The Cuonzo Martin era at Cal is over as abruptly as it began, and now athletic director Mike Williams is charged with making his second high-profile move in three months.
With the Golden Bear athletic program weathering constant financial constraints, and men’s basketball and football the two sports that make enough money to help buoy the whole budget, the pressure is certainly on Williams to deliver home run hires. While the jury’s out on Justin Wilcox until at least the fall, which route will this AD take in picking a new head of hoops?
To understand what could factor into this crucial decision, I’ll break my analysis up into three sections. First, I’ll quickly go over the state of the basketball program. Second, I’ll discuss Williams’s likely criteria, before finally delving into some potential targets. I’ll even throw in some tidbits from my experience with some of the candidates working for Cal Basketball in various capacities from 1999-2005.
Some of these coaches are no-brainers due to accomplishment and/or fit, while others are guys who might not be ready now but should get an interview. Why? Because as Williams has learned the hard way twice, a good athletic director is always prepared to conduct a coaching search for the next guy—or the next next guy down the line.
ON SOLID GROUND
Sonny Dykes’s unceremonious departure on the football side has set the bar low for new coach Justin Wilcox, and he’ll get the time he needs to rebuild the team in his image since there’s no way a cash-strapped administration will allow Williams to pay two coaches’ buyouts simultaneously.
On the other hand, Martin is leaving behind a basketball program that punched above its weight on Signing Day with five-star recruits like Jaylen Brown and stayed relevant in the conference title race for most of his three seasons in charge, this season’s disappointing finish in the first round of the NIT notwithstanding. Off the floor, Martin and his staff were universally regarded for their professionalism and genuine desire to look out for their players academically and personally.
Though Cal will sustain two major losses in surefire lottery pick Ivan Rabb and senior leader Jabari Bird, the Bears return dynamic freshman point guard Charlie Moore and Kentucky transfer Marcus Lee in the frontcourt. If Martin’s successor can keep a quality recruiting class together that features electric scorer Jemarl Baker and athletic wing Juhwan Harris-Dyson from a rising Earl Watson Elite AAU squad, the cupboard will be far from bare.
CRITERIA FOR A NEW COACH
Clearly, Dykes’s desire to return to his native Big 12 country despite signing an extension left a bad taste in Williams’s mouth, and Martin’s exit for Missouri—not far from his hometown of East St. Louis—has probably cemented the idea that tangible ties to the West, especially California, are a prerequisite.
The reason for this school of thought is twofold: first, for recruiting familiarity with the region, and second, an intrinsic incentive to stay home. Extra points for previous experience at Cal itself, because Berkeley is notorious for administrative red (or is it blue in this case?) tape.
This is Berkeley after all, so the coach must fully embrace admission standards that dictate among other challenges, a 3.0 GPA for 80 percent of incoming recruiting classes starting next season. While Dykes deserves to be commended for cleaning up the academic issues plaguing the football program, it sure hampered his efforts to woo impact players who might have gotten into Cal in the past as special admits.
As stated earlier, the new coach has to be affordable. Martin reportedly got seven years and $21 million from Mizzou, and it would’ve been a tall order for Williams to match that figure.
If we take Wilcox as precedent, then prior head coaching experience shouldn’t be obligatory if an assistant knocks his interview out of the parks, but all things equal, Williams would probably select someone who’s been the top dog before.
As for me, I would suggest that beyond just wins and losses, or the California connection, that he has overachieved with limited resources and has a track record of being a shrewd talent evaluator. Such traits require the type of creativity and underdog grit to survive at a place like Cal, where you’re not just butting heads with the Arizonas and UCLAs of the world for recruits; you’re also going up against a defeatist mentality from some who make it their business to spread the belief that prosperous academics and revenue sports cannot go hand in hand.
So who will be targeted? And who should be? I’m sure there’s a wild card or two out there who will emerge in March, so Williams will have time to mull it over, but for the time being, let’s focus on this dirty dozen.
THE LIST
Randy Bennett
Head Coach, St. Mary’s
History at Cal? No
Interview status: Team still alive in NCAA Tournament
The most obvious choice plies his trade just 30 minutes away by car from Berkeley. Tiny St. Mary’s College in Moraga has been the best pound-for-pound basketball program in Northern California in recent years, and they have the accolades to prove it.
