When it comes to Alabama basketball coaching searches, it’s hard to imagine anyone better to talk to than C.M. Newton.
Newton knows basketball coaching. He’s one of Alabama’s best ever, if not the best. Heck, he built Alabama basketball. Before he became the Tide’s head coach in 1969, Alabama hoops was nowhere on the national map. That all changed under Newton. From 1974 to 1976, Alabama won three consecutive SEC titles and made its first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 1975. The ’76 team he coached is considered one of Alabama’s all-time greatest teams.
Newton also knows hiring. Rick Pitino is a coaching legend at Kentucky, and the Wildcats fans can thank one man for that – Newton. Newton, Kentucky’s athletics director from 1988 to 2000, was the guy who hired Pitino.
So now it’s Alabama’s turn to look for a new head coach. Newton, now 78 and enjoying the retired life in Tuscaloosa, has watched the search process unfold as a keen observer and has been pleased with what he’s seen so far.
“The process has been good,” he said late Thursday night. “The University has done a really good job, specifically Mal Moore and Dave Hart. To do what they have to do, you have to reach out to different people to complete your list, you identify who would do a good job and who would be a good fit and you find somebody who understands the job and somebody who wants the job.”
Apparently, Moore and Hart have found a guy who meets that criteria – Virginia Commonwealth head coach and former Florida assistant Anthony Grant. On Wednesday, Grant visited Alabama, met with UA officials about the job, returned to Virginia late Wednesday night and is apparently now mulling the offer Alabama presented to him.
Newton would like to see Grant say ‘yes.’
“He’s a very solid, good young coach,” Newton said of Grant. “He would be a great hire here. He’s got a great vision for where he wants to take Alabama basketball. Now the ball’s in his court. He has to decide what he wants to do.
“Personally, I hope he takes the job. He would be a great fit and would do a tremendous job. But if he doesn’t take it, there are still other good coaches out there.”
In the meantime, Alabama waits. The question is: What exactly does the waiting mean? As the minutes turn into hours and hours turn into days, should Alabama begin to assume rejection is forthcoming. Not necessarily.
“I’ve experienced it all different kinds of ways,” Newton said of the waiting game. “When we hired Rick Pitino, he took several days to think it over. Tubby (Smith) did the same thing. In the end, you really want someone who understands the job and wants the job and you don’t want someone who’s going to make a quick decision based on impulse. I wouldn’t be surprised if this wait makes it through the weekend. And I wouldn’t be concerned if it did.”
If Grant does decide to make Tuscaloosa home, what exactly will Alabama be getting? Florida coach Billy Donovan learned from Pitino and Grant learned from Donovan, so might there bit a little bit of both in Grant and perhaps a little more of Donovan since that’s who he coached under?
“I see more of Billy Donovan in Anthony than I do Pitino,” Newton said. “Anthony is very stoic and meticulous. He’s an analytical, bright guy. Billy’s that way. Pitino is much more impulsive.”
If Grant spurns the Tide, many Alabama fans are hoping Moore and Hart turn their focus toward Birmingham native and current Missouri head coach Mike Anderson, who worked wonders at UAB a few years ago and is doing the same at Missouri. Thursday night, his Tigers upset last year’s finalist, Memphis, to advance to the Elite Eight.
“I think Mike Anderson is a great basketball coach,” Newton said. “He had a good career with Nolan Richardson at Arkansas. I wasn’t around here when he did what he did at UAB, but it was obviously impressive.
“I just don’t know that Mike is interested in the job. Everyone seems to think he’d jump at the chance to come back to this area, but you don’t know if that’s true. I don’t even know that Missouri would let him leave. He’s building something pretty special over there.”
If, for some reason, Alabama misses out on both Grant and Anderson, where does Alabama look then? Newton offered a few possible targets, guys who have at least caught his eye with the jobs they’ve done at their respective schools – Xavier’s Sean Miller, Clemson’s Oliver Purnell and Miami’s Frank Haith.
“I have no idea if they’d be interested in Alabama, and I have no idea if Alabama would be interested in them,” he said.
However the search unfolds, Newton is confident Moore and Hart will ultimately make the right hire. They’ve already made one right decision in this process, according to Newton – the decision to do whatever it takes to make Alabama relevant on the hardwood again.
“They’ve made a strong commitment to give Alabama a national presence in basketball,” Newton said, “and that thrills me. We did that in the 1970s, but it’s kind of waffled back and forth since then. Right now, though, they see the value of having a really strong national program.”
