Who Will Be The Next Head Coach At Brown?

Who Will Be The Next Head Coach At Brown?

Make that two coaching vacancies in Rhode Island.

Yesterday we took a look at some of the top candidates to replace Jim Baron at URI. Today we take a look at some head coaching possibilities for Brown University.

Before we dive into the possible pool of candidates, it is worth pointing out that the situation at Brown is very unique. Athletic Director Michael Goldberger announced his retirement effective June 30. Currently, the search is on for his successor whom the university hoes to have in place by the beginning of June so that he can overlap with the outgoing Goldie.

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With that as the backdrop, there will be no coaching search anytime soon at Brown. “I shouldn’t be the person who is picking the new head coach,” Goldberger told GoLocalProv.com. “That should be up to whoever the new athletic director is.”

After Jesse Agel was fired Monday, associate head coach TJ Sorrentine was named the interim head coach. Does that mean that Sorrentine will get a chance to coach the team next season? Maybe, maybe not. “I have so much respect for TJ as a coach and a person,” Goldberger said. “He’s such a nice guy and knows the game. And to see him work with the kids is impressive. It doesn’t matter whether they’re first or last on the depth chart, he treats them all the same working hard with all of them.”

Goldberger said that he would like to see Sorrentine coach this team which he, and many around the program, feels should be very good next season. But he also knows that the decision to allow him to coach the team next year will ultimately be up to his successor.

It does make the most sense to allow Sorrentine to coach the team next year. Along with being a great player back in the day, he is the son of a coach (Tom Sorrentine – St. Ray’s) and has been around the sport all of his life. If you watched him play at St. Ray’s or at the University of Vermont, he was not only a great player, but he was also like an extension of the coaching staff on the floor.  Some wonder if he could be the next Steve Alford or Billy Donovan?  While those comparisons might seem a bit premature, the similarities are striking when you consider the types of players they were - all smart and talented with a great feel for the game.

Sorrentine also has the respect of every player in the Brown locker room and their parents. He is also an excellent recruiter and possesses the “street cred” that many coaches don’t have with the high school kids he meets with which can be very important.

Despite the fact that it would seem to make a lot of sense to have him coach next year’s team, whether or not he coaches the 2012-2013 Bears appears to be out of his hands. But, for now, the job is his.

Should the new AD want to begin a coaching search at the start of his tenure, here are some other names to consider for the job:

Bob Walsh – The Rhode Island College Anchorman head coach has done a great job in his 7 years at the school having had the program at the top of the Little East Conference year in and year out as well as being a regular participant in the Division 3 NCAA tournament. ESPN’s Doug Gottlieb tweeted that URI should hire Walsh to replace Baron. That sounds nice, but rarely does a coach make the jump from Division 3 to the mid to high mid-major level of Division 1. Normally a D-3 coach comes in at a lower level of Division 1 like the Ivy League or a similar level conference. A finalist for the Manhattan job last year, Walsh does have Division 1 experience having served as an assistant under Tim Welsh at Providence College and his D-1 head coaching shot should come sooner rather than later.

Glen Miller – That’s right, Glen Miller! The former head coach at Brown would certainly be open to returning to the school he once coached. Miller currently has an excellent gig as an assistant for Jim Calhoun and the defending national champion UConn Huskies but would like to be a head coach again. Miller made it clear when he left Brown for Ivy League rival Penn that he missed all of the people he worked with at the school and the people who supported the program. He wasn’t on the job too long in Philadelphia before he realized that grass was pretty green in Providence. Like Mark Whipple did for Brown football, Miller is credited for changing the culture of Brown basketball. His teams were competitive year in and year out which eventually earned him the Penn job. You never know if a school wants to go down the same road twice but, in this case, the road Miller led the program down was a successful one so he would have to be an option if he was interested.

Doug Stewart – A former player at Brown, Stewart was an assistant coach at the school under Craig Robinson when the Bears won a school record 19 games 5 years ago. Stewart remains on Robinson’s staff out at Oregon State where the Beavers have had a solid season winning 17 games thus far. Could he duplicate the success he and Robinson had in their first go-around at Brown? Good question. Robinson proved to be an outstanding coach in the Ivy League. Not only was his system a great one, he was also a tremendous motivator of men. If all of his qualities have rubbed off on Stewart, he would be an interesting candidate.

Mike Martin - Another former Brown player, Martinplayed for and was an assistant at Brown under Miller whom he followed to Penn where he remians on Jerome Allen's staff.  If you have watched any of the Quakers' games, it is very clear that Allen relies on Martin more than any other coach on his staff which says a lot about the former Bear.  Like Sorrentine, Martin leacks the head coaching experience but the feeling is that he will be a head coach someday.  He is certainly familiar with the Ivy League having played and coached in it for so long.

Dave McLaughlin – Now completing his 9th season at Stonehill College, McLaughlin led his team to the Northeast 10 title this year. The Skyhawks have been super competitive on his watch which included a trip to the 2005-2006 NCAA Division 2 Final Four. McLaughlin has been in the mix in the past for previous openings at Brown and would figure to be this time around as well. His teams have won 20+ games in 6 of his 9 seasons at the helm. Like Sorrentine hopes to now, McLaughlin got his start as a head coach being named interim coach at Stonehill in 2004. He has made the most of that opportunity.

Pete Gillen – Seriously? Yes, seriously. While Gillen may not have the youth that the previous candidates have, he does have the experience. The former Xavier, Providence and Virginia head coach has expressed behind the scenes interest in the Brown job in the past and some say that he would enjoy coaching in the Ivy League as his last stop in the business. The problem is that Gillen has been out of the game for 7 years now and who knows if he still has a desire to get back in. He turns 65 this summer so the reality is that he would be a very long shot even if he were interested.

Mystery Candidates – All of the above names are interesting and bring different things to the table, but who knows if Brown’s new athletic director (whoever that might be) will have an interest in any of them. Depending upon who that new AD is, he may have connections from past employment which is often times how top candidates emerge in situations like this. Not knowing who the new AD is makes it impossible to speculate who he might be interested in. However, taking over as the new AD at Brown will be quite a challenge and it will take time for that person to become acclimated with the university, the department he runs and the Ivy League. For that reason, allowing Sorrentine to be the coach for the 2012-2013 season may make the most sense of all the scenarios listed.

Like Ed Cooley's hiring at Providence College, giving Sorrentine a chance at Brown is a fantastic local story.  If he were to enjoy great success, the feel-good meter would be off the charts.