simmons and the nation's third-ranked recruiting class didn't pan out.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/841376505305391104

Drew is 277-179 at Baylor, Musselman is 52-20 at Nevada and Davis is 306-179 at Middle Tennessee. All have enjoyed success at their current schools, and it's obvious that LSU needs a proven winner to turn its program around. New excitement is needed fast.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/Michael_Carvell/status/841750987824062466