re: Possible coaching candidates

My top 4:

1. Howland or Miller; Howland is the veteran coach that could assemble a top staff and help our guys develop into better ball players. He is a defense-first coach (not sure if that's a + or -) and should have our guys playing a tougher brand of basketball. Miller could promote the program, develop our shooters and due to his age and enthusiasm should be an excellent recruiter.
3. Marshall; another slam dunk hire that I see as a mix of Howland and Miller, but perhaps less likely to come. He has a good thing going in Wichita and is probably a bit more rooted to that area for now.
4. Crean; I'm warming up to him. Never been a big fan of the way his teams play, but he does have an impressive resume and has had some success recruiting the south.

I'm not sure that any other hire would generate much excitement/optimism from me, unless Battle hires somebody that I thought was out of our reach. As mentioned above I am also concerned with the staff the new coach will bring in. Assistants aren't discussed as frequently in basketball, but they do a lot behind the scenes to develop the players. Would be nice to throw some money at TR to convince him to come back as an assistant.