Ohio men's basketball coach John Groce was in some elite company on a list of names ESPN TrueHoop blogger Henry Abbott writes are NBA head coaching candidates.
Abbott put together a list on his blog Wednesday that included former NBA coaches, current NBA assistants, college coaches and others. He wrote that the list is based on "conversations with agents, front office personnel and insiders," and is "the place to start" when an NBA team looks to hire a new head coach.
Groce is one of nine college coaches in the list. He is the only one of them not to advance to at least the Elite 8 of the NCAA Tournament. The other eight coaches are Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, Kentucky's John Calipari, Arzona's Sean Miller, Brad Stevens of Butler, Billy Donovan of Florida, Jay Wright of Villanova, Jamie Dixon of Pittsburgh and Bill Self of Kansas.
Abbott wrote about Groce: "Ohio's coach, who was once Greg Oden's de facto offensive coordinator, is said to have an NBA playbook and demeanor."
The other eight coaches have combined for seven national championships. Needless to say, it's quite an honor for Groce, who led the Bobcats to the second round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament, to be on that list. He is by far the least known coach of the nine.
Personally, I don't see Groce going to the NBA. If he does leave Ohio, I think it will be to a larger college program. His name was tossed around about vacant jobs at Wake Forest and Clemson last year and Dayton this year.
To read Abbott's blog post, click here
