Quite A Collection Applying for the USF Gig

You know, usually for coaching openings, some coaches express an interest in the job. Try and get the media to float their names or send word via back channels. Not at the University of South Florida Bulls. They took applications.

Other candidates to officially apply are former Kansas State coach Jim Wooldridge and Mike Brown, a 12-year NBA veteran who coached in the NBA Developmental League, along with a junior high boys coach in Columbus, Ohio; a Boys and Girls Club director in Atlantic City, N.J.; and a USF student, who coaches a middle-school girls team.

Former Villanova coach Steve Lappas, an analyst for CSTV, said Sunday he was interested in the position while former coaches/TV analysts Pete Gillen, Cliff Ellis and Mike Jarvis also are pursuing the position.

Is this a major conference job or a local rec center?

So, three former Big East Coaches -- 2 of the 3 were fired -- are looking to get back into the conference. Mike Jarvis would be fun, simply for generating pure outrage that he would get back into the coaching college basketball after everything that happened at St. John's. And no, I'm not talking about the players looking for strippers in Pittsburgh back in 2003. It was paying players -- of course it came from the director of basketball operations at St. John's, not Jarvis.

The best part is that Mike Jarvis might not even be the most questionable character trying to get the job at USF. That honor might belong to George "Tic" Price submitting his application. Name doesn't ring a bell? He was a captain on the VT 1979 team that got knocked out of the NCAA Tournament by Larry Bird and Indiana State. Nothing?Well he had been the coach at McNeese State. Still not working for you? Well, he was the coach at Memphis for a few years until he ~~was fired~~ resigned after it was discovered he was having an affair with a 23-year old student at Memphis in 1999. Just for good measure he and the school also became embroiled in a lawsuit over the firing of a secretary who alleged she was fired after refusing to falsify expense accounts and do additional work for his basketball camps (PDF).

I'd like to think that even USF would raise the standards a bit higher. I mean, their Athletic Director (AD) has actually shown in the past actual competence. When Doug Woolard was the St. Louis AD, he hired a hot young assistant from UCLA named Lorenzo Romar. Sure Romar eventually went back to his alma mater, but he definitely hired a good coach. That was followed up with another decent coaching hire that has St. Louis competitive in the A-10.

The one thing USF needs is someone with ambition and drive. Not some retread