* * * Head Coaching Jobs Watch * * *

[ORUTerry]

The Creighton fans are up in arms and fearful about losing all/most of their recruits. They asked an interesting question: with everyone seemingly leaving the program (head coach, assistant coaches, AD) who is there left who can speak to the players/recruits? If all of this occurs, it could be chaos in Omaha for a while.

[vcboy2000]

Don't go, Scott! We can steal some of their recruits and have ORU at the same place they were in their glory days. Then you can go to a better job where it's not such a death trap for your coaching career.

[djenkins13]

They will have to move very quickly on the coaching front to keep their recruits that have signed but the school will not release their players until the new coach gets to talk to them.

[tmh8286]

A couple of posts from the Creighton board:

"hearing dana do that pig call broke my heart. A piece of me died today"

"I went to my grandmother's funeral four years ago. That press conference was the toughest thing I have ever sat through. There were more tears during that than there were during the funeral. How sad is that? I reiterate - being a fan will KILL me. My death will be related to being a fan. Not just of Creighton, but also the Cubs and the Chiefs."

"It's the day the music died."

You have to feel sorry for them.  Altman was there for thirteen years - some have never known Creighton basketball except with him as coach.  It will be a tough adjustment, I'm sure.

[ORUTerry]

More info from the Creighton message board:

Blue Jay Cafe

I have just found out from a reliable source close to the Creighton family that Bruce Rasmussen will stay on as Athletic Director until a coach has been named to replace Dana Altman. This should happen within the next 5 days, after a coach has been named Rasmussen will join Dana and the staff in Arkansas. I will not speculate who will replace Coach Altman, but Reggie Theus's name did come up.

Take this with a big dose of salt....

But then, if I was Altman and moving to Arkansas (as a Mid-Westerner) I would want my AD (who I have worked with for 13 years) to come with me. Rasussen has been at Creighton for over 26 years though. Hard to see him moving to Fayetteville. Though he did give an elusive answer when asked about it at the press conference - which my son and I watched this evening.

[Old Titan]

The main newspaper in Omaha has already come up with a list of Creighton candidates:

List of Creighton Candidates

Scott is listed as possibly the No. 1 candidate.  Interesting that TU's Doug Wojcik is also listed, along with ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla.

[ORUTerry]

Butler's Todd Lickliter is rumored to be the next coach at Iowa.... So now there is an opening at Butler.

[drclean1]

occording to the Desmoines Register

Iowa to introduce Lickliter as coach

Iowa has scheduled a press conference for 4:45 p.m. Tuesday afternoon to introduce Todd Lickliter, who led Butler to the Sweet 16 this season

[Bogus Smith]

Butler's Todd Lickliter is rumored to be the next coach at Iowa.... So now there is an opening at Butler.

Updated: April 2, 2007, 10:51 PM ET

Lickliter to leave Butler for Iowa coaching jobESPN.com news services

ATLANTA -- Iowa chose Butler's Todd Lickliter as its next head coach on Monday night, and he will be introduced at a Tuesday news conference.

ESPN.com's Andy Katz first reported the hiring earlier Monday.

Lickliter will replace Steve Alford, who left for New Mexico last month.

Lickliter was 131-61 in six years at Butler and led the Bulldogs to 29 wins this season, including an appearance in the Sweet 16, where they lost to Florida. Lickliter is the latest Butler coach to land a big-time job, following the footsteps of Barry Collier (Nebraska's former coach) and Ohio State's Thad Matta.

Multiple sources told ESPN.com that Iowa offered the job to Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings, but he withdrew Monday morning. Iowa also spoke with Creighton's Dana Altman Sunday before he accepted Arkansas' job.

Lickliter's departure could open the door for Collier, who returned to his alma mater to be the athletic director last offseason.

Lickliter is Barta's first major hire at Iowa since succeeding current Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby last summer.

Barta was in transit from Atlanta to Iowa City and unavailable for comment, Iowa officials said. Lickliter was also unavailable for immediate comment Monday night.

