bill battle nit 2015.jpg
Alabama AD Bill Battle talks with fans before the Crimson Tide's win over Illinois in a first-round NIT game March 17, 2015, in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. (Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)
This may sound strange since he didn't get his man, but give Bill Battle credit. Plenty of it.
Getting Gregg Marshall out of Wichita was a half-court shot from the start at best, but the extreme degree of difficulty didn't deter the Alabama AD.
Talk to people close to the search, and it appears that Battle and Alabama came closer to convincing Marshall to take on a new challenge than just about any other school has.
I know. It's a bottom-line business, and close really doesn't count in coaching searches, but Battle aimed high, and he offered a pitch that was both powerful and personal.
He had to find a way to sever the deep roots Marshall and his family have established in Wichita - visiting Tuscaloosa was a prerequisite before Marshall would say yes - and Battle also had to overcome the negative national perception that Alabama doesn't care about basketball.
That perception isn't the truth. If it were, Battle wouldn't have pursued Marshall in the first place. Marshall wouldn't have thought long and hard about taking the job. Wichita wouldn't have been compelled to come up with a fat new deal for Marshall reported at $3.3 million a year for seven years.
Battle deserves credit for his vision and for his honest approach to this search. It was extraordinary to see him issue a statement Wednesday night acknowledging that Marshall had decided to stay at Wichita, respecting that decision and wishing "him and his family all the best."
That's the kind of man you want as your AD.
Where does Battle go now? It's believed that Alabama's original short list also included Shaka Smart and Archie Miller. Smart's reportedly close to accepting the Texas job, which would eliminate him. Miller has signed a new deal at Dayton, which wouldn't necessarily take him off the list.
Other coaches that appear to be on Battle's radar include Murray State's Steve Prohm, Minnesota's Richard Pitino and Stephen F. Austin's Brad Underwood. Prohm has the Alabama connection as a UA graduate who was a student manager and student assistant under David Hobbs. Pitino has the C.M. Newton connection, with Newton the AD who hired Pitino's dad, Rick, at Kentucky. When Newton talks, people such as Battle listen.
Underwood may be the wild card.
None of them has taken a team to the Final Four as Marshall has, and none of them would win the press conference quite like Marshall would, but don't judge Battle in this search on the coach he didn't get. Judge him, when it's done, on the coach he lands.