Colleges

USF search includes Winthrop coach

Gregg Marshall reportedly meets with AD about Bulls' opening.

By GREG AUMAN
Published March 22, 2007

TAMPA - Gregg Marshall, who has taken Winthrop from basketball obscurity to seven NCAA Tournaments in his nine years, has stepped to the forefront of USF's search for its next coach.

Officials at the Rock Hill, S.C., university confirmed Wednesday that USF had requested and been granted permission to speak with Marshall, and things have progressed quickly.

New Mexico, which had targeted Marshall, has opted to go with Iowa's Steve Alford, according to ESPN.com, which also reported USF athletic director Doug Woolard met with Marshall on Tuesday night at his home.

Marshall, 44, is 194-83 at Winthrop, including the program's first NCAA Tournament win last week against Notre Dame. He met with the school's athletic director, Tom Hickman, and president, Anthony J. DiGiorgio, on Wednesday to discuss a 10-year deal, worth close to $400,000 a year, to replace the one he signed two years ago. His current contract requires him to pay $100,000 if he leaves the Eagles.

His success with the midmajor program puts him at the top of USF's known coaching candidates, along with South Alabama's John Pelphrey.

USF seeks a replacement for Robert McCullum, who was fired March 9 after four seasons, most recently 4-28 in two years of Big East play. Marshall was in Rock Hill late Wednesday night but did not return calls to his office and home, and Woolard is not commenting on candidates during the search process.

Winthrop's enrollment is about one-sixth of USF's, and the Eagles do not have a football program. So the Bulls might have a budget big enough to outbid Winthrop for Marshall's services. His current contract pays him about $270,000, comparable to what McCullum was due to make.

The challenge will be convincing him to leave his native South Carolina, where he spent eight seasons as an assistant at College of Charleston before taking the Winthrop job.

During the summer, Marshall accepted the coaching job at Charleston and was introduced at a news conference, only to return to Winthrop the next day, having never signed a contract and remaining with the Eagles.

The Bulls' vacancy continues to draw interest from former and current coaches. The most notable to join the list Wednesday: former Charlotte and Texas A&M coach Melvin Watkins, now associate head coach at Missouri; Tom Green, who has won 378 games in 24 years as coach at Fairleigh Dickinson; and former Iowa State coach Wayne Morgan, who was fired last year after a 55-39 record in three seasons. Scott Rigot, an assistant at Kentucky the past five seasons, also has applied.

[Last modified March 22, 2007, 00:23:32]