There were many after the season ended - included myself - that thought Mark Fox should have been relieved of his coaching duties. The team, for the most part, has failed to live up to even meager expectations.
With that said, it is important to remember that finding a new coach is no walk in the park. Just look at what is going down at Tennessee and Missouri. Both schools have some decent basketball tradition and far more recent success than Georgia. Yet both, in the end, will likely have to "settle" for less than their first choice.
It was well documented earlier this week that Michael White - one of my first choices if Mark Fox had been let go, but one of Tennessee's backup plans - had decided to stay at Louisiana Tech. This was after Tennessee shot for the moon and called folks like Wichita State's Gregg Marshall.
Today, Tennessee will introduce Donnie Tyndall as their new head coach. Is he a bad hire? Not at all. He has had great success at Morehead State (remember that upset over Louisville?) and Southern Miss. Is he the type of hire that would have ignited the Georgia fan base the way we would have hoped? Unlikely.
Meanwhile, the search at Missouri slogs on. Guess who is first on their list? Gregg Marshall, of course. After that, it looks like Ben Howland may be the leader in the clubhouse. (Google 'ben howland sports illustrated' if you want to know why he would not have been an option at Georgia). If neither of those work out? It's likely on to the same plan B, C, and D guys that Tennessee was talking to.
What is my point? I really don't have one (sorry).
None of this means that you do not fire your coach if he deserves to be fired. It only means that if you do, and you're not one of those "destination" jobs, Gregg Marshall probably isn't walking through that door.
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