Well Tennessee hired someone. It signed Cuonzo Martin away from Missouri State. Martin didn't get Mo. State to an NCAA Tournament in three years, but he did get the Bears a lot better in the win-loss column, so he has a new job. You can be Missouri State will be bad next season because that's usually what happens when a coach leaves, and then in four years there will be another hot coach who took the team from 11-17 to 22-9. It's a fun cycle.

Martin had reportedly been of interest to the Missouri Tigers, but they are more interested in Purdue coach Matt Painter. As of this moment, some reports are saying Painter is indeed leaving the Boilermakers for Missouri, but they are not the sort of web sites that, you know, do actual reporting. So we'll hold off on that. But the annual game of coaching musical chairs moves quickly, which is where I think Fresno State is at a bit of a disadvantage. Thomas Boeh, the Fresno State athletic director, isn't necessarily a fast mover. It's just an observation, maybe a generalization, but a fair one I think. He takes pride in deliberation and thoroughness in his decisions. But in this game there has to be a balance of evaluation, and also of firing the gun before all the good targets are gone.

Bradley University signed Geno Ford away from Kent State so fast that Ford's former boss and players read about it on a web site before they'd been told. Ford didn't even contact his former AD for any possibility of a counter-offer, and one of those two men was under the impression that Ford would come back and chat before he signed anywhere else. So Kent State immediately made Rob Senderoff the interim coach, and there is a good possibility he might get the job. This is Senderoff's second go-round at Kent.

The trend seems to be in college basketball and football that you target a guy you want and you go full-blast after him. Then if that doesn't work, if you get out-bid or shot down, then you go after the next guy. Fresno State has the same problems in recruiting a coach as it does recruiting players. It doesn't have "private jet" money. It can't fly an army of employees all over the nation to meet with candidates. It can't just fly in anyone from anywhere on a moment's notice. Yes, theoretically, at some point, candidates will be flown in for interviews, but it will be to the Yosemite International Airport on coach. Fresno State can't woo anyone away from a similar-sized school with bigger money. It's just a different mentality. In every way, this isn't the BCS.

We do know for sure that they've spoken with Wayne Tinkle, the Montana coach, a couple times, but it hasn't gotten serious yet. We can safely assume they've spoken with other potential candidates. And in the meantime, Georgia Tech has stolen Brian Gregory from Dayton. Not that they wanted Gregory. Or could have gotten Gregory. The point is only that things are happening and Fresno State is still searching, evaluating, gauging interest. Boeh and his staff talk often about equality, of treating all sports at their school the same, and they seem to be doing the men's basketball search the same way they did the lacrosse search. That is a good general philosophy.

Who knows, maybe they have someone targeted whose team is still playing. There are still a few games to be played in the NCAA and NIT and CIT and whatever else is going on out there. And a lot of informal interviews happen at the Final Four. We will soon see if Fresno State had someone targeted, or whether it found a good coach through its own process, or if it stalled around and had to choose from the leftovers. Of course that is all up for interpretation, which we will be happy to do here in the second-guessing portion of the process.