Less than 50% chance? Regardless, get the new basketball facility started already!
Bruce Pearl, Auburn
Parrish got to May first, so an acknowledgement right here that he makes a lot of sense and I do believe May will be among the 3-4 coaches at the top of Ohio State's list. In the interest of keeping this list varied and eclectic, I'll offer up Bruce Pearl for discussion. I recently traveled to Auburn and spent some one-on-one time with Pearl; he was willing to go on the record about his potential candidacy on the carousel this year. At 63, I believe that IF Pearl is going to take one more move, it will be this year or next. Likelihood? I'd go under 50% for this year as of March 6, but a lot changes in this month. Ohio State should put Pearl on its list of targets. He is built to build up programs and has coached winners (and made a Final Four) twice in the SEC. His force of personality is matched maybe — maybe — by five other coaches in the game. He's won big at a football-first institution before (Tennessee) and turned Auburn into a near-annual Top 25 program. So long as Ohio State's power brokers are good with having a big-name coach bringing in a lot of attention, Pearl's got the wins (670 of them) and charisma to inject a lot of hope into a top-25 job in the sport. -- Matt Norlander