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At least two potential candidates for the vacancy at Indiana has been ruled out, according to a report.
Indiana is on the search for a new head men’s basketball coach after athletic director Scott Dolson announced that the school was parting ways with Archie Miller after four seasons with the program. The Hoosiers finished this season with a 12-15 record and failed to reach the NCAA Tournament at any point in those four years.
Per reports, there are two names that can be ruled out for the potential job. CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander reports that Alabama head coach Nate Oats doesn’t have any interest in the vacancy and Stadium’s Jeff Goodman says Nevada’s Steve Alford will not be in consideration, either.
Both names were mentioned as potential replacements for Miller.
Indiana will not consider former Hoosiers star Steve Alford as a serious candidate, sources told @stadium.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 15, 2021
One name to remove from Indiana’s search already: Nate Oats.
Sources say Oats has no desire to leave Alabama for Indiana for multiple reasons, one of the obvious ones being his recently signed contract extension that includes one of the biggest buyouts in CBB at present.
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) March 15, 2021
Oats has led Alabama to a 24-6 record, a first-place finish in the SEC and an SEC Tournament title. The Crimson Tide will play in the NCAA Tournament.
Alford was a former star basketball player at Indiana and has experience coaching at Iowa, New Mexico, UCLA and is currently at Nevada. The Wolf Pack finished ended the year 16-10.
Other names that have popped up as potential candidates include former Michigan head coach John Beilein, Loyola Chicago’s Porter Moser, Michigan State assistant coach Dane Fife and Arkansas head coach Eric Musselman.
There’s also chatter that Boston Celtics head coach and former Butler leader Brad Stevens is a potential candidate, though that seems like a longshot at this point.
No candidates were mentioned by athletic director Scott Dolson during his Monday presser and he says he does not plan on using a search firm.
Dustin grew up in the heart of Big Ten country and has been in sports media since 2010. He has been covering Big Ten football since 2014. You can follow him on Twitter: @SchutteCFB