Should Alabama And Georgia Be In A Hurry?

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You never want to rush an important decision. 

But.

As long as Kentucky keeps winning in the NIT, the UK muckety-mucks aren’t going to be able to fire Billy Gillispie and rev up their own coaching search (if they do indeed WANT to can their coach).

Once UK loses, which could be Wednesday at Notre Dame, all bets are off.

If you’re Mal Moore (Alabama) or Damon Evans (Georgia) should you start speeding up your hiring process with the vision of Kentucky’s open job out there on the horizon?



Alabama has already received permission to speak with VCU’s Anthony Grant.  They are believed to be interested in Missouri’s Mike Anderson (still coaching) as well.  Ditto Tim Floyd (Southern Cal) and Tubby Smith (Minnesota).

If those are the Tide’s finalists (barring any surprises), then they can bet that Kentucky would have no interest in those guys… unless the last two years have them believing Smith wasn’t so bad after all.

So there’s probably no need to rush a decision in Tuscaloosa.



But what about Georgia?  The Bulldogs say they haven’t spoken to Grant and they apparently haven’t asked for permission to do so.  They have been rumored to be interested in Oklahoma’s Jeff Capel (still coaching) and Anderson was asked about the Georgia job yesterday.

More than likely, Kentucky, if they make a move, will look for a major name — John Calipari, Billy Donovan, etc. 

Rumors have Georgia connected to bigger names than Alabama.  And Georgia is keeping a tighter lid on their search. 

If I’m a Bulldog fan that’s hoping for a top name, I want to see my school start moving on their search.  Or else Kentucky might get in the way… IF they fire Gillispie and IF they can’t land their top choice. 

Gillispie was a fallback choice in Lexington two years ago.  It’s possible they could “settle” for a Capel-type this time, too.  And that could impact Georgia’s search.



At this point, Alabama seems — seems, mind you — to be ahead of Georgia in the search process.  The Bulldogs might want to speed things up before Kentucky is in the market for a coach, too.