If price is right, Lions could lure big name

So, the Joe Jones era of Columbia basketball is over and the search begins this week for a new head basketball coach. I’ve got to admit, I’m pretty excited.

It’s not that I hated Joe Jones. I liked him enough to defend him time and time again on the airwaves of WKCR, even when it was often against the majority opinion. I just didn’t think he was a great basketball coach, nor did I ever really believe he could take this program to the top of the league. In the end, I don’t think he thought he could either, which is probably one of the reasons why he took the Boston College job.

The associate head coach position at Boston College will also be better suited to Jones’ strengths, recruiting, and defense. He truly is an outstanding defensive coach, and this fits perfectly with his new boss, Steve Donahue, an offensive mastermind who plans to institute a free-flowing, high-scoring offense in Chestnut Hill. On top of shaping the new Boston College defense, Jones will also get the opportunity to recruit at the highest levels of prep basketball again, something he enjoyed as an assistant at Villanova.

But I think that another major factor in this move is money. That’s what these moves are always about, and that’s not a negative reflection on Joe Jones or any other coach. It’s just how the business of Division I basketball works.

My roommate asked me this weekend if I thought the Boston College associate head coach position was a “better” job than being the head coach at Columbia. It seems we just found out. See, the “better” jobs in D-I basketball are very easy to decipher because they are attached to higher salaries, and although we don’t know for sure, I’m somewhere between relatively and quite confident that the associate head coaching position at Boston College is a significant raise from the head coach spot here.

Think about it. Would Jones give up control over his own program, abandon a young team of his own recruits, and move his family for a job of equal or lesser pay? I don’t think so. Jones will likely enjoy a major raise, a better-equipped program, tournament basketball, and national media attention (as part of an exciting up-and-coming team). He took a better job, and I am happy for him.

The thing is, it shouldn’t be a better job. The only thing that is holding back the Columbia men’s basketball coaching position is the salary attached to it, which, as I mentioned earlier, is the only thing that really factors in rating coaching jobs. I know this may seem like a bold claim, but it absolutely holds true, almost without fail.

How else would you explain Oliver Purnell’s recent move from Atlantic Coast Conference power Clemson to Big East bottom-feeder extraordinaire, DePaul? Purnell’s career has followed a very typical path; he started as the coach at Radford before leaving for a bigger stage at Old Dominion. After just three years and a tournament berth, Purnell left ODU for Dayton and eventually took the Clemson job in 2003. In each move, Purnell followed a standard formula: win and get a larger contract at a bigger school in a superior conference.

Then he took the DePaul job, and the head-scratching began. Why leave a team that you just took to the Big Dance for the notorious doormat of the mighty Big East? A monster contract, that’s why. And it was all DePaul needed to offer to make their head coaching position a monster job. (If you’re still not convinced that this is how it works, see Herb Sendek’s 2006 switch from North Carolina State to Arizona State, Trent Johnson’s 2008 move from Stanford to Louisiana State University, or Paul Hewitt’s recent near-switch from Georgia Tech to St. John’s.)

Now, I’m not suggesting that Columbia try to lure Billy Donovan out of Gainesville with an obscene, endowment-jeopardizing offer. I’m just saying now’s the perfect time for this program to make a splash.

Cornell just proved that with the right coach and the right group, an Ivy League team can compete at the highest stages of college basketball. Any potential coach who may have doubted the ceiling in the Ancient Eight just got the chance to watch it being pushed all the way into the Sweet 16.

New York City basketball is also a hot topic again these days. Cornell’s tourney run highlighted the lack of college basketball talent in the metropolitan area this year, and St. John’s and Fordham have both already replaced their coaches this offseason. The post at Columbia has become the next coaching vacancy in NYC, and any prospective coach who considered the other two openings will have to take the Lions into strong consideration.

Perhaps this will include Dennis Wolff, the former Boston University coach who took the Terriers to two National College Athletic Association tournaments and was the American East Coach of the Year three times. The New York City native was fired in March and, at the right price, could be tempted by the challenge at Columbia.

Another available former Boston area coach with New York ties is Al Skinner, the man Steve Donahue recently replaced at Boston College. To be honest, Skinner is way above the Ivy League, but perhaps the Mount Vernon native would be interested in coming home to see out his career. Again, only if the price was right.

Then there’s the Kareem route, which could involve Kareem himself, or, more feasibly, someone like Mark Jackson. The former Knick and Brooklyn native has repeatedly stated his interest in the St. John’s position, but has not been seriously considered due to his lack of head coaching experience. He could get that experience at Columbia, but once again the Lions would have to out-compensate ESPN, which, in case you weren’t aware, pays its broadcasters in solid gold.

If Columbia could land any of these potential coaches, interest in the program would hit an all-time high, and it would be upgrading from Joe Jones. All Columbia needs to do is put together a legitimate offer, something not entirely unprecedented in the league. Three years ago, Harvard brought in former Seton Hall and Michigan head coach Tommy Amaker, and he has already built the Crimson into the favorite to win the Ivy League next season.

Columbia’s basketball program could be gearing up for a similar rise. It just won’t come cheap.