As the college basketball coaching carousel continues to turn, it appears another Ohio basketball coach is drawing interest from major conferences.
Sports Illustrated senior writer Pete Thamel tweeted Monday at 7:05 p.m. that Ohio coach Jim Christian had emerged as a “legit candidate” for the same position at Boston College.
On Tuesday morning, ESPN Basketball Insider Jeff Goodman tweeted that Christian “was a serious” candidate for the job and that he “may be the frontrunner.”
Goodman then published a story that said Christian had interviewed for the job earlier this week.
Ohio Athletics would not comment on the matter, and Matt Lynch, assistant director of athletic communications for basketball at Boston College, couldn’t be reached by phone.
The Athens Messenger published a report Tuesday morning that said Christian “wouldn’t confirm, nor deny he had talked to Boston College.”
“I’m not going to comment on that job or any job (opening),” Christian told the Messenger.
During his two years in Athens, Christian has gone 49-22 and led the Bobcats to appearances in the National Invitation Tournament and CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
The position at Boston College opened after coach Steve Donahue was fired March 18.
Donahue went 54-76 in his four seasons with the Eagles, finishing this season with an 8-24 overall mark and a 4-14 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Goodman has reported that Boston College is also targeting Florida Gulf Coast coach Joe Dooley, who led the Eagles to a 22-13 record in his first season at the helm.
If Christian were to take another coaching job before May 1, Ohio would be owed a buyout of $500,000, according to his contract. After that date, the buyout would be lowered to $250,000 until next offseason.
Christian, a 49-year old native of Bethpage, N.Y., has East Coast connections. He played basketball at Boston University from 1983-85 before finishing his collegiate career at Rhode Island from 1986-88.
Christian also made coaching stops at Western Kentucky, St. Francis University, Miami, Pittsburgh and Kent State as an assistant before landing the head coaching job at Kent State in 2002.
Under his tenure, the Golden Flashes had six consecutive seasons with 20-plus wins, two Mid-American Conference Championships and two NCAA Tournament bids.
After Kent State, Christian assumed the same position at Texas Christian University. He went 56-73 in four seasons there. In April 2012, he replaced former Bobcats coach John Groce, who left Ohio to take Illinois’ head coaching position.
@c_hoppens
ch203310@ohiou.edu
This article originally appeared in print under the headline "Ohio coach may get new job."
