[Cactus Jack]

Who do you think the next coach should be?

I don't think that this is the best choice by any means, but I think Scott Drew at Baylor would be a good stop-gap if we struck out on other names, which very well could happen. Not so old that he's a dinosaur who doesn't have a few good years left in him, but also successful and seasoned enough to realize he's probably hit his ceiling at Baylor.

Kentucky probably still has enough to afford to pay him much better than (a private) Baylor, and he's going to be more endearing to Bible Belt fans than Cal was ever going to be perceived. I don't think he's the ideal candidate and there will definitely be more flashy names, but I thought Louisville was smart to gauge his interest.

I think fans will be leary of the next coach-- they won't remember the early parts of Cal's time when we were all ecstatic and will not want someone who seems a little too slick is all slippery in the way Cal can be.

His name will come up and I can see why, but I don't think Mark Pope is the answer. He's not a terrible coach, but there's a lot of risk that he winds up being a Pelphrey. By the way, does anyone remember when he was mentioned as one of the hot names in coaching? I seem to remember that, but no one mentions all the candidates they've previously loved that have crashed and burned elsewhere.

The best hire-- the person just checks every box and absolutely knocks it out of the park is someone that is young, hungry, and is, at best, coaching a mid-major right now. I doubt many people were all about Brad Stevens a few weeks before he was hired at Butler, but he seemed to do pretty well. At least someone like that is going to jump into a school-friendly contract and will be locked in for awhile. There's obviously much more risk in trying to find that candidate too tough.