I like that idea.

TOS! TOS! TOS! TOS!

But seriously, no TOS

Candidates I would look at with different category breakdowns below. As you will see, I am a proponent of grabbing D2 coaches who are effective in dealing in the locality along with having scholarship limits to work out (hence a slight dislike for D3 coaches here). Nonetheless, a list I have composed of coaches that could make sense:

D1 Head Coaches We Could Pry Away:
John Brannen: Northern Kentucky-In 4 years he has proven he can effectively build a program into a contender quite quickly. Has made an NCAA Tournament and an NIT to boot, so great signs for a coach like him with his program in position to make March again. In addition he understands recruiting in his backyard to a T, along with his ability to recruit Ohio over the last few years has shown he's a coach who can have a nice geographic advantage. His years as a D-1 assistant at big time schools appears to pay off nicely. Questions I have range from would we shell out to get him and would he look at his program as a better spot.

Matt McMahon: Murray State-Going to become a hot commodity, especially as Ja Morant continues his meteoric rise. 4th year coach who made the NCAAs this year and if he makes it again continues to show that he is a star that is one the rise. As we have seen, can identify talent pretty well and I think will be chased by a P5 school due to Ja Morant's rise. If he is not chased, this is a guy I think worth going after and seeing what can become of Ohio again. The other big question here is does he look in the mirror and go am I leaving a good situation that's very similar in cost but a bigger dumpster fire? Very possible here.


D1 Assistant Pool:
Ryan Pedon: Ohio State-A guy who has been around the block in the state of Ohio in terms of his coaching career and worked alongside John Groce and Chris Holtmann. The Ohio native has worked for a lot of coaches our fans seem to respect and hope that their styles have rubbed off on him. Has experience in the #2 chair and if looking to move up to the #1 chair, definitely a candidate worth watching. Question is going to be can we afford paying him what we want to or do we let it die on the vine due to budget?

Bruiser Flint: Indiana-A name that no one would look at, but was the head coach at Drexel for 16 years. With what I would argue was a bad break era at Drexel, especially after many parts of his teams transferred in his late years there, at least he can identify talent and recruit it. With his connections out east, I feel like this is a guy who could come in and make some solid noise with the resources here. Question I have here is would we want to deal with another coach who dealt with bad breaks again or not? Again, a guy I like that many others would not.


The D2 to D1 Route:
Charlie Ernst: Findlay-At Findlay in his 8th year and is very familiar with the recruiting territory of Ohio. A historically strong program he was given the keys to, Ernst has succeeded in keeping the program at a high-level. Concern I have is would his NW Ohio roots keep him up that way for good? Probably but nonetheless as we saw with Mount Union and Kehres, if they're willing to reach out ya gotta reach out right? Especially since this won't be search firm driven, which means going to find a candidate outside of conventional wisdom is in play here.

Jim Crutchfield: Nova Southeastern-Weird place to go find a coach right? Google him when you get a chance and you'll see he was the former head coach at West Liberty University. His teams play a style of ball that I think would get the Roundhouse on Richland rocking in a hurry, as they are up-tempo and pressing as anyone in the country. In his 2nd year already, currently has them 21-2 and making a serious run. Questions I have here is would he realistically come back up this way or not along with his age. The pro is he is from Clarksburg so perhaps he would return up this way along with his ability to recruit Ohio. Otherwise, why not target his protege.....

Ben Howlett: West Liberty-2nd year coach that has continued the winning ways of West Liberty. In addition, he grabbed a kid that I liked in Yahel Hill out of Cleveland and is currently averaging 13 a game for him, so at least he has a good eye for talent. Marietta native, 31 years old, what's not to like here? A couple things for certain, as his experience is relatively green. However, if you're gonna roll the dice on someone cheap and affordable, this might be the best play we have.



The Wildcard of Coaches
Thad Matta: The former head coach of Ohio State, he has proven to be one of the best in the game when healthy. Again, when healthy. Is his back fully able to go? Not sure, but this is a guy I would make a run at. Considering he has made it clear he doesn't want to go far from where his family has called home and would be a simple drop down 33, definitely is possible. However, I gotta assume that P5 programs have more interest and radars on his medical report than NFL teams had on Peyton Manning's after his back surgery when the Broncos won the Manning Lottery. The other question is the financial aspect of it all.

The Realistic Bet:
I have to look at assistants that are cheap and affordable here from a P5 school that underpays. As we saw with the softball hire, that did not ring any vote of confidence that we're going to go the established route like we did with Bob Bolden, Jim Christian, or Saul Phillips.

In regards to Jeff Boals: Listen, his work has been nothing but outstanding at Stony Brook and think he could potentially do well here as an alum. In fact, he would be my odds on favorite that Schaus makes a run at, especially as some alums would rally around this pick in a hurry. However, we turned him down twice before and not sure how much salt was left on that one. As I have stated as well, his first time interviewing here did not leave a great taste in people's mouths here either so will be interesting to see if Schaus pulls the trigger. As a personal note, his recruiting down the stretch at Ohio State left a lot to be desired as that program ran into the gutter....

Also saw Aaron Fuss thrown out there. I like him a lot personally, but do I think he's ready to take over the 1st chair in Athens? I don't think so, but he is one to watch because of his ties to the administration plus his experience in-state. In addition, I don't think the bank would have to be shelled out to make this hire either.

