Nebraska interested in OU Basketball Coach John Groce?

[NYBuckeye96]

http://huskerextra.com/sports/huskers/m ... 4e581.html

Groce's Big Ten connections, recruiting past make him logical candidate

By BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Monday, March 12, 2012 11:00 pm


Watching this week's NCAA Tournament while keeping a keen eye on Nebraska basketball coaching candidates?

Then Friday night's game in Nashville, Tenn., wouldn't be a bad place to start.

John Groce's 13th-seeded Ohio team faces No. 4 seed Michigan in the second round, with the winner to face Temple, California or South Florida in Sunday's third round.

Sources say Groce is among a group of candidates to replace Doc Sadler, who was fired Friday after six seasons.

Groce, in his fourth season at Ohio, has led the Bobcats to a school-record 27 victories. They earned an automatic NCAA berth by winning the Mid-American Conference Tournament championship.

Groce is 83-55 at Ohio, with three straight postseason appearances, including two NCAA Tournament trips. As the 13th seed in 2010, Ohio upset No. 4 Georgetown in the first round.

Why would Nebraska be interested in Groce?

For starters, he has Big Ten Conference ties. A Danville, Ind., native, Groce spent four seasons on Thad Matta's staff at Ohio State, including his final two as associate head coach. He was a part of two Big Ten championships and two NCAA Tournament appearances, including a runner-up finish in 2007.

Those who've followed him say Groce, 40, is a high-energy, detail-oriented and driven coach. He's also regarded as a strong recruiter. Groce played an integral role in landing future first-round NBA Draft picks Mike Conley Jr., Daequan Cook and Greg Oden at Ohio State, and was named Rivals.com's recruiter of the year in 2006.

Groce's aggressive style of play would also be attractive. Ohio this season led the MAC in turnover margin, steals, scoring margin and three-point defense, while ranking third in scoring defense (62.4) and fourth in scoring (70.7). Last year's Ohio team averaged 74.7 points to lead the league.

Why wouldn't Groce make sense?

His interest level might not be as high as you'd think, even though he'd receive a significant pay increase from his current base salary of $250,000.

Groce isn't commenting on job openings, but one source says Groce is very particular about his career path, and with his entire roster returning, feels he could increase his stock for job openings next season.

Also, aside from working on the same campus with football coach Frank Solich, he has no known ties to Nebraska.

Thursday's game between No. 12 seed VCU and No. 5 seed Wichita State will be an intriguing matchup of highly-sought-after coaches.

Both Shaka Smart and Gregg Marshall make Nebraska's list, but Smart is the No. 1 candidate at Illinois, and reportedly is leaning toward accepting an offer to replace Bruce Weber. Smart and Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas previously worked together at Akron.

Marshall, meanwhile, has been linked all season to South Carolina, even though there's no opening at the school. However, that could change, as media reports in South Carolina say the future of men's basketball coach Darrin Horn will be decided early this week.

If Horn is retained, Nebraska could be in the Marshall mix. However, Marshall last year turned down North Carolina State, and told the Wichita Eagle he prides himself on not jumping from job to job. He's had two head coaching jobs in 14 years.

Marshall, who makes $900,000, signed a seven-year contract extension after last season, with an automatic one-year rollover each season.

[NYBuckeye96]

Groce isn't commenting on job openings, but one source says Groce is very particular about his career path, and with his entire roster returning, feels he could increase his stock for job openings next season.

[3morethan2]

interesting story, i think its a possibility but I see him coming back next year since like it said what you quoted Buckeyes96 he could for sure increase his stock next year with his whole team coming back next year

[Snotnose]

How about Geno Ford taking the Nebraska job? Took over Bradley this past season, would definately be in the same recruiting area he has currently, already familiar with the area.

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

I really hope he stays.

[Orange and Brown]

Should have never fired Larry Hunter.....We finally got Tim O'Shea to go away and we get a decent coach now bigger schools come calling. OU better pay this man so he sticks around for a few more years.

[1987chieftains]

he done a great job!! lets hope ou will not let him slip out of there hand.

[Black Panther]

Paul Evans is always out there,right 87? lol! In all seriousness dont know why Paul never got back into D1 college coaching.Looks like Ralf Willard is out of coaching too...

[1987chieftains]

havent heard that name in sometime.

[flash]

He should stay, no one can win at Nebraska in basketball.

[Raiderball]

Every game OU wins in the tourney will stir up more interest and talk of Groce leaving.

[Orange and Brown]

I think he will be back next year for sure but OU has to step up and pay him to make sure he stays.

[Pol pot]

OHIO cannot pay what others can. Even if they doubled his current salary, Coach Groce would still be one of the lowest paid coaches in Mi-Major basketball. Part of this comes from the fact that Ohio has football and must spread their resources.

[mister b]

Nebraska is where good college basketball coaches go to end their once promising careers.

Groce can do much better than Nebraska.

[Black Panther]

Hopefully he'll stay ..What about Dino Gaudio? Dino said he did his undergrad work at Ohio U.He's working for espn right now...He was the head coach at Wake Forest a couple years ago...

[NYBuckeye96]

I don't understand why Nebraska has been so bad at basketball for so many years. Within a short drive, you have the small Nebraska school Creighton who usually fields a strong basketball team. I just looked up stats on Creighton and they have made the NCAA tourney 17 times, including 8 times since 1999. This is coupled with 10 NIT appearances. Why can tiny Creighton excel in basketball, but the Cornhuskers can't???

Maybe Nebraska should hire away Creighton's coach.

[Orange and Brown]

After Danny Nee(sp) Nebraska hasn't been able to get a solid coach. To be honest who wants to play Basketball at Nebraska? lol

[OZZIEOHIO]

He may be headed to Illinois

http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketb ... job-032612