Bob Cook

Indiana has the chance, for the first time since Bob Knight got fired a month before practice was to begin for the 2000-01 season, to conduct a long, wide-open search for a new men’s head basketball coach. The search is so wide-open, just about any name you can think of is being thrown into it. Even Isiah Thomas.

The New York Post’s Peter Vecsey suggested Thomas might want the job, what with the former Hoosier player’s past "serious conversations" with the school about replacing lame-duck coach Mike Davis. So let’s look at Thomas’ qualifications in a position that demands the ability to coach and, as a recruiter, be a de facto general manager.

Thomas’ legacy as coach of the underachieving (under his watch) Indiana Pacers was an offense known as "The Quick," which, in theory, was a matchup-based system under which positions were irrelevant. In practice, "The Quick" looked like five guys who didn’t know what they were supposed to be doing.

His legacy as general manager of the New York Knicks is to conduct trades and free-agent signings so unbelievable as to make Knicks fans pine for the sagacity and thrift of Scott Layden.

So Thomas probably isn’t going to end up the Indiana Hoosiers’ coach, not unless the school is looking forward to a roster of out-of-shape centers and shoot-first point guards who, when matchups dictate, switch positions.

But there are many other names that can’t be ruled out, even if they, on the surface, might seem as ridiculous as Thomas. The nominees:

KEVIN STALLINGS, VANDERBILT
Occupation: Vanderbilt head coach

Odds: 3-1

Why he would be hired: Stallings has been a consistent winner, but there’s another reason he has the inside track: Indiana athletic director Rick Greenspan used to be his boss (at Illinois State). In Greenspan’s previous stop at Army, he hired his old Illinois State football coach, Todd Berry.

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Also, Stallings doesn’t carry enough of an ego that he would demand an exorbitant salary, important given that one of Greenspan’s jobs is to make sure only Indiana’s uniforms, and not its athletic budget, wear red.

Nor would Stallings demand upon his hiring new offices, a new practice facility, and a new arena, all of which Indiana may well need.

Why he wouldn’t be hired: Greenspan isn’t all Mr. Loyalty — he fired Berry at Army, too. But more disturbing to Indiana fans, Stallings cut his teeth as a player and as an assistant coach at — the horror! — Purdue.

To get an idea of the PR storm that would follow, see the reaction to the announcement that a United Arab Emirates state firm would take over operations at U.S. ports, and magnify the outrage 1,000 times.

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