Bennett has impressively shattered the monopoly Gonzaga once had over the WCC; his Gaels not only dethroned the Zags last year for the regular-season crown, they’ve won at least 25 games eight times in the past decade and earned postseason berths each year (four NCAAs).
During that span, St. Mary’s has also been ranked in the top 25 for more weeks than Stanford and Cal combined, and Bennett’s teams have beaten the Cardinal and Golden Bears on their home floors in nonconference play.
Perhaps most impressive, he’s achieved all these things over the years without fancy facilities and relying on a brilliant recruiting strategy that’s part-Australian (see Matt Dellavedova, Jock Londale) and part-West Coast (see diamonds in the rough like Omar Samhan, Mickey McConnell, Calvin Hermanson). And at a Catholic school like St. Mary’s, academics are emphasized.
While he has no direct ties to Cal, it’s safe to say his affinity for the East Bay is deep having spent the last 16 years of his life there. Another feather in his cap is that he already has a relationship with Under Armour, who pays the talent fee in his contract at St. Mary’s and will outfit the Bears in 2017-18 after a long tenure with Nike/Jordan Brand.
The burning question is if he’s ultimately interested in taking the short drive down 24-West—or instead, if he’s in the mold of his conference rival Mark Few, perfectly content to build and sustain a mid-major monster. Bennett is signed through 2021; as St. Mary’s is a private school, terms haven’t been disclosed to the public.
Dennis Gates
Assistant Coach, Florida State
History at Cal? Yes
Interview status: Team still alive in NCAA Tournament
The calls from alumni and season-ticket holders to bring “The Sheriff”—a fan favorite guard from 1999-2002 and assistant coach from 2005-07—back to Berkeley have been overwhelming, and it’s no secret why.
Good luck finding one former teammate or coach with anything negative to say about Gates, who earned team captain status as an underclassman under Ben Braun and held onto it for three seasons. He was the type of floor general who knew when to lead by example and when to get in your face with the right amount of grace to command respect. I saw it firsthand in practices and in games.
Academically, he took care of business as well. In addition to being named the Pac-10’s top student-athlete as a senior, he was awarded Most Outstanding Student-Athlete at Cal twice, graduated in three years, and attended graduate school during his final year of playing.
Growing up in Big Ten country (Chicago) with coaching stops at a diverse array of places like the Los Angeles Clippers (NBA), Marquette (Conference USA), Northern Illinois (MAC), Nevada (WAC) and for the past six seasons, Florida State (ACC), Gates has blossomed into a national recruiter. He’s been vital in snagging five-star prospects like current Seminoles star guard Dwayne Bacon, while developing guys like Armon Johnson and Luke Babbitt, who weren’t household names at Nevada but ended up getting drafted.
Gates’s lack of head coaching experience is a justifiable concern, but if that’s the only red flag, this hire makes too much sense.
Eric Musselman
Head Coach, Nevada
History at Cal? No
Interview status: Team lost in NCAA Tournament to Iowa State
Any Northern California basketball fan should be familiar with Musselman after his stints in charge of the Warriors (2002-04) and Kings (2006-07). His time in Oakland warranted renown by the way he would grind out wins with undermanned teams and mine CBA afterthoughts like diminutive Earl Boykins, who went on to a six-year career in the NBA.
In addition to his pro pedigree, after a short spell as an assistant at Arizona State, Musselman has turned Nevada into the newest WAC powerhouse, capturing 28 wins this year en route to a conference double and an NCAA bid. Recruiting wouldn’t be an issue, either; Musselman’s Rolodex up and down the West Coast is as deep as anyone’s.
Conversely, there are two elephants in the room when discussing Musselman’s situation. The first is the presence on his staff of Yann Hufnagel, a former assistant and ace recruiter at Cal under Martin who was let go after violating the school’s sexual harassment policy in a highly publicized incident. One has to wonder if the university would even entertain the idea of a reunion in Berkeley. Another ill-fated occurrence for Musselman is a DUI on his record.
There’s no doubting his ability to coach and build a program. It’s a matter of whether the perceived risk outweighs the reward in order for Williams to move forward in pursuit.
