Not that it really matters, but didn't UConn recently prove the foolishness of hiring someone that had never been a head coach for a major D1 job ? URI can't possibly be silly enough to do the same thing, can they ?
Yes, but also the AD has been put in a pretty bad spot.
You can bring in a coach with a history of success (Becker, Dooley), but no matter what happens we know the recruiting class and potentially current guys on the roster are leaving if Cox isn't hired.
That's going to make the job more difficult for the incoming coach and make for a long rebuild.
While losing Hurley hurts URI pretty bad, there is the possibility that Cox can keep the momentum akin to how Ollie kept the ship afloat for UConn during the ban year and winning a National Championship the year thereafter. I bet a lot of guys like Napier and Boatright stayed at UConn because Ollie (who helped recruit those players and was already on the bench) was hired as opposed to an outsider.
The Kevin Ollie saga actually says if anything URI should hire Cox, win a natty, then just fire him right after the parade (kidding on the last part).
The AD has a chance to keep building off of what Hurley created promoting Cox or by hiring a new coach means he wants a full teardown and/or means doesn't believe Cox has any long term sustainability for the program and would only be a 1-2 year flurry of whatever he could produce with what is a relatively talented lineup for the A-10.