"I wish Todd well. He's given us six great years, but boy am I disappointed that we're losing him," Butler University President Bobby Fong told Indianapolis television station WISH in an interview Monday night.

[Bogus Smith]

ORUTerry's sources tell me that Ron Hunter will be the next head coach at Butler. 

[Bogus Smith]

Iowa also spoke with Creighton's Dana Altman Sunday before he accepted Arkansas' job.

I guess the Iowa job wasn't as good as a fourth place Western Division SEC job!! 

[ORUTerry]

ESPN edited the story because the original version said that Iowa DID NOT speak with Altman. I wonder what the truth is?

[Mike Minyard]

ORUTerry's sources tell me that Ron Hunter will be the next head coach at Butler. 

I don't know how his name got involved in the Indiana job last year.

[Guest Rob Marshall]

I guess the Iowa job wasn't as good as a fourth place Western Division SEC job!!   

Who wouldn't want to follow a guy that just went 31-49 during his tenure in the SEC?  Arkansas is a GREAT basketball job, arguably only behind Kentucky in the entire SEC all things considered (historical success, fan interest/support, facilities and resources available).  Hard to say when Florida just won its second straight National Championship, so thus the word "arguably" was applicable here.

[Titanic Eagle]

[vcboy2000]

The Sports Animal was reporting that the only reason they didn't hire Calipari was because he packed out after showing strong interest. The reporter on The Animal said that he had actually spoke with Frank Broyles before Altman was hired and Frank was ticked off with Calipari about the whole deal.

[ORUTerry]

Updated ESPN article:

Altman takes over as Arkansas hoops coach

ESPN.com news services

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- For 13 years, Dana Altman was content at Creighton, helping the Bluejays win 20 games season after season.

Now, Altman has finally found another job that appeals to him -- coaching the Arkansas Razorbacks.

"I've had conversations with a number of schools," Altman said. "I just felt like at 48 years of age, the time was right. ... But more importantly, it was the opportunity. Arkansas has great tradition."

Altman was named the Razorbacks' new basketball coach Monday, ending their weeklong search to replace the fired Stan Heath. Altman was 260-141 at Creighton. The Nebraska school went 22-11 this season for its ninth straight 20-win season, a Missouri Valley Conference record.

Creighton officials were more concerned recently that Altman could be off to Iowa, which is a job he had coveted. But the Hawkeyes never contacted Altman. No one was convinced that Altman was going to Arkansas.

Scott Sutton of Oral Roberts, who was a former Bluejays coach who left there to go to Arkansas, is a possible replacement for Altman, according to ESPN.com's Andy Katz. Sutton is the son of legendary coach Eddie Sutton.

In 1974, Eddie Sutton came to Arkansas from Creighton.

A source close to the situation said Creighton also is losing athletic director Bruce Rasmussen, who will go with Altman to Arkansas as his director of operations for men's basketball.

The move, viewed as a step down for an athletic director, would put Rasmussen in line for an administrative position once athletic director Frank Broyles retires, which is expected at the end of the year, the source said.

On Monday, Rasmussen dispelled that scenario.  (did he really)

"Obviously, I'm not in Arkansas," Rasmussen told The Associated Press. "If my bosses will have me, I plan on continuing to be here."

Altman was introduced at a news conference in Bud Walton Arena, with Broyles leading a "Pig Sooie" cheer. Altman might need some tutoring on that famous tradition -- and he was quick to look back on his days at Creighton.

"You don't stay in a place 13 years, and in 72 hours change your feelings about a special place and a special group of players that I had," Altman said. "So today, although I'm very excited, has also been very tough."

Altman is 343-208 in 18 years at the Division I level. He coached at Marshall and Kansas State before going to Creighton. He has been linked to other jobs in the past -- such as Illinois and Minnesota -- but the Bluejays managed to keep him until now.

"We've been hearing what's in the rumor mill since the end of the season," Creighton guard Nick Bahe said. "For a while we took the rumors serious, then we dismissed them. It's always a shock when something like this goes down. When you see his name with another university, it's weird."

