NCAA Basketball Rumors: Painter, Marshall among top 5 potential candidates for Missouri

With Frank Haith reportedly leaving the Missouri Tigers and taking the head coaching job with the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes, a highly attractive basketball job is now open in the SEC, joining the Tennessee Volunteers who lost Cuonzo Martin earlier this week.

Some of the potential candidates for Tennessee are now being mentioned in connection with the Missouri job, including Mike White from Louisiana Tech, according to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman.

Painter had been on the radar for Missouri before they hired Haith, but ultimately Painter stayed at Purdue and signed an eight-year extension to remain with the Boilermakers.

However, the last two seasons have been a disappointment with Purdue missing the NCAA Tournament and compiling a 31-35 record with a 13-23 record in the Big Ten, including bottoming out with a 5-13 mark this year, so perhaps now is the time he leaves, because it may be a now or never situation.

Gregg Marshall, the reigning Coach of the Year winner who led the Wichita State Shockers to an undefeated regular season, will be tough to pry away from the Shockers, but The Bleacher Report’s Jason King thinks it’s got a shot, provided they offer at least $3 million per year.

In the case of all of these potential candidates they would be leaving for a better job and one in the powerful SEC that provides a great recruiting ground and top-notch facilities.

The big question is if they are happy where they are or if they are looking for a new challenge.