Report: Gregg Marshall waives off Alabama, all-in on Texas
By Will Osgood
Texas and Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall may come together quickly.
The University of Texas athletics department–only partially new athletics director Steve Patterson–have made the decision to fire head basketball coach Rick Barnes after 17 long and successful seasons. The rumors had been rampant for some time, so the news coming out Saturday is far from surprising.
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It may be part of the reason that Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall would have been so quick to tell the University of Alabama not to make him an offer. That is the latest report to come out of Wichita, Tuscaloosa and Austin.
It is apparently because Marshall wants to be the next coach at Texas. As was immediately reported when news first broke that Barnes was being axed, Marshall was considered one of two favorites to land the job, with VCU’s Shaka Smart being the other candidate most liked by Patterson and the Texas board of regents.
Barnes won 69 percent of the games he coached at Texas and made the NCAA Tournament in all but one season. He led them to a Final Four–just the third in school history. Interestingly, Marshall’s credentials are rather similar.
He, too, has been a head coach for 17 seasons–split up rather evenly between Winthrop where he began in 1998 and Wichita State which he took over in 2007. For his career, he has won 398 games against just 159 losses. That is good for a .715 career winning percentage.
In the last three seasons with the Shockers, Marshall led his team to an incredible 95-15 record, including a nearly undefeated season in 2013-14 and a Final Four appearance in 2012-13.
Because of that ridiculous success, Marshall is the hot name in the business currently, and for good reason. There is no bigger opening than Texas. Though it is known as a football school, Texas wants to dominate in basketball as well.
Texas is known as possessing more money than just about any other athletic program in the country, in part due to its exclusive television contract and network, The Longhorn Network.
In contrast, Wichita State has a relative lack of resources and money to offer Marshall. Wichita State athletic director Eric Sexton has said he wants Wichita State to be each coach’s “dream job”, but “If it ends up being about money, then there is some point that number is not attainable and wouldn’t be financially responsible.”
This was in response to rumors before the Texas job opened, and Alabama appeared to be the leader in the clubhouse to steal Marshall from the plains of Kansas, reportedly offering at least $3 million per year.
In response to those rumors, Marshall was honest, saying that if a “crazy offer” came along “then we will certainly entertain that”. Now it seems Marshall is ramping up to get a crazy offer, just from the University of Texas, not the University of Alabama.
The talent is great in the State of Texas and the bank accounts seem to be a bit fuller too. Marshall would be crazy not to take the offer should he get it. That’s why he’s all-in on Texas and off Alabama for now.
H/T Yahoo
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