LSU Athletic Director Skip Bertman told The Daily Reveille this past weekend the University is now using a search firm to assist in finding the next men’s basketball coach.
LSU is now paying Parker Executive Search between $50,000 and $75,000 to aid in the coaching search after earlier deciding to go forward without a firm.
“We have a lot of research that’s been done by our staff,” Bertman told The Daily Reveille on Feb. 25. “We have the names, and we have all of the information we think we need.”
Bertman’s office said Monday afternoon he will no longer comment on the coaching search.
The decision to use a search firm after previously stating otherwise is not the first time during the search the University has changed plans.
Bertman said Feb. 8, the day former LSU coach John Brady was fired, the University would choose a search firm by Feb. 15.
The Athletic Department decided less than two weeks later not to use a search firm.
One of the most recent names rumored as Brady’s potential replacement is Washington State coach Tony Bennett.
The Associated Press reported Monday that Bennett “talked to Indiana about its vacant head coaching job but decided not to pursue it.”
“I had an exploratory conversation with Indiana, and I am not going to pursue the Indiana job,” Bennett told The Spokane Spokesman-Review.
The AP also reported Bennett has been linked to job openings at Indiana and California.
Bennett said he would not consider the California job because he would not move within the Pac-10 Conference, according to an ESPN.com article by Andy Katz. Katz’s article also said Bennett might be interested in the LSU opening.
Bennett’s wife, Laurel, is from Baton Rouge and attended LSU.
LSU Associate Athletic Director Eddie Nunez said the Athletic Department would not comment on the coaching search, and Washington State’s Athletic Department would not comment Monday on the potential tie between Bennett and LSU.
“I don’t really know anything about that,” said Jessica Shmick, Washington State assistant director of media relations. “That’s something you’d have to talk to LSU about.”
—-Contact Jerit Roser at [email protected]