I know some of you want to discuss Dante Jackson, but he still has to get 2nd chair experience. Not to compare this to a orchestra, but if you're gonna be first chair you gotta work your way there. Jumping from fourth chair to first is not one I encourage, especially in basketball unless a staff is truly that loaded.

Now that I have covered long-time employees and alums of who could be in the running but won't be for differing reasons, it is time to make my pick. If I am looking at this realistically and seeing past hiring patterns of Schaus I think this is where he will re-evaluate his coaching hires the last 3 times around. He will see that going after established coaches has not been handled well across the board. That said, I think he goes former assistant and goes after Pedon from OSU. In addition, I would not be shocked to see Dino Gaudio's name pop up at one point or another during this process if he has an itch to get a HC gig again......

Brannen would be outstanding. I don't think we will be able to make it worth McMahon's while. If he doesn't get a bigger offer than us, I don't think he takes ours just because it's more money than Murray State. I think he would hold out at Murray a little longer.

Another name I like is T.J. Otzelberger, the head coach at South Dakota State. On paper, this might seem like another Saul-esque hire, but he is on his way taking the Jackrabbits to the big dance for the third straight year. He was the primary recruiter as an assistant at Iowa State under Fred Hoiberg. I LOVED watching Hoiberg's ISU teams, and the Jackrabbits play to the same pleasing style. Also, his predecessor at SDSU, Scott Nagy, is the head coach at Wright State, so I infer that our job would be an appropriate next step up for TJ.

Ultimately, my gut tells me that if we have an open position, it will be filled by Ryan Pedon.

And, the University of Notre Dame only has an enrollment of 12,292, and Florida International has an enrollment of 56,886. Enrollment levels and being a "small" college in the sports world is not a one-to-one correlation.

I've had some good laughs over the suggestions so far, but this one is particularly hilarious. He's a joke and a YouTube promoter more than an actual coach. He just has talented kids and good connections in NE Ohio. He would be an absolutely terrible college coach.

Hey, thanks for signing up for an account.

Ohio is not hiring a third assistant at a military academy to be their head coach.

by money.

You're right... they really knocked it out of the park with Saul. That SDSU resume wowed me at the time of hire as well. Again, I said longshot. Not because of experience, but because of his ties to the sport and University. Will it happen? No. But I wouldn't be opposed to it. I can guarantee 1 thing.. they can't play any worse than they did this year

Donuts' career as one of those insult clowns in a dunking booth at the state fair must be incredibly lucrative.

+1

Not an easy state to recruit in, but you gotta be able to win your backyard wars and to me, we have been losing many, including to Akron and Turdistan who has walked into SE Ohio/Columbus and gotten some gems. The equation in the MAC in Ohio is very similar, but how each of the schools attack Ohio are historically different. For those who have longer memories than I do, please feel free to interject or disagree, as I have included schools that have "mutual" interests:

For OU (and recently Turdistan outside of mining WV no pun intended): OU cannot afford to give up ANY kid that comes out of SE Ohio. From Portsmouth over to Cambridge they need to sweep any kid that can play into it's bread basket. Seems to have become a theme to let a kid jailbreak elsewhere. I look at Columbus as the battleground with Fiami, and as someone once said to me, "Control Columbus, control the MAC." Enough 2nd tier kids come out of there that can be the difference makers to winning. Would also say snagging a kid out of the other 2 C's (Cleveland and Cincinnati) on occasion also helps. If there's another OU honeyhole that I'm not aware of let me know.

I look at Fiami, Dayton, and NKU, they got the same footprint they need to succeed in. That territory is from the Limaland/Ottawa area, over to Columbus, down into Kentucky south of Cincy, and over into Indianapolis.

I look at Akron/Kent and they gotta put the perimeters on NE Ohio while creeping into Western PA with the occasional steal of a Columbus kid. Otherwise they could operate from NE Ohio.

I look at Toledo: Recruit River-Rats off of the Maumee River (realistically any decent NW Ohio kid which they have done well with Coach K there) from Ottawa to Edon and over to Sandusky, go into Detroit, and the occasional kid out of Cleveland/Chicago.

BG: kind of a blur, haven't won the MAC in so long not sure what their script would look like other than getting kids out of Akron/Cleveland and Columbus along with the once-in-a-while NW Ohio kid.

Now I am not saying that their entire roster has to be built out of those areas, but getting the key parts out of there usually fuel success. It's why I look at Fiami returning to roots as something as a cause for concern and also why I said that NKU resembles the Fiami script historically more than than any other program that would win in the MAC. These schools can all have success at the same time, just historically doesn't tend to happen that way.

At least someone is poking holes in my theory. I mean it was my short list of coaches that we could potentially pry away, but again as you mentioned the finances are not in our favor I don't believe.

While I would be cool with Geno, some rumor mills are saying it's this guy:

Ryan Pedon

2017 – Ohio State, Assistant Coach
2015-17 – Butler University, Assistant Coach
2013-15 – Illinois, Assistant to the Head Coach
2010-13 – Toledo, Assistant Coach
2005-10 – Miami (Ohio), Assistant Coach
2002-05 – Kent State, Director of Basketball Operations
2000-02 – Miami (Ohio), Graduate Assistant

I think Buckeye to Bobcat is on to this possible hire. As you said, he will need every bit of $600K to come to Athens.