Carlisle a candidate -- is Izzo?
BULLS | As Paxson weighs list, report says MSU coach one possibility
Bulls general manager John Paxson confirmed Wednesday that he has spoken to Rick Carlisle about the team's head coaching vacancy. Other than that, Paxson said he will keep quiet about his search.
Agents for coaching candidates -- legitimate and otherwise -- take no such vows of silence, which is why you will hear just about every name but Scott Skiles and Jim Boylan linked to the Bulls' opening between now and when Paxson names his new coach.
The day he fired Boylan, Paxson said he was interested in talking to many coaches about their philosophies on the Bulls job and had no timetable to fill the vacancy. Sources say that's what Paxson has been busy doing and that no favorite has emerged.
Paxson also might be waiting to learn the fate of some current NBA head coaches. Phoenix's Mike D'Antoni, Dallas' Avery Johnson and Detroit's Flip Saunders are rumored to be on the hot seat if their teams make an early exit from the the playoffs. Top assistants such as Boston's Tom Thibodeau and Detroit's Michael Curry, who could replace Saunders, also are on Paxson's list.
The real news Wednesday would have been if Paxson didn't talk to Carlisle, currently an ESPN analyst, to see if he had interest in the job. Carlisle led the Pistons to consecutive 50-32 seasons, earning the league's Coach of the Year award in 2001-02, and took the Indiana Pacers to a 61-21 record and the Eastern Conference finals in 2003-04.
The same Yahoo! Sports report that made headlines with the news Paxson and Carlisle met also indicated the Bulls consider Michigan State coach Tom Izzo a prospect. The report cited ''multiple league sources'' for the Izzo information.
Izzo told the Lansing State Journal on Wednesday the Bulls have had no contact with him.
''I can definitely tell you I've never been contacted by anybody,'' Izzo told the paper. ''The answer is no. I, 100 percent, have not been contacted by anybody there.''
Izzo intially told Yahoo! Sports that ''I'm not counting out any [job] because you can't, college or pro.'' But he backed off a bit when asked by the State Journal if he would listen to a pitch by the Bulls.
''I don't know if I would or not,'' Izzo said. ''I really don't. I've got a [recruiting] class here, we've got a chance to do some things.''
Izzo has flirted with coaching in the NBA before. He turned down a five-year, $15 million offer from the Atlanta Hawks in 2000.
Chances are Izzo is interested in causing enough nervousness among Michigan State officials that they come up with more money to keep him. According to a USA Today survey, Izzo had the fourth-highest salary among college coaches at $1,735,964 per year. That was before Indiana's Tom Crean and Kansas' Bill Self recently passed him. Crean and Izzo share the same agent, Lonnie Cooper.
Izzo's Michigan State contract also reportedly includes a buyout if he leaves to coach a pro team -- $2 million if he leaves before April 30, $1 million if he leaves between next month and April 30, 2010 -- but none if he leaves for another college team.
Given the history of college coaches failing when taking over NBA teams -- including Tim Floyd's tenure with the Bulls under then-GM Jerry Krause -- Paxson would seem to be gambling if he went the college route for the Bulls' next coach.
