The Floyd Street Tribune: The politics surrounding Louisville's men's basketball head coach search
Inside: Does making a particular hire increase Josh Heird's chances at the permanent AD job? Also, an interesting recruiting morsel and my take on the IARP hearing dates.
Thanks for reading The Floyd Street Tribune! Catch up on our coaching search coverage the past few weeks with all our stories in one place. Last week’s newsletter focused on my conversation with interim Louisville AD Josh Heird and a few of his desires related to the program’s search for the next men’s basketball coach.
This week’s newsletter hits three of the pillars of Louisville coverage these days: The IARP and the infractions case; the search for a new men’s basketball head coach; and recruiting.
We start with a mini-column on the IARP hearing date being set, complete with my predictions for an outcome and my reasoning for them. Then, for subscribers only, I get into the emerging politics surrounding the search for a new Louisville men’s basketball coach. Some say it’s already done; others say nothing has happened. Neither is true. But there are some serious short- and long-term dynamics at play. And boy, is this a sticky situation. Then, we get to the bit of recruiting news that could be something to monitor whenever the new coach is hired. Let’s get it!
On the IARP and Louisville’s hearing
The Courier-Journal this week reported a June 17-19 hearing scheduled for Louisville in front of the Independent Resolution Panel, the group of five with “legal, higher education and/or sports backgrounds” who adjudicate infractions cases sent through the Independent Accountability Resolution Process. For those just catching up, this process was created after the FBI investigation was announced as an independent way for infractions cases to be decided outside the usual NCAA process.
Here is how the IARP site describes the panel and hearing:
A few thoughts on all this:
* What the hell took so long? The length of this case is as significant a punishment, if not more so, as anything potentially handed down.
* A much less complicated case at NC State took 132 days between the hearing and the announcement of a decision. Because I am a new dad and day/week counts are currently very much in my wheelhouse, I can tell you that’s roughly four and a half months. Four and a half months?! That’s an entire spring semester. That’s, like, 75% of a Major League Baseball season, and those take for-freaking-ever. MLB teams play 700 games that take four hours each. Four and a half months?!
OK, sorry for the rant. Anyway, if that gives us a ballpark (ha ha) figure for a potential resolution, let’s round up to 150 days, so five months … we’re talking mid-September to early October for a decision. Perfect timing: right as Louisville starts up its preseason. Nothing says “Welcome to Louisville!” to the new coach like an IARP decision weeks before his first game on the sidelines. But that’s a very likely scenario.
* I know what you’re thinking: Jeff, please speculate on punishments, no matter how irresponsible you think that is. To that I say … shall we?
