Slow Progress in Search for Coach

The search for the next coach of the Harvard men’s basketball team goes on.

When Nichols Family Director of Athletics Bob Scalise announced on March 5 head coach Frank Sullivan’s contract would not be renewed, he created a vacancy at that position for the first time in 16 years, when Sullivan was hired to replace Peter P. Roby. The job has been unfilled for almost a month now and it is unclear when a new coach will be brought in.

According to sophomore forward Evan Harris, the new coach will be selected by a committee involving the basketball team, Scalise, and representatives from the Dean’s office and Admissions Department.

“No one group is going to decide [the coach]” Harris said. “It is going to be all of us putting our brains together on who we feel will be the best person to take this program forward.”

Scalise met with the team on Monday for the first time since before spring break to give them an update on the process. That was the fourth time he had met with the squad since discarding Sullivan. In the most recent meeting, he told the team that he had brought several candidates in for interviews, but declined to say who the candidates were.

Other media outlets have been speculating about who the next coach might be. One person whose name has been frequently mentioned is former Michigan and Seton Hall coach Tommy Amaker. Amaker, who was let go by Michigan after coaching there for six seasons, has been mentioned by the Boston Globe, Sportsline.com, and the Detroit News as a serious candidate.

One reason Amaker’s name has come up is he is not only a big-name coach, but he is also African-American. Harvard has no African-American coaches leading any of its 41 varsity teams, a point harped on by the Globe and CBSSportsline.com in recent articles. Two other prominent African-American coaches mentioned were former St. Johns coach Mike Jarvis, and former Arkansas coach Stan Heath. Heath won’t be taking the job because he was named the head coach at South Florida on Monday.

Jarvis, currently a college basketball commentator for ESPN and college basketball analyst for Yahoo!Sports, was fired by St. Johns five games into the 2003-2004 season after coaching there since 1998. The end of his tenure was marked by poor on-court performances and the arrests of two players.

There has been no concrete timetable set for the hiring of the new coach, whether it be Amaker, Jarvis, or someone else. According to Harris, Scalise wants to take his time to make the right decision, but also wants to act quickly because other schools are also trying to hire coaches.

As of now, there are 18 Division I programs without a head coach. Many of the available jobs, such as at Creighton, Butler, and Princeton, are likely to be more attractive to potential candidates than the head coach position at Harvard.

The candidate interviews have been conducted confidentially so far. The Athletic Department could not be reached for comment, although it and the team have a joint statement regarding the interview process, which reads as follows:

“The Athletic Department, University, and basketball team are working together to find the best candidate possible from various backgrounds. There have been applicants with prior head coaching experience, up-and-coming assistant coaches, and some candidates with pro connections. The Athletic Department is working diligently to contact and interview hopeful candidates. Unfortunately specific candidates cannot be discussed at this time because it would be counter-productive to the selection process.”

The players themselves have been trying to conduct business as usual as they wait to help decide on the new coach.

Lifting sessions have begun and individual workouts will begin soon. Assistant coaches Lamar Reddicks and Billy Holden are still around despite the uncertainty of their future positions with the program.

Organized pick-up games have been sparse, but that is due mainly to a rash of injuries suffered by the players, not the lack of a head coach. Nevertheless, the players will likely be happier once a selection is made.

“I just hope that we can speed this up and get it done as fast as we can,” Harris said.

—Staff writer Ted Kirby can be reached at tjkirby@fas.harvard.edu.