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 Friday, May 26
Illinois interested in Tulsa's Self
 
 By Andy Katz
ESPN.com

The Illinois coaching search will get quiet for at least a week as Illinois athletics director Ron Guenther goes on a scheduled week-long trip to Scotland Saturday.

Guenther is traveling with Big Ten commissioner Jim Delaney on a golfing swing that was supposed to include Lon Kruger before Kruger took the Atlanta Hawks job Thursday.

Guenther is expected to make calls from Scotland but won't meet with any candidates until at least June 4 when he returns from Scotland.

Bill Self
Tulsa's Bill Self is Illinois' top choice to replace Lon Kruger.

An athletic director would normally call another AD to ask for permission to speak with a head coach. None of the expected top candidates -- Tulsa's Bill Self, Vanderbilt's Kevin Stallings, Utah's Rick Majerus, Seton Hall's Tommy Amaker, Arizona State's Rob Evans -- has been contacted.

But sources close to Self and Illinois have said that he is the favorite.

The key factor in luring Self away from Tulsa will be if Illinois can afford his hefty price tag. The Tulsa community raised $300,000 to bump Self's salary to the $700,000 range after the Golden Hurricane went to the Elite Eight last March.

But sources close to Guenther said he and the administration know they'll have to pay the market price to get a coach such as Self. Kruger's overall compensation this past season was $750,000. He'll make an estimated $2 million a year as the coach of the Atlanta Hawks.

"Ron will pay what he has to," said current New Mexico State coach Lou Henson, who coached at Illinois for 21 seasons and led the Illini to the 1989 Final Four. "I was paid well for then, but not like they are now."

A source close to Self said he's wrestling with the possibility of going to Illinois, if officially approached. Self committed to Tulsa after the Elite Eight, instead of entertaining a possible offer from Georgia Tech. But Self has never hid from the fact that he would be interested in a job in a high-profile conference such as the Big Ten or Big 12.

He was a candidate for the Minnesota opening last summer and has long coveted the marquee jobs in the Big 12 -- Kansas, Oklahoma or his alma mater Oklahoma State, should any of those schools have openings.

Tulsa would have a hard time convincing anyone that Illinois isn't a better situation. The Illini are a Big Ten title favorite and a potential top 10 team next season, with all five starters returning. Illinois has always been one of the most coveted jobs in the Big Ten, but no one could get to it because Henson was entrenched there until his retirement five years ago. Since then, Henson has returned to the coaching ranks at New Mexico State, his alma mater.

Tulsa is the best job in the WAC and has been a fertile ground for successful coaches (Nolan Richardson, Tubby Smith and Steve Robinson). But it is known to be a stepping stone and Self will inevitably go to a higher profile job.

"It's a very good job and even better one now because of their facilities and the improvements they have made to Assembly Hall," Henson said. "It's an outstanding state for talent."

Recruiting the state of Illinois is imperative to win at Illinois. Getting an assistant who knows the state, and specifically Chicago, is a must.

Sources close to Guenther said he will seek some advice but will go about the search on his own -- the same way he operated when he hired Kruger away from Florida in 1996.

Guenther may feel some pressure to hire a minority coach because there are no black head coaches at the school. But a source at Illinois said the community wouldn't protest a hire such as Self because of his reputation as being an outstanding tactician and demanding defensive coach.

Sources close to Vanderbilt's Stallings said he would be interested in the Illinois job. Stallings, who is on vacation this week, still has strong ties in Illinois and is viewed as a success after leading Illinois State to the NCAA Tournament in 1997 and '98.

Guenther is expected to make a run at some high-profile names, but it's unlikely he'd be able to pry them away from their current situations. Names mentioned include Mike Jarvis (who said he's staying at St. John's), Amaker (who said recently he's staying at Seton Hall) and Oklahoma's Kelvin Sampson, who said the same thing Thursday.

"I'm locked in at Oklahoma," Sampson told ESPN.com. "I like where our program is going."

The timing of the opening isn't bad with spring signing ending and summer recruiting yet to begin. The Minnesota opening last August turned some high-profile coaches off because of the timing (late in the summer) and the NCAA cloud hanging over the program. That's not a factor at Illinois.

Creighton's Dana Altman, Bradley's Jim Molinari and Washington's Bob Bender are possible candidates who could get in the mix. Former Seton Hall, Golden State and Portland coach P.J. Carlesimo is available. But the No. 1 target to start with will be Self.

If Guenther decides to hire from within, former Henson player and present Illini assistant Rob Judson has the inside track.

Andy Katz is a senior writer at ESPN.com.
 



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