Joe Pasternack
Head Associate Coach, Arizona
History at Cal? Yes
Interview status: Team still alive in NCAA Tournament
After serving as a student manager under Bob Knight at Indiana, Pasternack got his coaching start at Cal, rapidly ascending from video coordinator under Braun in 2000 to assistant coach one year later. His tireless work in game preparation was undeniable; when I was at Cal, he was commonly the first coach to enter the office for film study and the last to leave.
It was also during this time when he began to build a relationship with Marc Olivier and the Oakland Soldiers AAU program that in 2003, yielded a star-studded class for Cal with Leon Powe, Ayinde Ubaka, and Marquise Kately. (Gratuitous side note: LeBron James and Kendrick Perkins, two guys not from the Bay, were also on the Soldiers as Adidas was intent on obliterating the rest of the travel team circuit that summer. It worked.)
Following a four-year run in his hometown (2007-11) as head coach at New Orleans University where he had two winning seasons in an arduous post-Katrina landscape, Pasternack returned to the Pac-12. As Sean Miller’s top assistant at Arizona, he has leveraged his Soldiers connections in helping to bring a parade of them to Tuscon, namely Nick Johnson, Aaron Gordon, Brandon Ashley, and Stanley Johnson.
Though Cal fans’ most recent memory involving Pasternack is him controversially kicking Golden Bear icon Jorge Gutierrez in the groin, they would forgive him in a heartbeat if his first order of business were to redirect that Soldiers’ pipeline back to Berkeley. But does he love life in the desert way too much to even consider leaving?
Russell Turner
Head Coach, UC Irvine
History at Cal? No
Interview status: Season over
Turner, an assistant for ex-Cal coach Mike Montgomery at Stanford and the Warriors, has been at the UCI helm since 2010. He also has six seasons as an assistant at Wake Forest under his belt where he’s gone deep into ACC territory and brought recruits back to Irvine.
During that time, he’s gone 139-105 with four combined Big West titles, taking the Anteaters to the postseason five times (one NCAA bid). While he’s averaged 23 wins a season and would be a very solid, safe hire, I don’t know if those facts will get the season-ticket base to burn up the phone lines.
Turner is an excellent coach, but the timing’s not in his favor. For one, the last time Cal fans saw him was earlier this season, when UCI collapsed at Haas Pavilion and conceded a freshman school-record 38 points to Moore. Still, I could see him making the final round of interviews.
Travis DeCuire
Head Coach, Montana
History at Cal? Yes
Interview status: Season over
DeCuire was Montgomery’s top assistant at Cal (2008-14), where the Bears went to the NCAA (four times) or NIT (twice) each year. Most importantly, they captured the school’s only(!) conference title in men’s basketball or football in the last 67 years and counting. How’s that for proof he can win in Berkeley?
Perhaps if Montgomery had pulled a Bo Ryan and retired in the middle of his final season, DeCuire might have slid into the top spot by default and excelled well enough to keep it today. After all, he deserved a lot of the credit for prying current $75 million man Allen Crabbe and Richard Solomon out of L.A. and being instrumental in turning unknown two-star late signee Jorge Gutierrez into Pac-12 Player of the Year.
Nonetheless, DeCuire never got his audition, as then-AD Sandy Barbour sought out someone with head coaching experience and at the last possible moment, pulled an unhappy Martin out of Tennessee. As a result, DeCuire returned to Montana, where he’s led the Grizzlies to a 57-41 record.
But he’s coming off a down year (16-16), so the chance Williams gives him a shot is slim. Even so, he’s still worth interviewing as a means of starting a rapport with him for the future.
Tom Crean
Ex-Coach, Marquette, Indiana
History at Cal? No
Interview status: Season Over
Once upon a time, Crean was the hottest coach in college basketball after convincing Dwyane Wade to join Marquette and subsequently leading the Golden Eagles to the Final Four. Sadly, one move to Indiana and 13 years later, the longtime Tom Izzo disciple is out of a job after being unable to sustain the magic in Hoosierland. Crean’s only one season removed from a Big Ten title, but he’s also averaged less than 10 conference wins per season the past four years.
