As the carousel turns...

Man, its nice not having to worry about our coach leaving or getting fired, or worrying in turn about what new coach will take the throne of Big Blue Nation and whether or not he's the right fit. But still, one thing I enjoy about April (before baseball takes over most of my attention) is watching the coaching carousel spin around frantically on the college basketball landscape.

Today, St. John's hired Steve Lavin, better known as one of the few College Basketball analysts on ESPN that actually knew what he was talking about. Before that, he was the head coach at UCLA, where he coached the Bruins to the NCAA tournament six times in seven seasons, including one Elite Eight appearance and five trips to the Sweet 16. I always thought he was a pretty good coach but never quite lived up to UCLA's lofty and often unrealistic expectations; which lead to his firing in 2003 after his only losing season on the job. At St. John's, he inherits a veteran ball club that could surprise some people in the Big East next season. We wish him well.

Also today, UTEP (former home to Billy Clyde himself) hired Tim Floyd to replace Tony Barbee who took over at Auburn. Floyd comes back to the school where he once served as an assistant under Don Haskins. Of course, Floyd left USC after allegations were made that he paid OJ Mayo's handler $1,000 for his recruitment to USC. Floyd has denied the allegations, but USC imposed its own sanctions anyway.

Floyd has a pretty impressive resume, which includes several stops in both the college ranks and the NBA. While he's a risk because of his past, UTEP felt like grabbing the big name was worth it, and they're probably right. The Miners went 26-7 this year and advanced to the NCAA tournament. Under Floyd's leadership, look for UTEP to challenge Memphis as the toast of the C-USA.

More stuff later... stay tuned.