Who should Drake hire?

by **OmahaDog** » February 20th, 2017, 9:58 pm

Some candidates that have been kicked around:

Steve Forbes, East Tennessee State head coach, former WSU assistant, former Bruce Pearl assistant (tying him to the Davis tree), Iowa native. Can Drake get him?

Kevin Gamble, Central Michigan assistant under Keno, former Iowa player, former NBA player, successful head coach at NAIA level.

Jeff Rutter, current interim coach, got the team to overachieve, but not a miracle worker, ties to Greg Mc Dermott, Fred Hoiberg

David Arsenault Jr, current head coach at Grinnell College in Iowa, successful NBA D-League coach, coaches style similar to Loyola Marymount back in the day except faster.

Ben McCollum, successful head coach at NCAA DII Northwest Missouri State.

Darian Devries, longtime Creighton assistant under Altman and McDermott

Anybody else we should add to the list?

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by **DUBulldog** » February 20th, 2017, 10:04 pm

FYI, the list proposed by Omaha Dog represents people that have been mentioned randomly on Drakenation. It in no way represents an actual list of those that have applied for the Drake job or who Drake is considering.

Having said that, there's a couple of names on that list that I could go for.

The biggest question right now is who is going to actually make the hire.

by **shockem** » February 21st, 2017, 8:05 am

Any idea what Drake is going to be able to pay the next coach? What are the selling points of the Drake job outside of an opportunity to be a head coach at the D1 level?

Forbes would be an outstanding hire, but I'm not sure Drake is a step up from his current gig. I think he'd only take a job where he thinks he could build a contender. I'm not sure that's possible at Drake, but I could be wrong.

by **BirdsEyeView** » February 21st, 2017, 8:44 am

OmahaDog wrote:Some candidates that have been kicked around:

Steve Forbes, East Tennessee State head coach, former WSU assistant, former Bruce Pearl assistant (tying him to the Davis tree), Iowa native. Can Drake get him?

Kevin Gamble, Central Michigan assistant under Keno, former Iowa player, former NBA player, successful head coach at NAIA level.

Jeff Rutter, current interim coach, got the team to overachieve, but not a miracle worker, ties to Greg Mc Dermott, Fred Hoiberg

David Arsenault Jr, current head coach at Grinnell College in Iowa, successful NBA D-League coach, coaches style similar to Loyola Marymount back in the day except faster.

Ben McCollum, successful head coach at NCAA DII Northwest Missouri State.

Darian Devries, longtime Creighton assistant under Altman and McDermott

Anybody else we should add to the list?

I still think Rutter is the right guy, he just needs to upgrade the roster big time

by **BCPanther** » February 21st, 2017, 9:11 am

Darian DeVries

He's got really good connections to Iowa High School talent through his relationship with Aaron Thomas. He's worked, and won, with two guys that run their programs totally differently so he'd have a nice hybrid of styles/demeanor. He also played for Eldon Miller who to this day is a great Xs and Os guy that is totally committed to helping guys that he knows succeed.

The timing is also right for Darian. He's in his 40s so its time to either go be a head coach somewhere or decide you're going to be a career assistant (not that there's anything wrong with that).

by **Cdizzle** » February 21st, 2017, 9:24 am

Ain't no way Steve Forbes is going to Drake.

by **Stickboy46** » February 21st, 2017, 10:14 am

Marshall has his bags packed waiting for a call to jump from Wichita State ....

Oh wait .. I thought this was the normal D1 coaching search that happens every year

by **OmahaDog** » February 21st, 2017, 10:39 am

Yeah, after a lot of debate Forbes was the consensus pick on DrakeNation before Giacoletti was hired. Most agree that getting him would be a long shot at this point. I do think Drake needs to at least make the phone call. I have no knowledge of whether he was contacted or not last time around.

I get DeVries, but just underwhelmed by career assistant. Plus, recruiting Iowa should not be a priority for Drake. Will always be behind Iowa and Iowa State. Catching UNI in the hearts and minds of Iowans will take a lot of work at this point as well. Best to look to places like Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis for players. Drake recruits a lot of its student body from those places already.

I like Gamble at this point. Ties to NBA, Iowa, and Davis should make him a strong recruiter. Can he coach? Success at lower level is only real indicator.

by **RoyalShock** » February 21st, 2017, 10:45 am

Other than the possibility of taking over WSU someday should Marshall leave, there are really only three MVC programs I could see hiring Steve Forbes: UNI, SIU, MSU, simply due to being public schools either in good shape already (UNI) or mediocre with potential (SIU, MSU).

by **tribecalledquest** » February 21st, 2017, 11:09 am

Cdizzle wrote:Ain't no way Steve Forbes is going to Drake.

No kidding. That job is not a fit for him in any way, shape or form.