Holladay not included in TU search

By Gary Bedore     Jun 20, 2000

The Tulsa World newspaper has printed two “calls to the sports editor” calling for Joe Holladay to be hired as the University of Tulsa’s new men’s basketball coach.

The commentary supported a Tulsa World article that highlighted plenty of reasons Holladay, Kansas University’s seventh-year basketball assistant, would be a strong candidate to replace Bill Self at the Western Athletic Conference school.

“It sounds like I have a lot of friends maybe more than I thought,” Holladay quipped on Monday.

Popularity in the press hasn’t helped Holladay in this particular job search, though.

The former University of Oklahoma standout player and member of the Oklahoma Basketball Hall of Fame hasn’t received a call to interview.

Instead, Hurricane athletics director Judy MacLeod apparently has set her sights on Appalachian State head coach Buzz Peterson, Texas-San Antonio head coach Tim Carter and current Tulsa assistant coach Norm Roberts. In fact, ESPN.com said Monday night the job was Peterson’s and he’d likely be introduced as coach today.

“I haven’t heard anything from Tulsa. I would say that’s probably a bad sign. Obviously it’s a good job. I would be interested in it, but I would say at this time there’s not a whole lot of interest in Joe Holladay,” Holladay said.

Why hasn’t the 52-year-old Holladay, a former head coach at Union and Jenks high schools in Tulsa, received an interview with Tulsa?

Speculation in Oklahoma is that: a.) MacLeod wants to hire a head coach and will simply name Roberts if she goes the assistant route, or b.) MacLeod supposedly soured on Kansas University when ex-Jayhawk aide Steve Robinson left Tulsa for Florida State three years ago.

Robinson did a great job at Tulsa, but his leaving reportedly left a bad taste in MacLeod’s mouth.

“It probably doesn’t make the athletic director happy being badgered about a candidate,” Holladay said of his name appearing often in the Tulsa press.

“I have no control over that. The Tulsa World called and asked me if I’d be interested and I said I would. I wasn’t going to try to sneak around or anything like that. It wasn’t like some big campaign on my part. People asked me and I was honest with them.

“I love it here. I have not stressed out or worried one bit about that job. Actually I was just flattered my name was mentioned, to tell you the truth,” Holladay noted.

Recruiting update: David Lee, a 6-foot-8 high school senior forward from St. Louis, did not verbally commit to Duke or North Carolina on last weekend’s visit to the Triad. In fact, Lee, who has also made unofficial trips to Kansas, Illinois, Missouri and Florida, is planning summertime visits to Kentucky and again to Florida.

“He likes Kansas a lot,” David’s mother, Susan, told Mike Sullivan of Insider’s Report after the Duke/UNC visits. “He enjoyed his visit there earlier this month. They are being seriously considered, too.”

Chad Bell, 6-11 from Los Angeles, told PacWest Hoops he views Kansas as his leader over UCLA, Kentucky and New Mexico.

Potential Jayhawks on display: Several players who have expressed interest in Kansas played Monday at the U.S. Sports Festival in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Dennis Latimore, a 6-8 forward from Halstead, scored 12 points with eight rebounds in the North’s 98-96 loss to the South.

Aaron Miles, a 6-0 point guard from Portland, had 14 points on 6-of-13 shooting in the West’s 120-98 loss to the East. Also for the West, Josh Childress, 6-6 from Los Angeles, scored 12 points on 5-of-12 shooting, and Jamal Sampson, 6-11 from Santa Ana, Calif., tallied two points in 12 minutes.

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