Wanted: Princeton men's basketball head coach.
You might not think that a job that has been so closely guarded within the Princeton family would be so widely advertised.
But if you check out part of the NCAA website, you will see what essentially amounts to a want ad for the Princeton coach. Anyone who submits a resume and a cover letter has a shot, now that Joe Scott '87 has picked up and moved camp.
"Obviously, based on my background both as a former player and a former coach — somebody who's been active in college basketball all my life, I clearly am wired into the world of college basketball," Director of Athletics Gary Walters '67 said. "We are going to conduct a national search."
Several people have already expressed interest in the position, Walters said. A lot of names have been circling around — including that of assistant coach Mike Brennan '94. No promises have been made, however, on whether Walters will hire a homegrown candidate or not.
"The inevitable question comes: Will we stay within the Princeton family or not?" Walters said. "The answer to that is, I don't know. My intention is to hire the best coach out there for Princeton at this point in time."
With that in mind, here's a play-by-play of some of the potential candidates:
Mike Brennan '94
Brennan has just completed his seventh year of service on the Princeton bench. The first assistant coach, Brennan is the most likely choice for a promotion from within the system. Brennan carries with him a pedigree of success as one of the top point guards in university history, exhibiting both talent and leadership throughout his career. He played on two Ivy League championship teams during his tenure and served as captain during his junior and senior years. In his final season, Brennan was named to second-team All-Ivy. Having been part of the Princeton system for 10 years as both player and coach, Brennan obviously understands Princeton basketball as well as anybody in the race. Junior forward Noah Savage, for one, thinks highly of Brennan: "There's a ton of great people out there, and obviously Coach Brennan is one of the guys who is being considered, and that would be great — I love Coach Brennan," Savage said. "Coach Brennan has my support, but that's not to say somebody else doesn't have my support too."
Robert Burke
Burke also has a great deal of familiarity with the Princeton system, having been an assistant coach for the Tigers for four years under head coach John Thompson III. Burke helped lead Princeton during some of those glory years, primarily with his stellar recruiting skills and game-planning, areas that he still specializes in today with the Final Four-bound Georgetown Hoyas. Burke was considered for the head coaching position when Thompson departed, but ultimately Joe Scott '87 was selected instead. Burke, who followed Thompson to Princeton, opted to follow him again to Georgetown. While Burke wasn't brought up in the so-called Princeton system, he does have 18 years of coaching experience under his belt. Judson Wallace '05 loves the concept of Burke as the new head coach.
"I think Coach Burke is as good a coach as anyone I have ever been around," Wallace said. "He knows the Princeton system, he's an amazing recruiter — as you can see from Georgetown's top five recruiting class — and is a class act. I was disappointed that Burke wasn't hired my senior year."
Mike Rudoy '07, who was cut from team last season, also thinks that Burke would do wonders for the program.
"Coach Burke was one of the main reasons that I came to Princeton, and I think that he would be fantastic," Rudoy said. "He's an unbelievable recruiter, he knows a lot about basketball, he's helped run the Princeton offense, he's been coaching the Princeton offense for a number of years now and I think he would be a great candidate."
With Georgetown's wild success, however, Burke might be a tough bird to catch, as he is likely to receive interest from many other teams in the off-season.
Craig Robinson '83
Robinson, perhaps more than any other former Tiger mentioned here, is the most famous, as he is widely considered one of the greatest Ivy League basketball players ever. Fourth on the all-time scoring list with 1,441 points, Robinson also led Princeton to two NCAA tournaments — including a victory over Oklahoma State in 1983. Robinson played under coaching legend Pete Carril and was the first player ever to win multiple Ivy League Player of the Year awards, in 1982 and 1983. He went on to be drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers and played abroad for a couple of years before settling into the responsibilities of a coach. Robinson has been coaching since 1988, when he arrived at the Illinois Institute of Technology as an assistant coach. He served as an assistant under Bill Carmody at Northwestern and took over at Brown this past season, earning Ivy League coach of the year honors. The Brown Bears swept Princeton this year, finishing 11-18 overall and 6-8 in the Ivy League for fifth place. Robinson declined to comment when questioned about the Princeton coaching vacancy.
Sydney Johnson '97
Even younger than Brennan, Johnson also hails from the Princeton system but only has three years of coaching experience. Johnson currently works alongside Thompson, having joined him in his first year at Georgetown. Johnson — the only three-time captain in school history — also took home player of the year honors in 1997. After averaging 9.8 points per game over his career, Johnson played extensively for a multitude of international squads, including stints in Spain and Italy. After his time as a professional came to a close, he has thrived at Georgetown under Thompson, who was an assistant coach at Old Nassau during Johnson's playing days. Johnson would definitely bring youth and enthusiasm to the table, but some might perceive his hiring as something of a risk due to his young age and lack of experience.
Bill Carmody
Carmody enjoyed great success at Princeton before defecting to Northwestern, where he has struggled for the past seven years. Before coaching the Wildcats, however, Carmody helped propel the Tigers to their highest national ranking ever — seventh nationally, good for a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament. Carmody compiled a sparkling 92-25 record over the course of his four-year career at Princeton. Northwestern, however, recently denied that Carmody was even being considered as a replacement for Scott.
A few others
Still other names have surfaced in relation to the Princeton coaching job. Mitch Henderson '98, another young former Tiger talent, has spent the last six years as an assistant coach to Carmody at Northwestern. Armond Hill '85 is currently an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics. Drafted by the Atlanta Hawks, Hill played in the NBA before returning to Princeton to be an assistant coach for four years in the early 90's.
Two other names that have been thrown into the mix are those of Chris Mooney '94 and Mike Maker. Mooney was Scott's top assistant when he was at Air Force. When Scott came to Princeton, Mooney took over and then moved over to Richmond, where he has struggled for the past two years. Maker has no ties to Princeton, but he coached at Dartmouth for a time before heading to Samford, where he instituted the Princeton-style offense. Maker has been coaching for 19 years and currently sits on the West Virginia bench.
Because of Walters' involvement in the NCAA tournament, the wait for the new coach could take longer than previous hirings. The pressure to find a coach to turn the team around will be especially high after its last place finish in the Ivy League this year.
Before, the choices were no brainers — including Scott — but here there is no front runner. For the first time, however, we may be seeing an injection of fresh blood into Tiger basketball — someone from outside the legendary system. Bob Scrabis '89, who was a first-team All-Ivy selection and played alongside Scott, hopes that this won't be the case.
"I hope they keep it in the family, whether it's Mike Brennan or Sydney Johnson or Craig Robinson or Chris Mooney or Mitch Henderson, which are the names they are throwing around there," Scrabis said. "I just know it's going to be a very difficult task, but they got to get the right guy in there."
Ironically enough, the people the decision will directly affect the most — the players — aren't even that worried about it.
"It doesn't change anything for this team," junior forward Kyle Koncz said. "After the season, we had talked about what needed to be improved in order to win next year, and even though Coach Scott might not be here, we still have to go out every day this spring and summer and work our butts off to get better."
"A lot of stuff is going to be happening in the next couple weeks," Koncz continued. "But as a team we have to stay focused on our task at hand."
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