Monday, March 14, 2011

Jeff Capel out at Oklahoma; Gillispie to Texas Tech and Smith to Arkansas?

We've tried to stay away from writing about the coaching carousel -- talking about people losing their job is never pleasant for me -- but what just overwhelmed my twitter feed in the past hour or so is too interesting not to write about.

Let's start with the semi-surprising -- Jeff Capel got the axe at Oklahoma. Only two years removed from riding Blake Griffin's coattails to the Elite 8, Capel spent the past two seasons dealing with knuckleheads like Willie Warren, Tommy Mason-Griffin, and tiny Gallon and the fallout that came with their recruitment.

That was far from the only action, however.

As most of you probably know, John Pelphrey was let go over the weekend, likely stemming from the recruiting violation that Gary Parrish dug up. The name that popped up today as a possible replacement was Tubby Smith, the current Minnesota Golden Gopher head coach that was thought to be interested in taking the Georgia Tech job. The Star-Telegram in Texas is reporting that Smith is close to taking the job.

That same paper is also reporting that Billy Gillispie has been in talks with Texas Tech regarding the position left open when Pat Knight was fired. There are even rumors that he could be offered the job as early as Wednesday.

It should no longer be called the coaching carousel.

I propose the coaching spin cycle.

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