Image: Sanderlin/AJC

UPDATE 2: Now we know how much Mark Fox will be making at Georgia.

Fox agreed to six-year deal for $1.3 million a year.

UPDATE: Can’t listen to the press conference? Get updates on twitter from @bulldogsblog.

Vance Leavy of Bulldawg Illustrated chimes in on the hire and he is a glass half full kind of guy on this one.

Like you, I know very little about Fox, but I am a big proponent of knowing a lot about a person by their looks. And I have to say, I like the way this Fox looks. He comes to Athens with a bit of a temper, which I absolutely love. And he definitely appears to have the smarts and savvy to walk the walk in the homes of Georgia high school hoop stars.

Georgia Bulldog super writer David Hale had to Google the name just like the rest of us. In the end though, after all of the reading and research, he gave the hire a thumbs up.

I’ve read his credentials just as you have. He has won a lot of basketball games. He has worked under some good coaches in his career as an assistant. He’s certainly earned a shot to prove he can win at the next level. For all of those reasons, this is a good hire.

Bernie from Bernie’s Dawg Blawg thinks that, yeah, Fox could be as great as Donovan or Pearl one day but Damon and UGA did a piss poor job of managing expectations.

And for that I believe Evans must take some blame; his words set the fanbase up for a BIG hire. He set his sights high and the media and the fans took off running. From the sublime (Capel) to the ridiculous (Knight). While the mutha and the AllJackCrap pimped their supremely vetted candidates, fans ran rampant with names from Anthony Grant to Tom Izzo.

Bernie also touches on the one glaring weakness that Fox has while contrasting him with Alabama’s new coach, Anthony Grant.

I am of the opinion that Grant would have made the better presser, but fall short of feeling he’s all that with a side of chips. The one advantage Grant has over Fox at this point is that he is more familiar with the recruiting roads in GA.

After the humbling rejection by Missouri’s Mike Anderson Mr. Evans and Mr. Adams have apparently come back down to earth. Now, they appear to be seriously considering second tier candidates Oliver Purnell of Clemson and Frank Haith of Miami.

Georgia athletics director Damon Evans will meet with Clemson coach Oliver Purnell and Miami coach Frank Haith in Detroit today to discuss the Bulldogs’ basketball job, sources confirmed for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Hardly the splash our dynamic duo was hoping to make. However if you’re feeling sick about the new names being mentioned, read this post from Dawgs Online. It gives you hope that Damon and Mike can still come through with the guy we all want.

Whatever you do, keep it together man! Don’t go off the deep end like our buddy Vance at Bulldawg Illustrated. He was so distraught over being rejected by Anderson he thought he’d beat that Bobby Knight carcass to relieve his frustrations.

Chip Towers suggests there are more names being tossed about. He mentions Baylor’s Scott Drew, Xavier’s Sean Miller and Butler’s Brad Stevens.

Ok, starting to feel a little better now. You?

Mike Anderson has agreed to stay at Missouri.

Missouri has signed head coach Mike Anderson to a new seven-year contract, athletic director Mike Alden told ESPN.com Tuesday night.

“We are excited Coach Anderson is going to be at the University of Missouri for a long time,” Alden said in a statement. “He’s done a tremendous job rebuilding our basketball tradition and is poised to lead our program to new heights in the coming years.”

What next? Sicemdawgs has some thoughts.

With the money Georgia is offering, hopefully they will attract attention from Oklahoma’s Jeff Capel, unless a private denial has already been issued. Other top coaches to consider should be Xavier’s Sean Miller, Villanova’s Jay Wright and Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon. Some “realistic” candidates include UNLV’s Lon Kruger, Baylor’s Scott Drew and Butler’s Brad Stevens.

Let’s hope Evans and company surprise everyone and haul in a name from the first part of that list.

LINKS:

• Mike Anderson to stay at Missouri – AJC
• GEORGIA BACK TO CAPEL – FOX Sports
• Where Do We Go From Here? – Bulldogs Blog

Chip Towers most recent piece on Georgia’s search for a head basketball coach isn’t exactly positive. Essentially when UK got the hatchet out for Billy G. it dropped a big blue turd in Georgia’s punch bowl.

Kentucky’s late entry into the competition for candidates —- it fired Billy Gillispie on Friday —- appears to have cast a Big Blue shadow on the proceedings. Numerous reports Monday had the Wildcats zeroing in on Memphis coach John Calipari. If that happens, that creates another formidable competitor for Georgia in the marketplace. The Tigers reportedly were paying Calipari about $3 million per season.

Despite their recent slide Kentucky is now demonstrating their commitment to climb back up onto college basketball’s top shelf. That means they’re going after a proven winner at big time program, like Calipari, which creates formidable competition for the Dogs in their quest to land their coveted coaching prospect.

It seems what’s being said by the article is “get ready for a coach who isn’t Mike Anderson or Jeff Capel.”

David Hale has a nice update on his blog that suggests that scenario may be more likely than most Georgia folks want to believe.

The other rumors… well, until they can be classified as something more than that, I’m not going to print them. I will say, however, that there is at least one name out there that I’m fairly certain has gotten attention from UGA that isn’t Jeff Capel or Mike Anderson.

The question moving forward is… “Who is the mystery man?”

UPDATE 2: Hale has a full blown update with a lot of excellent commentary.

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UPDATE: David Hale offers some great insight.

Add that to the potential vacancy at Kentucky (and the rumors there get louder every day), and there could be an all-out bidding war for someone like Grant. Will Grant be the likely candidate at UK? Probably not, but should the Cats can Gillespie and go with someone like Billy Donovan, Tom Izzo or Travis Ford, Grant could easily be a top candidate to fill the vacancy they leave behind.

