By ADAM ZAGORIA
CHAMBLEE, Ga. — Alabama is targeting several top names as the school’s men’s basketball coach to replace Avery Johnson, with whom the school parted ways last week.
Iowa State coach Steve Prohm, former Ole Miss and Cincinnati coach Andy Kennedy, former Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg, Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin, Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall and Detroit Mercy coach and former Alabama player Mike Davis are under consideration, sources said.
Hoiberg and Cronin have also been linked to the UCLA opening.
One dark horse candidate at Alabama is former Louisville, Kentucky and Providence coach Rick Pitino, now coaching in Greece.
“The only thing I can say with my broken record is that in my 30+ years as a head coach I’ve never cut a dirty deal or gave any improper benefits to any athletes,” Pitino said Monday by text from Greece. “All you have to do is ask my over 30 assistants who have become head coaches or any player that has played for me.”
Pitino was fired at Louisville in the fall of 2017 after the Brian Bowen/Adidas scandal, but he was never directly tied to the payments made to Brian Bowen Sr. via Adidas. Pitino has also maintained he had no knowledge of the stripper scandal at Louisville orchestrated by former staffer Andre McGee.
Meantime, Alabama officials have let in-state star Trendon Watford, a three-time state champion, know that he’s a priority recruit for the school, regardless of who the new coach is.
“They just fired their coach, Avery Johnson was the first coach to ever offer me,” said Watford, who’s also considering LSU, Indiana, Memphis and Duke and plans to announce April 20 at the Jordan Brand Classic Game in Las Vegas. “I feel like the program has good guys coming back, so we’ll just see how that turns out with the next head coach.”
In the meantime, Watford said Alabama officials are making him a priority.
“They’ve reached out,” he said. “I don’t know who the next head coach will be, but the players are still reaching out to me, saying they want me to be their teammate.”
He added: “If they hire somebody in the next few weeks or next week and they start recruiting me, then we’ll just go from there.”
2019 @Trendon_2 says Alabama is making him a priority even as they pick a new head coach. Delicate situation as they try to keep the state’s best player at home amid a coaching change. pic.twitter.com/BKzAg2hM7s
— Adam Zagoria (@AdamZagoria) March 25, 2019
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter
