Seven hours after the dismissal of Seth Greenberg as the head men's basketball coach at Virginia Tech, I've already been asked by a couple of people whether or not Ron Everhart will be a candidate for the job at Virginia Tech. I thought it would be best answered in a blog entry.
Reasons Why Ron Makes Sense
Everhart played for Virginia Tech from 1981 - 1985. As an alum, many thought it was a place that Everhart could end up should he ever earn a promotion to a better conference. It was likely an attractive job for him when he was the head coach of the Dukes and I would imagine, it's even more attractive now. Given the timing of the decision, it's not very likely that the VT job will attract much interest. With all the assistant coaches already moving on, there is no natural fit for an interim head coach. Everhart still has a rather strong reputation nationally and he certainly won the PR battle following his dismissal at Duquesne with the media painting him as the victim. He has the recruiting chops and work ethic to bring serious talent to the ACC. While Ron didn't always recruit Boy Scouts to Duquesne and many left early, a high percentage of those who stayed got their diploma.
Reasons Why Ron Does Not Make Sense
Everhart was fired under very similar circumstances at Duquesne as Greenberg was at Tech. Both brought their program to respectability, but neither coach could really break through. Relative to their conference, I feel like both reached a similar plateau. Rumor suggested both coaches had rocky relationships with their AD. Neither was able to retain a coaching staff and of course, Ron was notorious for losing players at a higher rate than the rest of the country. Everhart was out coached regularly in the A-10 and he would surely struggle against even better coaching in the ACC. It would take him a number of years to recruit enough talent to overcome his in game coaching deficiencies to reach the upper half of the ACC. He couldn't get the job done at Duquesne in 6 years and I doubt the athletic department at VT would wait on him that long.
Conclusion
I think the goodwill of hiring an alum would be outweighed by the hiring of a guy with the same problems Greenberg had. It would also be huge risk to bet that Everhart could help a program reach their full potential when he has not been able to do so in any of his coaching stops. He is a re-builder not a sustainer. I suspect Everhart will find his way back to the head coaching ranks sooner rather than later, but I doubt it will happen in a conference more prestigious than the Atlantic 10. Everhart does not appear qualified for the job in Blacksburg. Of course, I'm not sure what qualified Greensberg for the job either. Still, I don't think Everhart is a guy who Virginia Tech in good faith could hire unless Plan A, B, C and probably D don't work out first. Crazy things could happen, but I don't think he will be a serious candidate for the job even if his name is thrown around early and often.
