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.

Image: AP

Georgia has hired it’s new men’s basketball coach. Jeff Capel or Jamie Dixon it isn’t…

Georgia has hired Nevada coach Mark Fox as its men’s basketball coach and will introduce him at a news conference tomorrow at 11 a.m. in Athens, according to two people within the UGA athletics department.

Fox has been coach of the Wolf Pack for the past five seasons. He was 123-43 during that span, including 21-13 this past season.

Paul Westerdawg of Georgia Sports Blog thinks it’s a damn good hire.

Specifically, he has more conference titles, more NCAA Tourney wins, more weeks ranked in the Top 25, and more wins against teams you’ve ever heard of than Anthony Grant by a long shot.

I feel a lot better after reading PWD’s post. You?

LINKS:

• What do you think of Dogs getting Fox? – AJC
• UGA basketball makes surprise hire in Mark Fox – AJC
• UGA to Hire Mark Fox as Basketball Coach – Georgia Sports Blog
• Done Deal: UGA To Hire Fox – Bulldogs Blog
• Mark Fox Bio – NevadaWolfpack.com
• Fox heads to Georgia – ESPN
• Welcome to Stegeman Coach Fox – Bernie’s Dawg Blawg
• Georgia Hires Nevada’s Mark Fox as New Basketball Coach – SicEmDawgs.com
• Is Georgia crazy like a Fox, or just crazy? – Mark Bradley/AJC
• Reports: Fox to be named new Georgia coach – Athens Banner-Herald

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

UPDATE 2: The AJC has spoken to Anderson’s agent and he says that Anderson has not been offered the job.

“Georgia hasn’t offered him the job,” Sexton said. “I wish they had. They haven’t said the job is his.”

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UPDATE: @ajcsportseditor has tweeted:

ESPN is wrong: Anderson has not been offered the UGA job, his agent says. Details coming on ajc.com/sports.

If it’s true I hope this isn’t hurting our chances.

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ESPN is now reporting that Georgia has extended an official offer to current Missouri Tiger basketball coach Mike Anderson.

Georgia officials have offered the 49-year-old Anderson a multiyear contract that would pay him more than $2 million per season, according to sources. He would replace Dennis Felton, who was fired Jan. 29 after going 84-91 record in six seasons at Georgia.

Now, the ball is in Anderson’s court.

Anderson, who led the Tigers to a school-record 31 victories and the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament this season, spoke to Georgia athletics director Damon Evans on Monday, according to multiple sources, and is back home pondering his future.

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?”

University of Georgia Athletic Director Damon Evans was in Atlanta meeting with agent Jimmy Sexton, who just happens to be the agent for Missouri Coach Mike Anderson.

Jimmy Sexton, Anderson’s agent, is in Atlanta visiting with Damon Evans, Georgia’s athletic director. Sexton told FOX13 Sports that he had no comment.

Apparently UK is pulling no punches in the pursuit of Calipari and he will be Lexington bound sooner rather than later. That will leave Memphis and Georgia to compete for Anderson’s services.

Good news for Georgia is that Anderson is likely to consider the move to Memphis, a Conference USA program, a lateral move at best.

It appears that this will all be unfolding rapidly this week so stay tuned for a week of drama.

To catch the news as it breaks be sure to follow @gabulldogdotcom on Twitter.

Via Georgia Sports Blog.

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

The 2009 season was entered into the books for the Georgia Bulldogs Men’s basketball team. They fell to the Mississippi State quasi-Bulldogs 79-60 in the opening round of the SEC tournament this afternoon at the Tampa Bay forum.

The defeat closes the book on a season which saw head basketball coach Dennis Felton fired and some of the most lopsided defeats in the history of Georgia hoops.

They had their moments when they got hot though. They scored memorable victories over Kentucky in Rupp Arena and were victorious over the hated Florida Gators in the Stegesaurus in front of the home fans.

Seniors Terrence Woodbury and Corey Butler will be greatly missed.

Now, we wait to find out who the next Georgia basketball coach will be. And experience the drama that is sure to go along with that. Will it be Jeff Capel, or someone younger like his successor at VCU, Anthony Grant? Or someone whose name we haven’t even heard yet…

Image: AP

Even though his team is faltering down the stretch Jeff Capel is still the number one target to replace Dennis Felton in Athens.

Apparently, Damon Evans is not messing around either.

What is surprising is that, according to sources close to the situation, the Bulldogs are prepared to offer Capel in excess of $2 million per season.

Yowza. The only problem is why wouldn’t Oklahoma pony up to match his offer? They’ve enjoyed basketball success in the recent years and clearly it’s a high priority in their athletic department.

Isn’t he already enjoying a situation similar to the one that Georgia is promising? Basketball king at a football school where just making the tourney 3 of every 4 years will secure your job and your future.

WIll Geography be enough to lure him? He played at Duke and is from North Carolina. His brother Jason played at UNC does some color for RAYCOM’s ACC hoops coverage. Georgia would be closer to his roots.

Let’s hope that home cooking is enough of a reason for the Capel family start house shopping in Athens.