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This year, the MAC has seen five football changes and three men's basketball changes. So far the women's basketball duodectet of coaches has remained intact, but there is one position that could be wriggled free.
After the Tricia Cullop-to-Wisconsin rumors were squished once Toledo extended her extension, now it looks like the dynastic Curt Miller, of Bowling Green championship lore, is being courted yet again by West Coast suitors, and one familiar face.
We've been down this road. After the Sweet 16 appearance in 2007, I thought Miller was all but gone to Michigan State when the job became vacant. The position was ultimately given to Eastern Michigan's Suzy Merchant, and it worked out perfectly for everyone involved — even EMU. Miller went back to BG and won a couple more MAC championships to pad the ol' resume. And the hope was that, since attendance was pretty rockin' and this new arena is being built, the resume would be symbolic rather than one that'd be faxed to larger schools in the hopes of trading up.
But here we are. New Mexico and UCLA are beckoning.
The UNM coaching rumor began last week, and it made sense on paper: the Lobos need a coach and athletic director Paul Krebs hired Miller initially when he was the AD at Bowling Green.
Okay, sure. The rumor holds water and now seems to be gathering steam, which are two different states of the same compound. But then there's THIS lightning bolt:
UNM / UCLA -- DMs coming in are telling me that curt miller is being seriously considered for both jobs. Stay tuned.
Well, UCLA would be quite a jump indeed. The Bruins are in need of a coach after Nikki Caldwell was hired by LSU. This was a reward after a 28-5 season and a 3-seed in the NCAA tournament (their best ever), losing to Gonzaga in the second round. The Pac-12 will be a gauntlet in women's basketball, way moreso than the Mountain West, which this year was about parallel with the MAC.
The New Mexico move seems more realistic and yet wouldn't really be a better situation for Miller. Meanwhile, going to UCLA seems wholly unlikely but I think every Falcons fan can say that he absolutely deserves it. (Eleven other schools in the MAC are nodding their heads in unison.)
Until the next time, this has been As the MAC Coaching Wheel Turns.*
* - Not a real soap opera.