UH's AD Can Either Roll the Dice or Play It Safe
by Richard Justice, Houston Chronicle
Bob Marlin isn't the sexy hire. He's not the hire who will create a buzz around the country about University of Houston basketball, at least not at the start.
Still, he's where this search for a replacement for Tom Penders should begin, and perhaps end. There's one prominent name likely to get an interview. We'll get to Billy Clyde Gillispie later.
Marlin has been at Sam Houston State for 12 seasons and has proved himself in every way a coach at that level can. Are there things we don't know about him? Absolutely.
Winning at Sam Houston State isn't the same as winning at the University of Houston. But certain things work at any level. Integrity. Discipline. Fundamentals. Academics.
He believes in all the things UH athletics director Mack Rhoades believes in. Marlin would walk in the room on day one and talk about the importance of doing things the right way. He's a Bob Knight guy in that way.
He believes in fundamentals and discipline. You see it in his Sam Houston State teams, in their poise and toughness. He'd win, too. He'd recruit smartly and coach them up. That's the thing he has shown over and over at Sam Houston.
He's not the only competent coach Rhoades could hire. Rhoades might be able to hire younger coaches, or more media-savvy coaches.
But he might not be able to hire one who embodies more of the principles Rhoades talks about and wants UH to reflect.
Quick story about Marlin. Two days before his team was to play Baylor last week, he took his players into a gym and came up with a triangle-and-two defensive strategy that had the Bears off-balance almost from start to finish.
Fundamentals key
The Bearkats played with poise and confidence in that loss, and those are traits of a well-coached team. He hasn't always had the best facilities or the biggest recruiting budget, so he'd come to UH in the right frame of mind.
He'd understand there's work to be done, that he must see UH basketball for what it can be instead of what it has been.
Again, he's not a sexy hire. He's a basketball coach, a really good one. He's a recruiter, a first-rate one. He's also a guy who understands the role of sports in the context of a university.
NBA personnel people have admired him for years, for teaching the game and getting the most from his players. They respect him in ways they don't always respect college coaches.
Rhoades loves coaches, game plans, X's and O's. He respects the technicians and strategists. He's sure to sit down with Marlin the next few days, and they just might hit it off.
Marlin might be a slam-dunk hire if it wasn't for this one other guy. This other guy is the one probably keeping Rhoades awake at night.
He's the guy who could make Rhoades look like a genius. He's also the one who could get him fired.
Marlin would be a safe, smart hire, but is safe and smart right for the University of Houston?
Yes, friends, Billy Clyde is tanned, rested and ready. When we last saw him around here, he was negotiating to stay at Texas A&M while simultaneously putting out feelers to Arkansas, Kentucky and who knows where else.
Gillispie intriguing
No available coach has anything approaching his résumé. He won at UTEP and Texas A&M, and if he's the next UH coach, he'll probably win there, too.
Rhoades and Gillispie worked together at UTEP, and Rhoades knows there's a good Billy and a bad Billy.
He knows Billy is as good as anyone at recruiting and selling kids on his vision. He's great at game plans and getting the best out of his players.
If Mack Rhoades knew Billy Clyde would behave himself, he might take a chance on him.
But if Rhoades hires Gillispie, he'll show up every day wondering if this is the day Billy Clyde bolts for a better job. Or if this is the day Billy Clyde stays a little too long at happy hour and attempts to drive home.
Billy Clyde is a risk, and maybe Rhoades believes he's a risk worth taking. Marlin isn't a risk in any of those ways. He would build a program methodically and relentlessly, from the ground up.
This is the first big hire Rhoades will make since arriving at UH, and it will reveal something of his values in program building. And people.
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