Scott Drew will not become the next head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky. He turned down the Wildcats’ job to remain at Baylor less than 24 hours after John Calipari was formally introduced at Arkansas.
Meanwhile, the university’s most prominently used private jet landed in New York state.
What does that mean? We don’t know. Maybe nothing. Maybe everything.
Either way, the Bears were very quick to troll the folks in Lexington shortly after it was announced that Drew was not leaving. They caught the metaphorical big fish!
So this leaves the question of who is next on the list. Who does Kentucky want now that it missed on Drew, Jay Wright and Nate Oats?
Well, a few of the names that have been tossed around include:
- Billy Donovan
- Dan Hurley
- Mark Pope
- Bruce Pearl
- Rick Barnes
- Kelvin Sampson
- Rick Pitino
- T.J. Otzelberger
- Tommy Lloyd
There are pros and cons to each of those hires. Some of them make sense. Some of them don’t.
They are all hypothetical. Athletic director Mitch Barnhart may go in a completely different direction.
However, if Thursday flight is any indication, one of the coaches in the Northeast is next on the list. Prominent booster Joe Craft allows the university to use his plane. It was over in Texas on Wednesday – presumably to meet with Drew – and flew back to Lexington on Wednesday night.
And then it took off from Lexington on Thursday morning to land at LaGuardia in New York City.
Is Kentucky making a run at Dan Hurley?
While we don’t know who was on the plane, or if the flight was at all related to the coaching search, one would have to think that it is. It feels like Kentucky is flying up to meet with Hurley, even though the head coach at UConn shot down the rumors shortly after winning the national championship.
But here’s the thing.
Not only did Hurley express his desire to build a dynasty in Storrs, for him to meet with the Wildcats in New York would make far less sense than Hartford. With that being said, coaching search meetings are often held in nearby, neutral cities— so perhaps NYC is that place.
And then there’s Pitino, who coached the Wildcats from 1989 to 1997. The 71-year-old just finished his first season at St. John’s and does not have many year left before retirement. So if Kentucky was to go that route, it would need to prepare for an additional coaching search within the next decade. Hiring Pitino doesn’t make a lot of sense.
What we know for certain is that Oats, Drew and Wright said no, and a plane flew from Lexington to New York City on Thursday. Flight tracking season is electric!