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April 13, 2008
PC Coach Update
By KEVIN McNAMARA
On Monday night, Providence College is holding its annual end-of-season basketball banquet at the Biltmore Hotel. Will the program have a new head coach to unveil at the event?
That was the hot tip that interrupted the Masters this afternoon. PC athletic director Bob Driscoll has been working the phones the last few days in search of a new coach and it would not be a surprise if he’s settled on someone who will actually take the job this time around. The question, of course, is who?
After initially hearing rumblings about GW’s Karl Hobbs and Florida associate coach Larry Shyatt from high-level basketball people, we now know that Driscoll has been urged to think about Iona coach Kevin Willard by none other than Rick Pitino. Pitino is the same man who listened to an offer for himself to come back to Providence (not sure just how long that offer was considered by the King of Louisville) and then pushed PC to chase UMass coach Travis Ford. Ford turned PC down last Thursday in a major embarrassment for the Friar faithful.
Now it’s Willard. He just finished his first season at Iona where he went 12-20 and 8-10 in the MAAC. He inherited a 2-28 train wreck from Jeff Ruland and is considered a coach with potential but this would be a major risk for the Providence program. What would make it a little more palatable is if Kevin brings along his father, Ralph, the current Holy Cross head coach and use him in an associate head coach role. Something to think about.
Will Driscoll keep listening to Pitino, a conference rival whose job demands that he keep beating the Friars? He has not called Florida’s Shyatt but has done some background work on Hobbs, an interesting candidate. Hofstra’s Tom Pecora is another interesting name but as of yesterday his athletic director hadn’t heard of any interest from Providence.
No doubt shook by the public nature of his courtship of Ford, Driscoll seems to be playing his next move close to the vest. Wrapping it up Monday in time for a dinner expected to draw a few hundred fans wouldn’t be a bad idea at all.
Posted by Kevin 
at 11:17 PM to PC basketball
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