Prohm Is MSU’s “Primary Target” For Hoops Job

March 21st, 2012 09:36 AM║ Posted By: John Pennington ║ Permalink ║ Schools: Mississippi State
Tags: Billy Kennedy, Mississippi State, MSU, Murray State

According to Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com, Mississippi State’s search to replace Rick Stansbury is focusing in on Murray State head coach Steve Prohm:

“According to sources, at least one person working on behalf of Mississippi State has already reached out to Prohm, whose Racers were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament by Marquette on Saturday. The next step in the process remains unclear. But, multiple sources said, Prohm is Mississippi State’s primary target for now.”

Parrish also states that Prohm would be interested in MSU’s job because of the clear upgrade from Murray State (“prestige) and a big boost in salary (“milions of dollars”). Prohm is also a good ol’ Southern man, raised in Georgia and an Alabama grad. He’s also recruited the Magnolia State well for Murray State.

To make if more clear that State is targeting Prohm, WPSD-TV in Paducah, Kentucky is reporting that Murray State AD didn’t appreciate MSU’s search firm — Parker Executive Search out of Atlanta — placing a call to his coach last week during the Racers NCAA run.

“I think there’s a right way to do things. Considering we were still playing — it is what it is.” He said his coach handled things properly by alerting him to the “would-ya-be-interested” call he received.

Also in that television report it’s pointed out that Prohm said after his team’s ouster from the tournament (and after being contacted by MSU): “Oh, yeah, I’ll be back in Murray. I’ll be back in Murray. I love Murray and I want to be at Murray. We signed a great class and we’ve got great kids coming back. We’ve got a great future here.”

Is that a play for leverage with State? Maybe. But after a meeting between the coach and Murray State AD that lasted “for several hours” yesterday, Ward said: “There’s a great chance he’ll stay. In the end, I think he’ll be back.”

Prohm is 37-years-old and he just concluded his first season as a head coach, replacing Billy Kennedy who left the Racers for Texas A&M prior to this season. Granted, a 31-2 record is pretty doggone impressive, but hiring Prohm would basically be like hiring an assistant coach — which is what he was from 1998 through 2011 at Centenary, Southeastern Louisiana, Tulane, and under Kennedy at Murray State.

When a major school hires an assistant said aide usually comes from a bigger program. Had Prohm not had his one year in the sun this season, would State be chasing him? Or is a one-year run long enough for Parker Executive and AD Scott Stricklin to truly gauge a winner?

Arkansas once hired a long-time assistant with one good year of head coaching experience under his belt named Stan Heath. Heath left that program in a mess roster- and APR-wise when he was dismissed in 2007. Five years later, he took South Florida on an impressive run to the NCAA tourney this year. But that success doesn’t mean much for Arkansas.

Prohm makes sense in that he knows the SEC and he’s recruited Mississippi. But his track record as a head coach is short and there’s no denying that Kennedy was the head coach as Murray State’s program was being built.

If, however, Prohm does wind up being Mississippi State’s man, expect us to write that “There’s a date for the Prohm” when the Bulldogs schedule the announcement. There’s no way we’ll be able to avoid writing that. Sorry in advance.

Meanwhile, Oral Roberts head coach Scott Sutton has also been mentioned in connection with the job in Starkville.

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3 comments

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Statesman

Your reference to Stan Heath is incorrect. Heath took over an Arkansas program that was in shambles. Heath was fired at Arkansas after taking the team to the tournament. Pelphrey took Heath's player to the tournament the next year and flamed out afterwards. Heath was in the process of building something good at Arkansas before he was fired. He started over and had to build at South Florida and just took them to the tournament. Heath has taken 3 teams to the tournament and you criticise, while Andy Kennedy has done nothing and you praise. John please explain?

John at MrSEC moderator

Statesman...

I've talked to a helluva lot of Arkansas people over the years about the Stan Heath situation. Heath inherited a mess thanks to the Nolan Richardson fiasco, but he went 82-70 in four years, never finished above third-place in the SEC West, and left behind an APR mess that handcuffed John Pelphrey... despite two trips to the NCAA Tournament. Heath's program was built on sand and people in Fayetteville knew it.

You might want to look up the academic records and drug testing issues faced by the Arkansas players Heath brought into the Razorback program.

I criticized Heath's stay at Arkansas, but I said nothing about his USF work -- as that has nothing to do with Arkansas' hire of him -- other than to credit him for making "an impressive tournament run" this year. The obvious point -- or at least I thought it was obvious -- Heath is probably a lot better at running a program in his 11th year than he was after just one season at the helm of a team. And that's all he'd done when UA hired him.

As for my "praise" of Kennedy, I'd like to see your definition of praise. I said UM was wise to have kept him because he's had five 20-win seasons in six years -- that's hardly doing "nothing" as you put it -- and he's been on the NCAA bubble many times. He appears close to a breakthrough. Why blow him out to just roll the dice with another up-and-comer who might not even be as successful as Kennedy has been?

And unlike Heath -- who was coaching at a traditional basketball power in a nice arena -- Kennedy is coaching a traditional also-ran with the worst facilities in the SEC.

Thanks for reading,John

nreht

Good luck with that Bulldogs. Murray St is one of those feeder schools for coaches (in football too, remember Houston Nutt and Frank Beamer coached there too) that don't always pan out. I knew someone was going to take the bait on this one with the success the Racers had this year with a senior laden team, who was largely built by Prohm's predecessor. He may be a solid coach, but seems like a guy with demonstrated sustained success would be a better option, then again, who wants to live in Starkville.

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