Sunday Gravy: Sorting through possible Tom Moore replacements at Quinnipiac
>>The New York Post reported on Thursday that disgraced former Rutgers coach Mike Rice is “a leading candidate” to replace Moore at Quinnipiac. Rice, you may recall, was fired in 2013 when video surfaced of him physically and verbally abusing players at practice.
No one we spoke to could confirm whether there’s real interest of if the rumor was floated by Rice’s agent. But it’s hard to believe Quinnipiac would seriously consider this route, especially after it went through a similar scandal just two years ago with women’s hockey coach Rick Seeley, fired in the wake of allegations of verbal and physical abuse. Seeley, who’d just signed a contract extension, filed a wrongful termination suit against Quinnipiac.
There’s no understating the importance of this decision for Amodio, hired in 2015 specifically to upgrade the men’s basketball program. Rice as a candidate here seems preposterous. The very existence of that video, easily pulled up off YouTube by any rival assistant coach, is recruiting poison against any school that hires Rice.
Quinnipiac can’t afford the risk. And there are far more attractive candidates with no extra baggage sitting in the school’s backyard.
• Iona assistant Jared Grasso, an 2002 Quinnipiac graduate, and Hamden’s Scott Burrell, a former Quinnipiac assistant now the head man at Southern Connecticut State, are two potential replacements for Moore.
And if Matt Kingsley, Yale’s associate head coach, isn’t on Quinnipiac’s radar, he should be. The Hamden native and former Notre Dame-West Haven standout is considered one of the nation’s best mid-major recruiters.
• Two names believed to be on Quinnipiac’s short list are longtime Albany coach Will Brown and Vermont coach John Becker. Both have enjoyed success in America East. Quinnipiac, sources say, is ponying up an annual salary that will make the job even more attractive.<<
