The pain is almost over

The Des Moines Register's Randy Peterson is reporting that a presser is coming by tomorrow afternoon:

Iowa apparently has a new men’s basketball coach.

Who replaces Steve Alford remains the question.

Athletic director Gary Barta will hold a press conference “within the next 24 hours,” Hawkeye sports information director Phil Haddy said late this afternoon.

Haddy would not disclose the nature of the press conference.

When asked directly if Barta was close to introducing a new basketball coach, Haddy said:

“You can draw your own conclusions.”

Oh, Phil Haddy, you coy little prat. Of course it's to announce a new coach. Athletic directors never call press conferences just to say, "Hey, search is going great, check back in with you in a month." That might fly with the President, but this isn't some rinky-dink White House we're running here in Iowa City.

I've got to think it's one of six candidates, and realize that much of this is conjecture, pulled directly from the asshole of myself or others. In no particular order:

Rick Majerus
Tom Crean
Kirk Speraw
Gregg Marshall
Jay Wright
Ernie Kent
Reggie Theus

Of those, Majerus is the only one who's not currently at a school. That's important, because nobody has announced that Iowa has requested permission to contact any other universities to discuss hiring away their coach. So until an announcement is made by any other institutions that Iowa has contacted them, it seems as if Majerus is your man.

Past that, I would imagine Speraw is the most likely, Crean is the most prestiged, Marshall is the most discussed, Kent is the most highly seeded of the year, Wright is the most financially accessible ($600k a year at Nova???), and Theus is the "sexiest" prospect--though he's a bit too reminiscent of Alford 8 years ago. So all five others have their own merit, which is why I am wimping out and not issuing odds yet.

There is also one distant, but enticing possibility. It is possible, though wildly implausible, that Gary Barta is calling this press conference for the sole purpose of challenging Steve Alford to a duel of fisticuffs. That, readers, would make our heads explode out of amazement.

Stay tuned to the sports channels tonight (as if you have to be told); usually some reliable info about hirings leaks through the night before the presser.

Personally I hope it's Clem Haskins. I'll go from "tame April Fooler" to "downright prescient." Granted, the Iowa program will go from "perennially 17-13" to "perennially sanctioned," but sometimes you have to pick your victories.