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A lot of this might be people close to and/or agents trying to get their clients in the mix, but we'll see when it all shakes out. Both men listed below are fruit of what might be the biggest two coaching trees out there, and both are coming off NCAA appearances for mid-majors this season. You could do a lot worse than these guys, that's for sure.
Steve Masiello: Head Coach, Manhattan College
Masiello just had his team give Louisville (and his mentor Rick Pitino) all they could handle in the first round of the tournament, and this report from CBS's Gary Parrish says he's hearing from multiple sources he'll be a candidate. Masiello played for Pitino at Kentucky as a walk on, and won a national championship in '98 with Tubby Smith. He was an assistant at Manhattan from '01-05, then spent six years at Louisville with Pitino.
He returned to Riverdale three years ago and got the Jaspers turned around pretty quickly, winning the MAAC title this season. Though Masiello's entire roster is NYC kids (and one from Chicago), he was considered an ace recruiter when at Louisville under Pitino as well.
Pitino also said Masiello should take the USF job if it's offered:
Per Pitino, Masiello asked him, 'What do you think (about USF job)?' Pitino: "I said, 'For you, it's a grand slam.'" This from @gregauman
— Joey Knight (@TBTimes_Bulls) March 22, 2014
Also here's a great video of Masiello that seems to be a trailer for some proposed documentary (h/t Trey Henderson @henderson3815 for this one).
The Coach Steve Masiello Project (working title) - teaser from Andrei Zakow on Vimeo.
Derek Kellogg. Head Coach, UMass.
Another guy coming off an NCAA appearance, Kellogg just guided the Minutemen to a six seed in their first Big Dance since 1998. He's been the head coach at his alma mater for six seasons, and had been to two NIT's before this year. Kellogg was also a point guard on those John Calipari UMass teams in the early-mid 90's, and won four straight A-10 regular season and conference tournaments as a player.
Prior to returning home, Kellogg was an assistant to Calipari at Memphis for eight seasons through 2008, culminating in Chris Douglas-Roberts missing a free throw, Mario Chalmers hitting a 3... you know the rest. Kellogg also has two Florida players on his roster, so he should be very familiar with recruiting locally.
Here's some video of Kellogg discussing his team and their possible matchups this week before they fell 86-67 to Tennessee in Raleigh: