One day after USF was eliminated from the American Athletic Conference tournament, Vice President for Athletics Michael Kelly announced Friday afternoon that “a national search is underway” for the Bulls next men’s basketball coach.
That’s absolutely the proper thing to do.
"We are eternally grateful to interim head coach Ben Fletcher for his leadership under extraordinary circumstances this season. I also want to thank our staff and student-athletes for their resilience. Coach Amir would be so proud,” Kelly said in a brief news release.
“A national search is underway for our next head basketball coach. The process will be thorough, and once our next head coach is chosen, we will share that news with you. We appreciate the support of Bulls Nation."
There was no mention of whether Fletcher will be considered, but saying USF is “eternally grateful” for Fletcher’s work this season is something you usually say when bidding someone farewell. The Bulls finished 13-19 this season.
One thing I am sure of is that the USF job will be attract lots of interest. In his one season with the Bulls, Amir Abdur-Rahim shattered the myth that winning big at USF is nearly impossible.
There will be speculation about former Marquette, Indiana, and Georgia coach Tom Crean. Abdur-Rahim was on his staff at Georgia and Crean has remained steadfastly supportive of USF.
Former USF player Chris Capko is the associate head coach at SMU and could be a name to watch. While he doesn’t have head coaching experience, he had a lot of support when Kelly was looking for Brian Gregory’s replacement.
Capko was on Andy Enfeld’s staff for ten years at Southern Cal and followed him last year to SMU. He also is a native of nearby Lakeland and started for a Kathleen High School team that won a state championship.
His bio at SMU notes, “Capko helped the Trojans bring in eight consecutive Top-30 recruiting classes, with the 2022 class ranking No. 7 and the 2023 class ranking No. 4. Over his final six seasons at USC, the Trojans had six players selected in the NBA Draft, tied for the 13th-most by any program in the country.”
More names will surface over the coming days, but Kelly keeps his cards very close to his chest on coaching searches.
Remember when it looked like Notre Dame’s Mike Bray was going to succeed Gregory? His Wikipedia page was even updated to declare him USF’s coach. There was very little speculation about Abdur-Rahim.
And before he hired Alex Golesh to head the football team, hardly anyone following the Bulls knew who he was.
Don’t be surprised if that’s how works out this time, too.