Marshall denies move to South Florida

[Joe]

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/sports/colleges/16956161.htm

Marshall denies move to South Florida

Winthrop makes formal offer for a new contract with more money for coach

By PATRICK OBLEY

pobley@thestate.com

While the Tampa Bay area was buzzing with reports that Gregg Marshall had accepted an $800,000 deal to leave Winthrop for South Florida, the man in question was sitting at his desk in Rock Hill.

“Entirely untrue,†Marshall said Thursday afternoon. “ I did speak to them. They’re very nice people, a very nice program.â€Â

Marshall met with his team Thursday, but only to go over the Eagles’ offseason conditioning program.

“No, it’s not that kind (of meeting),†Marshall said, referring to meetings coaches often call to tell players their plan to leave. “Just going over spring procedures.â€Â

The rumor mill cranked up this week when Winthrop granted New Mexico and South Florida permission to talk to Marshall. On Tuesday night, South Florida athletics director Doug Woolard traveled to Rock Hill to make a pitch in person. At the time, the Bulls were prepared to offer Marshall a package slightly in excess of the deal on the table from Winthrop president Anthony DiGiorgio and athletics director Tom Hickman.

The Eagles’ leadership made the offer a formal one on Wednesday afternoon  a new 10-year deal with an annual compensation between $300,000 and $400,000.

In addition to more money, South Florida offers Marshall a job in the powerful 16-team Big East. The Bulls also recently renovated their basketball home, the Sun Dome, giving the venue 11,000 seats.

Events on Thursday accelerated the coaching search at some schools while creating new ones at others. New Mexico pulled out of the Marshall chase when their first choice, Steve Alford, agreed to an offer late Wednesday. Meanwhile, Minnesota’s long-standing opening was filled by Kentucky’s Tubby Smith. With major openings at Kentucky and Michigan, conventional wisdom suggests Marshall should wait to see how the dominos fall. That appears to be what he is doing ... for now.

For coaches, especially hot commodities such as Marshall, the Final Four often is basketball’s version of a meat market, with virtually every school with an opening looking for a coach in attendance.

Marshall will be there.

“I have no timetable for this right now,†Marshall said. “All I’m planning right now is to go to the Final Four next Wednesday.â€Â

In other words, expect the rumor mills to be churning fresh gossip night and day throughout next week.

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Looks like it may be a little while...

[Brad]

Converse re: Marshall/USF on this thread

http://www.thebullspen.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/nph-YaBB.pl?num=1174543669