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5 College coaching candidates for the Phoenix Suns

By Khaleel Abdullah

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers celebrates with his team after the 85-77 win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA - APRIL 08: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers celebrates with his team after the 85-77 win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2019 NCAA men's Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 08: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers celebrates with his team after the 85-77 win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2019 NCAA men’s Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 08: Head coach Tony Bennett of the Virginia Cavaliers celebrates with his team after the 85-77 win over the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the 2019 NCAA men’s Final Four National Championship game at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 08, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

The Phoenix Suns recently fired Igor Kokoskov and are in search of their next head coach. One place they could look is among the college ranks.

Whether you feel it was the right move or not, the fact is Igor Kokoskov is gone and the Phoenix Suns need a new head coach. Sadly, this will be their fifth in as many years, so whoever they pick needs to be the right hire.

There are many routes the franchise can go to find their next guy. One of those is looking among the college ranks. A coach that is currently holding a clip board for a NCAA team that they feel would help the franchise if they brought him here.

First off, let’s get the obvious out of the way. As great as it would be to hire one of the best head coaches in college basketball, they aren’t coming. Not here, not now.

I would love to bring over Mike Krzyzewski but he isn’t leaving Duke.

Bill Self isn’t leaving Kansas, even if it means reuniting with Josh Jackson and Kelly Oubre Jr.

Tom Izzo isn’t walking away from Michigan State and Jay Wright isn’t departing Villanova.

Maybe you can tempt John Calipari to come join forces with Devin Booker again but in the end I highly doubt he pulls that trigger.

It’s not just about who the Suns would like to hire but it would have to be a coach that would want to come here. Most of the bright minds, solid recruiters and really good possibilities aren’t actually available because they aren’t leaving where they are.

They’ve done a lot to get their names to the status they’re at and they aren’t going to drop what they have to come to a team that’s gone through four coaches in the last four seasons. Why step away from somewhere you are well respected to a questionable job with no recent history of job security?

However, there are several good college head coaches that may be interested that would definitely help build something up from the bottom to a good place in Phoenix. The Suns would be wise to call them to gauge their interest in an interview.

Let’s take a look at who the top 5 candidates would be if the Suns looked to the college ranks.

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