Avery Johnson is out at Alabama; who is next?
RANKINGS: 2019 Rivals150 | 2019 Team rankings | 2019 Position rankings
2020 Rivals150 | 2020 Position rankings
Alabama made it official on Sunday; Avery Johnson is no longer residing over the college basketball program. The NBA veteran departs Tuscaloosa after winning 75 games in four seasons while helping place the Tide in the upper-half of the SEC. He leaves the program better than what it was when he took over, but he seems to have come up short in a few areas. How good of a job is it? What can be done to better it? And who could be next in line for the Tide?
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STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES OF THE JOB
While the state of Alabama is not primarily known for its basketball, it has produced Devin Booker, John Petty, Herb Jones, Austin Wiley and Trendon Watford in recent years. The city of Tuscaloosa is also less than a four-hour drive from Atlanta, Memphis and Nashville, three hotbeds of talent that the Tide have mined in the past.
The basketball facilities, though older than most, received a renovation in 2005 and when the team is playing well fan support is strong. However, its football counterpart has been - and will continue to be - the primary source of attention.
It also does not boast a great basketball pedigree. It has made just one Elite Eight, boasts zero Final Four appearances and has made it past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament just once this century. That can be a blessing and a curse for a new coach who is trying to sell the idea of making history in Tuscaloosa. But for such a storied institution, its failure to win at the highest level could be seen as a detriment.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE?
It is not like Johnson struggled to land coveted prospects during his tenure. While he saw a number of recruits leave the program due to transfer, he also continually left a mark in the Rivals150. His 2017 class included three nationally ranked prospects before then enrolling five-star guard Collin Sexton the following cycle. The Tide currently sit with the 33rd-ranked class nationally.
The next coach needs to jump with two feet into the recruitment of Trendon Watford. The in-state prospect is one of the best available players in the nation and he includes the Tide on his final list. He is a must for a new coach in order to improve Alabama’s chances of success next season but also to prove he can get the job done on the recruiting front.
From there, being able to defeat the SEC’s best for elite talent is a must. Jayden Stone is the top in-state prospect in the 2020 class, while Rongie Gordon and Austin Harvell are two others that could play in the SEC. From there, hiring a solid staff with Southeast ties that can win major battles in the city of Atlanta, along with the surrounding areas, is a must. BJ Boston, Sharife Cooper and Deivon Smith are just a few that they need to attack. Either way, accumulating talent year after year is a must, as is making sure that the transfer bug doesn’t hit the program as much that it has with the previous staff.
WHO SHOULD ALABAMA HIRE?
STEVE PROHM
This one makes too much sense. Steve Prohm has been under heavy scrutiny since he stepped foot onto the Ames campus in 2015. Replacing a well-liked legend in Fred Hoiberg was an unenviable task, but it is one that Prohm has done well and he has the Cyclones in the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four years and earlier this month he won the Big 12 Conference Tournament. Prohm began his journey in the sport as a student manager at Alabama before working as an assistant at Centenary, Southeastern Louisiana, Tulane and Murray State. Receiving his first shot to lead a program, he compiled a 104-29 record at Murray. Prohm has continually recruited the South despite making the move to Iowa State four years ago. If everything works out, he might be willing to lead the program from which he graduated.
STEVE FORBES
Success has not been hard to come by for Steve Forbes, a basketball journeyman who finally got the chance to lead his own program at the Division I level four years ago, . He has won 24 games or more in each of his seasons at ETSU, and he has achieved a postseason tournament invitation in three of those years. Forbes was originally ensnarled in the NCAA investigation that brought the firing of Bruce Pearl at Tennessee in 2011, but the 53-year old coach has been a major threat on the recruiting trail and in the coach’s box. He has more than enough experience coaching at SEC institutions, as he has spent time on staff at UT and Texas A&M. He has recruited the junior college route and the high school realm, and while he might not be the sexy hire he is someone that will not back down from the more prominent opponents in the SEC.
ERIC MUSSELMAN
Mussleman has been all over the place, and while he does not have a ton of experience related to the SEC he did spend a year on staff at LSU during the 2014-2015 season. From there, he has made the Nevada program one of the more dominant ones outside of the power-conference rung, as he has taken the Wolf Pack to their third consecutive NCAA Tournament this month. An outgoing personality, rumors have swirled that he would like to find a power-conference job this spring. The Alabama opening would afford just that, and while he might have to tinker with his reliance on enrolling transfer after transfer, he has never struggled to get premier talent. Musselman might be a hot name again this spring, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Tide brass show interest in him.