NCAAbbs

Two important things for Belmont hoops this week.

1) Rice contacted Coach Byrd about their opening. No offers or anything, but Byrd declined to be considered. I imagine he'll have a few more inquiries this offseason. It will take a better job than Rice to pull him away from Belmont/Nashville. At least the ASun can say that we have some better jobs than a nationally-known, but not-so-good WAC team (not just Belmont either, I think that several ASun schools could defend their coaches from that level).

2) Mercer passed on top Belmont assistant Casey Alexander. Frankly, Casey is going to make someone one heck of a fine basketball coach. The guy is bright, tough-as-nails, and a good communicator. If he has the patience, I imagine he's the heir apparent at Belmont, but who knows how long Byrd will coach. He could easily coach another 10 years. Alexander was the consumate PG in his playing days, and he is a large part of Belmont's sucess. He's been with Byrd for something like 15 years as a coach and player. You know it has rubbed off. This is nothing disparaging against Mercer's new coach, who I know little about and he may be top-notch, but I think they could have gotten a young rising star in Alexander.

Are these rumors - or do you have a legitimate source?

Mercer was definitely considering Alexander from Belmont. At some point our AD made the decision that we wanted someone who was a current or former head coach. I think Alexander is a solid candidate, but being from Belmont would also be a concern. I would think with his long service to Belmont, they might offer him their head coaching job once Byrd does finally leave.

Rice is in Conference USA.

Good call, and my mistake on Rice's conference.

To the point on sources. The Mercer/Alexander stuff came from the Macon paper and the Byrd/Rice stuff came from the Tennessean. Sorry, I don't have the patience to scour for the links, but both were publicly reported.

Rick Byrd agrees to 5-year contract extension with Belmont
Apr 8, 6:49 pm EDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)—Belmont coach Rick Byrd agreed to a five-year contract extension to stay with the school he has led into three straight NCAA tournaments.

Belmont athletic director Mike Strickland made the announcement Tuesday. Terms of the agreement were not released.

Byrd has led Belmont to a league-record three consecutive Atlantic Sun Conference tournament titles, and the Bruins nearly upset Duke in the opening round of the NCAA tournament. The Blue Devils edged Belmont 71-70 after the Bruins blew a late lead.

With 541 wins, Byrd is one of 15 active Division I men’s basketball coaches with 500 or more career victories.

This article appeared on the Yahoo Sports website on Tuesday, April 8, 2008.