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Bernie’s Dawg Blawg is reporting (via Total UGA) that UGA has extended multiple offers to current Virginial Commonwealth head coach Anthony Grant.

Like it or not, agree or disagree it appears that Anthony Grant is the man that the powers that be have selected.

Anthony Grant is the man Damon Evans wants and President Adams has made at least two formal offers.

It’s certainly not a done deal yet though as there may be other schools that want to be in the Anthony Grant business.

However, a decision could still be days if not weeks away as the players in the drama wait to see what move Kentucky makes.

And what about Alabama? I gotta say I thought we’d be hearing something like this about Capel when and if the Sooners were eliminated from the NCAA tounament. Capel, Dixon, Miller not interested? This seems like a notch below what Damon Evans mentioned as type of proven winner UGA wouldn’t be denied this time around.

All that being said, Anthony Grant is an impressive guy who is likely to continue his success in Athens if he lands the top job. VCU nearly pulled off the upset against UCLA and looked well coached doing it.

Now the drama really starts to unfold.

LINKS:

• Coaching Rumors Heating Up – Bulldogs Blog (Hale)
• Evans and Adams focus on Anthony Grant as Felton’s successor – Bernie’s Dawg Blawg
• As the search turns: Anthony Grant and the Bulldogs – Mobile Press-Register
• UGA and Anthony Grant getting closer? – Georgia Sports Blog

Also, check out the case for Anthony Grant from Mark Bradley of the AJC.

Image: AP

Well, well, well… the pendulum swings once again. The bottom feeding Georgia Bulldogs once again defied logic and upset the Kentucky Wildcats 90-85 in Rupp Arena tonight.

Senior Terrence Woodbury led the Dogs in the upset effort.

Woodbury’s game-high 30 points came by way of 7 of 13 from the floor, including 4 of 4 from the 3-point line, and a perfect 12 of 12 from the free throw line.

That’s the kind of night you dream about as a young baller. Going into one of the sacred temples of college hoops and nailing every three put up and being perfect from the line. Oh, and better than 50% from the floor.

No matter what the basketball future of Terrence Woodbury is he’ll always have this performance to remember his senior season by.

Coach Gillespie’s seat could now be mistaken for the surface of the sun.

Kentucky (19-11, 8-7) likely must win the SEC tournament, as Georgia did a year ago, to avoid missing the NCAAs for the first time since 1991.

So, which team shows up against South Carolina on Saturday? There will be no predictions here that’s for sure.

Image:Yahoo Sports

Well, I admit I got suckered into thinking that Georgia would build off of the magical victory against the Gators and grind out a close one against Auburn, the team that had previously been viewed as the best chance at a conference victory for the woeful Hoop Dawgs.

Didn’t happen. In a pivot nearly as stunning as the one in the victory over the Gators, Georgia snapped back to it’s previous form and nearly had to cry uncle before the halftime buzzer even sounded.

45-19. That’s how badly Auburn was beating the team that had just defeated the team that is arguably the class of the conference this season.

Georgia did make a late run by getting the margin below ten points with a three pointer by Dustin Ware. Gotta think that Auburn was well into the “can this just please end so we can go home” mode by that time though, and probably didn’t even notice the game had gotten close.

Well, at least the Diamond Dogs are coming to the rescue on Friday and this year’s dismal hoops campaign can soon be forgotten.

On the bright side, the NCAA Tournament selection committee may actually disqualify Florida for losing to Georgia.

One thing is for certain… no matter who the coach of the Bulldogs is next year, there is nowhere to go but up.

Georgia took a surprising 54-47 halftime lead against the Florida Gators a little while ago at the Stegosaurus. It’d be great for the Dawgs to break the ‘09 winless streak against the hated Gators.

Plenty of links to cure your case of the Mondays. Enjoy the weather this weekend?

David Hale has a talk with Reshad Jones
about his decision to stay at Georgia and his emerging leadership role in the ‘Dawg defensive backfield.

Rodney Garner breaks down the 2009 Georgia Bulldog recruiting class.

Georgia is reaching out to all parts of the country to sign top football talent. Signed the number one ranked players from Tennessee, Indiana and Massachusetts.

Bobby Knight is tired of Georgia not kissing his ass so now he has extended an offer to Alabama to allow them to kiss his ass.

Chip Towers calls out the programs that are signing way more recruits than the 25 scholarship limit allows.

Georgia Sports Blog makes us aware that there are more attractive basketball programs than Georgia that could also lose their coaches.

Meet Kiante Tripp, the drifter who has hopefully made his last stop at DE.

Remember Michael Lemon? He has been invited to walk-on at South Carolina by Steve Spurrier.

Speaking of South Carolina… DE Eric Norwood calls Georgia his biggest rival.

Will the Marlon Brown/A.J. Greene receiving duo be the best in UGA history? Buck Belue thinks so…

I am Jack’s total lack of surprise:

Muldrow had a career high 18 points and the Gamecocks moved into second place in the SEC Eastern Division with a 79-68 victory over Georgia on Saturday.

Powered by another 2009 Georgia Bulldog signature start:

Georgia got the game’s first bucket, then the Gamecocks went on a 21-3 run. South Carolina led 41-25 at halftime and by as many as 23 in the second half.

I guess the question around Georgia’s season now is the topic of the AJC poll contained in their write-up of the game: Will Georgia go winless in the SEC this season?

Also, Travis Leslie & Jeremy Price missed the game for… goofing off in practice.