SPORTS

How attractive is the Vanderbilt basketball job?

Adam Sparks
USA TODAY NETWORK – Tennessee

Vanderbilt has re-entered the unpredictable world of a basketball coaching search for the first time this century.

It’s not the same landscape as during the school’s last search in 1999, when the Commodores picked Kevin Stallings.

Mid-major schools now pay top dollar to keep their coaches. SEC basketball is no longer an elite product. And the already competitive recruiting game only gets tougher when high academic standards trim the talent pool.

But on the bright side, Memorial Magic still resonates with coaches seeking tradition. Vanderbilt offers the unique opportunity of being a basketball school in a lucrative football conference. And who doesn’t want to live in Nashville?

Vanderbilt is taking applications for its first new basketball coach in 17 years, and the hire could indicate how much things have changed or stayed the same.

Vanderbilt meets with Monmouth's King Rice

“How good is the Vandy job? It seems more and more that the coach determines that ranking,” said Lee Jenkins, a Sports Illustrated writer who graduated from Vanderbilt in 1999, just as Stallings arrived on campus after the last coaching search.

“It feels like Vanderbilt could be a top-25 job if you get the right coach. If you don’t have the right coach, probably a top-50 job.”

Coveted or not?

A wide array of potential candidates has been reported or rumored for the Vanderbilt job.

There are high-paid, high-profile coaches like Wichita State’s Gregg Marshall, Indiana’s Tom Crean and Virginia Tech’s Buzz Williams. There are academic fits like Yale’s James Jones. There are former Commodore assistants such as Monmouth’s King Rice, who has met with Vanderbilt, and Illinois State’s Dan Muller. Wild cards have squeezed into the discussion such as Drew Maddux, a former Vanderbilt player and successful high school coach, and Jeff Capel, the Duke assistant and former Oklahoma coach.

And the biggest possible pool includes up-and-coming mid-major coaches such as Valparaiso’s Bryce Drew, Northern Iowa’s Ben Jacobson, UNC-Wilmington’s Kevin Keatts and Chattanooga’s Matt McCall.

Why such an eclectic group? Perhaps because there’s no precedent of Vanderbilt’s type of coaching target in the past 17 years.

5 questions for Vanderbilt's coaching search

But Chris Dortch, editor of Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook, sees a different reason for the wide variety of possible suitors.

“It’s because it’s a coveted job,” Dortch said. “It’s an SEC job that pays $2 million a year. Good school, good town, good facility. That’s why — it’s a good gig.”

While Vanderbilt’s position has been filled for the past 17 years, 33 different SEC coaches have gone through the revolving door of the league’s other jobs. Tennessee has had the highest turnover with six coaches since 1999.

A year ago, UT hired long-time Texas coach Rick Barnes for nearly $2.3 million annually. A week later, Alabama hired former NBA coach Avery Johnson for $2.8 million per year. And a year before that, Auburn got coveted coach Bruce Pearl for $2.3 million per year.

The trio represents the second-, third- and fourth-highest-paid coaches in the SEC last season, behind Kentucky’s John Calipari, who makes about $6.9 million annually.

“Money has always been a factor when you’re trying to get a coach. It was then, and it is today,” said Roy Kramer, former Vanderbilt athletics director (1978-90) and SEC commissioner (1990-2002). “Perhaps it’s just more of a factor today because the salaries are significantly larger than they were 25 or 30 years ago.”

Vanderbilt coach search draws 100-plus applicants, per AD

SEC schools must pay for a top-notch coach, especially if they hope to lure one away from another school.

“(That’s) tough in this environment. Most don’t want to leave good situations,” said Dan Wolken, a 2001 Vanderbilt graduate who covers college basketball for USA Today. “Unless you can get a guy who is ready to jump for whatever reason and the time it right, it’s really hard because money isn’t usually a factor.”

Stallings was paid $2.1 million in 2013, the most recent time that Vanderbilt, a private institution, had to disclose its top-paid employees via tax records. Even if Stallings’ salary remained unchanged since then, Vanderbilt would have still been amid the top half of SEC basketball salaries.

