It was a night of reflection for departing BG basketball coach Dan Dakich.
“This is such a great town,” began Dan Dakich in his press conference last night. “When I weighed my options, I just couldn’t find any cons about Bowling Green, which made this all the harder. … It’s been nothing but fun the whole time I’ve been here.”
The coach’s departure to West Virginia University, announced yesterday morning from Morgantown, W. Va., leaves a vacancy on a team that went 24-9 in 2001-02. Just who will fill that vacancy, and when, remains the question of the night.
Early candidates have been speculated to be BG assistant coach Keith Noftz, former BG point guard David Greer and former Michigan head coach Brian Ellerbe.
Noftz has been an assistant for nine years, spending the last six at Bowling Green. Noftz is a native of nearby Clyde, Oh., and coached John Adams High School in South Bend prior to his arrival in BG.
Greer has been an associate head coach at Detroit-Mercy for the last three years. Previously, he was an assistant for three years with the Titans. He started his career in 1986-87 Greer was head coach of Tiffin University in Tiffin, Ohio. He led the Dragons to a 17-12 overall record that season. In 1987 Greer moved to Youngstown State University as assistant coach for two seasons, then he was an assistant coach at Ohio University from 1989-93. He also served as an assistant for Akron from 1993-94 before joining Detroit-Mercy’s staff.
Ellerbe has been out of coaching since last March, when he was fired by the University of Michigan after a 10-18 record and a 4-12 conference mark in 2001.
“There’s no doubt that this is the best job in the MAC,” said Athletic Director Paul Krebs. “We have had at least 50 phone messages from coaches and others nominating coaches. We will try our best to find someone to fill Dan’s shoes. There are six schools in the country that had eight wins in football and 24 in basketball, and we are one of them.”
Krebs also profiled what his ideal coach would be as he begins his search for Dakich’s replacement.
“We have a preference of a coach with head coaching experience,” Krebs said. “We’re looking for a guy who has been somewhere and know what winning programs are like. They need to be a tireless promoter.”
Dakich endorsed Noftz, his right-hand man for the past five seasons in BG.
“I’d like to have a guy who was 45 or 46, has collegiate experience, and has coached in South Bend a little,” Dakich said, referring to Noftz. “Seriously, I obviously have a lot of respect for Keith; he has a great basketball mind. He’s been there when I have needed him to calm me down sometimes, and he has been right a lot of the time.”
Krebs has a timeline in mind for his search as well.
“If we get someone in here within a month, we’ll be doing well,” Krebs said.
Dakich will start at West Virginia immediately.
