1) John Beilein: Apparently there is interest on both sides. Beilein wants to be here and Bill Martin might want him here too. The holdup is that WVU is still in the NIT and Beilein has a 2.5 mil buyout that Martin might be too cheap to pay.
2) Dick Vitale was on AM 1270 here in Detroit and flat out said if he were Michigan he would call up Tubby Smith and convince him to coach where the pressure isn't so high. Tubby said this afternoon that he was planning on staying at Kentucky
3) Lon Kruger was on Rome is Burning today and when asked about the Michigan job he said he'd listen but he wanted to do what was in the best interest of his family and that his family likes Las Vegas.
4) Sean Miller of Xavier is interested in the job according to sources
5) Talked to some guys at Rivals.com and they all indicated that Beilein is the frontrunner right now.
6) Todd Lickliter of Butler is getting serious interest but he is a Butler alum and they are ready to pay a lot to keep him there. Chris Lowery of Southern Illinois won't comment because his team is still in Tourny, but from all indicators is also very interested.
Pretty much this search is going to come down to whether or not Michigan is willing to shell out the money to get someone. Everyone wants this job...it's the best on the market this offseason. If they can get over this whole buyout business with Beilein it looks like he might be the one. I'm willing to bet there's a hire by the end of next week with how quickly things are progressing. Rivals has a list of the 12 likely candidates up and it's got all the guys I mentioned above as well as Mike Montgomery, John Calipari, Karl Hobbs, Steve Lavin, Ernie Kent, Ben Braun (of Cal), and Tony Bennett (of Wash State).
I would put up a picture of Beilein since he's the leader,
but I did that in the last post. Figured I go with Tubby
since Dickie V wants him.
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