Forward Dane Watts said his roommate played an April Fool's Day joke on him Sunday, telling him that Altman had taken the Iowa job.

"The same roommate called me today and said it was Arkansas," Watts said. "I didn't believe it. When we had a team meeting, I saw it was for real."

Heath was fired March 26, and Arkansas eyed Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie. The Razorbacks also received permission to talk to Memphis coach John Calipari -- so Altman probably isn't the type of big name some Arkansas fans were hoping for.

Broyles said he knows of very few recent examples of a coach leaving one major conference team for another.

"Virtually 95 percent of the hires are people who -- I call them non-BCS schools, but they're playing tough basketball," Broyles said. "We knew we were eventually going to have to look for someone who had sustained success, played the style of basketball that our fans like, and be willing to come and build our program back."

The program won't need that much building. Arkansas made the NCAA Tournament in 2006 and 2007 and had no seniors this season.

The Razorbacks heard some good news immediately after the news conference. Freshman Patrick Beverley, this year's Southeastern Conference newcomer of the year, announced he is staying at Arkansas. He had wavered since Heath was fired.

Altman said he was excited to follow in the footsteps of Eddie Sutton and Nolan Richardson. Sutton, also a former Creighton coach, took Arkansas to the Final Four in 1978. Richardson's teams reached the Final Four in 1990, 1994 and 1995 and won the national title in 1994 with a style of play dubbed "40 Minutes of Hell."

The soft-spoken Altman described himself as "boring" -- but he was only talking about his personality.

"We press 40 minutes a game," he said. "It's not quite the old Nolan press. We change it up a little bit. We'll back it up to three-quarter and we trap in different spots. But we do press all the time."

Offensively, Altman said he might have to adjust to his new players. The Razorbacks have some solid big men, such as 7-footer Steven Hill and forward Darian Townes.

"We have traditionally taken a lot of 3s, but looking at the size of some of our players coming back next year, we might go inside a little bit more," Altman said. "But we will push the ball up and down the floor."

Arkansas' attendance has been a concern lately, and Broyles stressed Creighton's ability to draw a crowd under Altman. The Bluejays averaged almost 16,000 fans this season.

"It's not just Xs and Os," Broyles said. "You're doing something special because the fans want to come see you play."

Creighton has been to the NCAA Tournament seven times in the last nine seasons and won a school-record 29 games in 2002-03. The Bluejays lose Altman just a few days after assistant Kevin McKenna left to take over the Indiana State program. Creighton lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Nevada, 77-71 in overtime.

Rasmussen said he would conduct a coaching search along with the Rev. John Schlegel, the university president, and John Cernech, vice president for student services and dean of students.

Rasmussen said he would consider candidates ranging from non-Division I coaches to those with NBA backgrounds. He didn't disclose who has contacted him about the opening.

"Your vision, your idea, would be to have someone who has had documented success at the Division I level," Rasmussen said, "but I wouldn't dismiss anyone."

Heath took over at Arkansas after Richardson was fired in 2002, and it's been a while since the Razorbacks enjoyed much success on a national scale. Arkansas hasn't won an NCAA Tournament game since 1999.

Altman will be charged with helping the Razorbacks reach the next level again. It's a challenge he looks forward to.

"I'm 48 years old," Altman said. "And with your permission I'd like to finish my career at the University of Arkansas."

ESPN.com's Andy Katz and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[tmh8286]

This could have repercussions for TU:

Michigan lures Beilein away from West Virginia 

  April 2, 2007

By Gary Parrish

CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer

ATLANTA -- West Virginia coach John Beilein has accepted an offer to become Michigan's next coach, CBS SportsLine.com learned Monday night from a source close to the situation. A news conference is expected in the next 48 hours.

Beilein comes to Michigan after five years at West Virginia, where he compiled a 104-60 record. He has long been rumored to leave for better opportunities, but a $2.5 million buyout prevented that chance until now.

Beilein replaces Tommy Amaker