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How will Arizona Wildcats fans react to one of their legendary players coaching a Pac-12 rival school? It looks like we’ll find out if reports are true indicating that Damon Stoudamire — “Mighty Mouse” — is the front-runner for the Oregon State job because Ben Howland withdrew his name from consideration. Oregon State athletic Bob De Carolis reached out to Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne and Stoudamire over the weekend and into Monday, a source told ESPN’s Jeff Goodman.
Ben Howland withdrew from Oregon State yesterday, now Damon Stoudamire could be the leader to replace Craig Robinson: http://t.co/cyVZJ9f4DT
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) May 13, 2014
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Mike DeCourcy, of The Sporting News, offered an interesting Tweet about the situation, mentioning better jobs may come open next season. DeCourcy and Arizona coach Sean Miller have a good relationship. Perhaps DeCourcy knows it will be difficult for Miller to have to coach and recruit against Stoudamire because of their ties to Arizona? While at Iowa, Steve Alford coached against his alma mater Indiana for eight seasons. When Alford returned to Assembly Hall for the first time to coach against Bob Knight in 2000, he was quoted as saying: “This is a special place. Basketball is special at this institution. It gave me chills seeing Indiana on the chest.”
If Damon Stoudamire takes Oregon State, a huge mistake. Could do waaaay better in a year. OSU: 25 years, two winning seasons.
— Michael DeCourcy (@tsnmike) May 13, 2014
A video Arizona put together when Stoudamire joined Miller’s staff before last season.
The Oregonian has Stoudamire with the best odds to land the Oregon State job, pointing out the former NBA guard does not come with a steep price tag. Stoudamire earned more than $100 million in his pro career. Money is secondary to him. Interesting to note that former NBA coach Eric Musselman, an assistant at ASU, is also in the running.
Canzano: Ben Howland moves out, Damon Stoudamire moves in at Oregon State? http://t.co/9W9cB8wFn1
— Oregonian Sports (@OregonianSports) May 13, 2014
In case you missed it last week, Arizona Daily Star reporter Bruce Pascoe interviewed Miller about the possibility of Stoudamire landing the Oregon State job after Craig Robinson was fired. Miller described Stoudamire as a “home run hire for anybody”.
#arizonawildcats coach Sean Miller assuming Oregon State has 'strong interest' in Damon Stoudamire: http://t.co/IgmeKLAo7n
— Bruce Pascoe (@BrucePascoe) May 7, 2014
ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He also writes articles for Bleacher Report and Lindy’s College Sports.
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