Certainly, Crean would bring instant credibility to the table. But outside of hiring Gates as an assistant for one season and being married to Jim Harbaugh’s sister Joani, his Bay Area ties are pretty thin. If the offset language in his buyout terms is favorable to his next employer, it could make his price tag intriguing to Williams, but much like the early chatter on the football side for Chip Kelly that went nowhere, I don’t think Crean checks enough boxes to be seriously considered.
Brian Shaw
Head Associate Coach, Los Angeles Lakers
History at Cal? No
Interview status: Team in NBA regular season
Shaw grew up in Oakland and starred at Bishop O’Dowd before a long NBA career where he earned three rings as a player and two of them as an assistant coach. Though his head coaching career with the Denver Nuggets was brief and relatively unsuccessful (56-85), the college ranks are a different animal.
But while his youth and wealth of knowledge could translate well from the pros, his lack of experience with the Cal administration might set him up for a rude awakening when he arrives on campus.
Theo Robertson
Assistant Coach, Los Angeles Lakers
History at Cal? Yes
Interview status: Team in NBA regular season
A lights-out shooter with range the second he entered the gym, Robertson was a key cog on the Bears’ 2009-10 conference champion squad with his cerebral play. Originally a Braun recruit, he finished his playing days with Montgomery and started his coaching career as a graduate assistant for him.
The De La Salle product has since developed a reputation as an up-and-coming coach, first with the Warriors and now with the Lakers on Luke Walton’s bench. Though it might be a little early for Robertson, he’s another guy to keep tabs on for the road ahead.
Tracy Webster
Ex-Head Associate Coach, Cal
History at Cal? Yes
Interview status: Season over
If Williams wanted to keep some continuity from the previous regime, look no further than Webster, Martin’s top assistant at Tennessee and at Cal since 2011. The former Wisconsin point guard has an outstanding eye for talented guards; Moore had a breakout first season, and Baker will be an early candidate for Pac-12 Freshman of the Year if he stays with the Bears.
Webster was a candidate for the Wisconsin-Milwaukee opening last season, so the desire to be a head man is there. However, based on Williams’s past reluctance to hire a coach whose ties are deeper outside the West, Webster will likely be out of the mix and join Martin in Missouri.
Eran Ganot
Head Coach, Hawai’i
History at Cal? No
Interview status: Season over
If Ganot’s name sounds familiar to Bay Area fans, it’s either from his days at St. Mary’s as one of Bennett’s top lieutenants or his exploits in the NCAA Tournament last season piloting Hawai’i to a Big West title sweep and a first-round upset of Martin’s Bears. This campaign has not been as successful, but that’s partially attributed to the hovering cloud of a postseason ban due to violations that allegedly occurred before he arrived.
Ganot would bring youth (he’s not yet 35) and a staff of California natives, including Montgomery’s son John, who spent several years in Berkeley with his dad. I definitely think he’s worth an interview, but depending on the pace in which Williams conducts this search, it will remain to be seen.
Kyle Smith
Head Coach, USF
History at Cal? No
Interview status: Season over
Anyone who has ever worked in Division I college basketball will tell you how problematic it is to be competitive at Columbia. Prior to Smith’s 2010 arrival in the Big Apple after nine seasons as a Bennett assistant at St. Mary’s (notice a pattern here?), the Lions had captured winning records in just two of the previous 28 years. Smith not only exceeded that total with three campaigns over .500 in six seasons, his last squad finished with a school-record 25 wins and a CBI title.
Since landing on the Hilltop last April, Smith has guided a Dons roster beset by an exodus of transfers from the previous Rex Walters regime to 20 victories before succumbing in the CBI this past week. He won’t be a serious candidate as well, but he’s just another former acorn from the Bennett tree for Williams (and Cal fans) to monitor for later.
THE VERDICT
Unlike Williams’s football coaching search, which was artificially thin because of unfashionably late timing, the quality and quantity of potential candidates out there is nothing to scoff at. And who knows, a new name could materialize by the time a new national champion is crowned.
But ultimately, I believe Bennett and Gates would get Cal alumni and fans excited for different reasons while achieving the same result—a consistent winner to be proud of on the court and in the classroom.
Follow Ryan Maquiñana on Twitter @RMaq28