Kansas University assistants Neil Dougherty and Joe Holladay have been mentioned as candidates to fill the University of Tulsa men’s basketball head coaching vacancy.
Holladay, a member of Roy Williams’ KU staff the past seven seasons, and Dougherty, on board the past five campaigns, are believed to be on UT athletics director Judy MacLeod’s 35-person wish list.
Tulsa began looking for its fifth coach in 10 years on Friday when Hurricane coach Bill Self accepted the head coaching post at the University of Illinois.
Both Dougherty, 39, and Holladay, 52, have strong Oklahoma ties.
Holladay, a former University of Oklahoma standout player who has worked at five Oklahoma high schools, is a member of the Oklahoma Coaches Hall of Fame.
Dougherty played two years at Cameron University in Lawton, Okla., and has worked as an assistant at Cameron, Drake, Vanderbilt, South Carolina and KU.
“I’d be interested in talking to them,” Dougherty said Friday.
Holladay was unavailable for comment.
Tulsa’s last three coaches were up-and-coming assistants current Kentucky coach Tubby Smith, former KU assistant Steve Robinson (now at Florida State) and Self, who was a slam-dunk hire after Robinson left, out of Oral Roberts U.
There is strong support in Tulsa for current UT assistant Norman Roberts, who was Self’s chief assistant the past three seasons in compiling a 74-27 record. Roberts, 39, has been a head coach at Queens College in New York. MacLeod has said she will not immediately name Roberts without a coaching search.
Two assistants with strong Oklahoma ties who have been mentioned include Oklahoma State’s Sean Sutton and Oklahoma’s Ray Lopes. Other assistants mentioned: Arkansas’ Mike Anderson, Arizona State’s Russ Pennell and Kentucky’s Shawn Finney.
Finney has been a Tubby Smith assistant for nine years, including 1991-95 at Tulsa. He also coached at Tulsa under J.D. Barnett in 1990-91.
Some head coaches have been mentioned for the Tulsa vacancy, including Barry Hinson, who has just completed one year at SW Missouri State. It is believed Hinson, a former Self assistant at Oral Roberts and Oklahoma native, will not apply for the job.
Other head coaches mentioned: Buzz Peterson, Applalachian State and Seth Greenberg, South Florida.
Insiders say it will be tough for MacLeod to name any assistant besides Roberts, since he has been part of the program three years and has been a top recruiter.
“You’ll find a lot of people come out of the woodwork for the TU job,” one source told the Tulsa World. “And I mean head coaches from lower schools in major conferences or upper schools in mid-major conferences.”
“It’s always been a job that coaches have been interested in because of the success that Tubby has had, that Steve has had and now Bill,” MacLeod said. “But our recent success will likely enable us to look at more (candidates) than we might have in the past.”