“I know exactly what we pay (coaches), and I know exactly what everybody else pays. I know where we fit,” Vanderbilt athletics director David Williams said. “Fans that believe we don’t pay market (value), keep believing it. It ain’t true.”

The right fit

Williams said the new coach has to be the right “fit” for Vanderbilt. “This is not the right place for everybody,” he added.

Before Stallings, Jan van Breda Kolff coached Vanderbilt from 1993-99. As a former standout player for the Commodores, he knew the school was unique in being known for basketball over football, despite sitting in the football-centric SEC. That distinction is a plus for some coaching candidates and a negative for others, he said.

“That’s why ranking some jobs as better than others is more subjective for coaches than people would think,” van Breda Kolff said. “Some jobs are right for certain people based on their makeup.”

Wolken thinks Vanderbilt is in a better position to hire a coach than it was in 1999, especially because Nashville’s profile and the SEC’s earnings have grown.

“Basketball is more than just a distraction (at Vanderbilt), which is rare in the SEC,” Wolken said. “And I think the academic profile, if leveraged correctly, is a huge positive.”

The next coach must follow Stallings, who finished with 332 wins and seven NCAA Tournament appearances, both program records. But he was never known as a gregarious marketer of the program.

Jenkins said that need to “make it fun again” — along with Stallings’ longevity despite first-round exits in four of his past five NCAA Tournament trips — should make the Vanderbilt job more attractive for a coach with an outgoing personality.

“What makes Vanderbilt a good job is that you don’t get fired,” Jenkins said. “There was a pretty mediocre coach there for 17 years who had a losing record in the conference and one NCAA Tournament win in nine years, and he kept his job. That’s the most appealing thing.”

Deep NCAA Tournament runs should be a hope for the next Vanderbilt coach. Stallings made Sweet 16 runs in 2004 and 2007, but his teams never recaptured that success.

Roy Skinner led Vanderbilt to a 1965 Elite Eight appearance in a 23-team NCAA Tournament and a 1974 Sweet 16 berth in a 25-team field. In 1988, C.M. Newton’s squad reached the Sweet 16. And Eddie Fogler took the Commodores to the Sweet 16 in 1993.

Fogler was hired as a consultant to find the next Vanderbilt coach. Kramer, the AD who hired Newton, said the Commodores will still find a quality coach, despite how much has changed since their last search.

“It changes some over time because there are more good teams playing basketball these days,” Kramer said. “But no matter how many years go by, good jobs are still good jobs. And Vanderbilt is still a good job.”

Reach Adam Sparks at 615-259-8010 and on Twitter @AdamSparks.

Eddie Fogler helping Vanderbilt like he helped TSU

SEC BASKETBALL COACH SALARIES

John Calipari (Kentucky): $6.9 million

Avery Johnson (Alabama): $2.8 million

Frank Martin (South Carolina): $2.5 million

Bruce Pearl (Auburn): $2.3 million

Rick Barnes (Tennessee): $2.3 million

Mark Fox (Georgia): $2.2 million

Mike White (Florida): $2.0 million

Mike Anderson (Arkansas): $2.0 million

Ben Howland (Mississippi St.): $1.9 million

Andy Kennedy (Ole Miss): $1.9 million

Johnny Jones (LSU): $1.5 million

Billy Kennedy (Texas A&M): $1.2 million

Kim Anderson (Missouri): $1.1 million

Note: Vanderbilt’s Kevin Stallings was paid $2.1 million in 2013, per tax records. His 2016 salary is not available because Vanderbilt is a private institution.

* Martin was given a raise and contract extension for next season.

Source: USA Today, AL.com

VANDERBILT BASKETBALL COACHES

(Since 1948)

Coach (Years): Record

Kevin Stallings (2000-16): 332-220

Jan van Breda Kolff (1994-99): 104-81

Eddie Fogler (1990-93): 81-48

C.M. Newton (1982-89): 129-115

Richard Schmidt (1980-81): 28-27

Wayne Dobbs (1977-79): 38-42

Roy Skinner (1959, 62-76): 278-135

Bob Polk (1948-58, 60-61): 197-106