SHSU basketball: Marlin's move is right move for career

The day all Bearkat basketball fans knew would eventually come finally arrived Friday.

After 12 seasons in Huntsville, coach Bob Marlin’s tenure at Sam Houston State has come to an end. Marlin announced his resignation, and will be introduced next week as the new head coach at Louisiana-Lafayette.

I know, I know; it’s not the sexiest program in America, and certainly doesn’t have the name recognition of Auburn, Houston or UTEP — all programs Marlin’s name was connected to in the past week as the annual college-coaching carousel started to turn. At first glance, it doesn’t make a lot of sense. The Sun Belt Conference is, like the Southland, a mid-major conference, and Marlin’s most recent SHSU squad was as good, if not better, than every team in the Sun Belt this season.

As difficult as it may be to swallow, the truth is this does constitute a step forward in Marlin’s career. It was the right opportunity at the right time, and was a smart decision. Under the circumstances, it was a move he had to make.

First, and always important when anyone looks at changing jobs, is the paycheck. A significant five-figure raise can’t be brushed aside as a non-factor.

Part of it comes down to the reality of college basketball coaching. You have to make a move when the opportunity presents itself. Marlin was a hot commodity, having won his third SLC championship and taking SHSU to the NCAA Tournament for the second time. Auburn and Houston interviewed Marlin, and UTEP was interested (if you believe the internet rumors). Other programs called as well, but the first school that was smart enough to step up and offer Marlin an opportunity to advance his career was Louisiana-Lafayette.

History played a role in the decision. Marlin watched one of his mentors, Mike Vining — the only coach with more career wins in the SLC — miss his window of opportunity while coaching Louisiana-Monroe. Universally recognized in college basketball circles as a great coach, Vining didn’t leave Monroe early in his career when he had the chance, and unfortunately he got stuck.

While everyone associated with SHSU basketball is excited about next season, there is no guarantee the Bearkats will win the SLC again. As good as Marlin was over the last decade, it still took seven years to put all the pieces together again and return to the NCAA Tournament.

History also shows the Southland Conference hasn’t been fertile ground for young coaches. The SLC could more accurately be described as a coaching wasteland where dreams and careers go to die. In the past 15 years (since I started following the SLC) prior to Marlin’s move, Ron Everhart was the only head coach to move his career forward, parlaying back-to-back SLC titles in 2001-02 into a job with Northeastern (he’s now at Duquesne). Former Southeastern Louisiana coach Billy Kennedy took advantage of his 2005 tournament championship, but the best offer he got was as an assistant coach at Miami (he’s now at Murray State and led the 13th-seeded Racers to a first-round win over fourth-seeded Vanderbilt last week). Ronnie Arrow decided his best bet, after taking Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to the Big Dance in 2007, was to go back to his old job at South Alabama — in the Sun Belt.

So what makes coaching in the Sun Belt different? In the past three years, three coaches — Buzz Williams (New Orleans), Darrin Horn (Western Kentucky) and John Pelphrey (South Alabama) — have moved directly from their job at a Sun Belt program to schools in the country’s premiere conferences (Williams at Marquette, Horn at South Carolina and Pelphrey at Arkansas).

If Marlin can do in Lafayette what he’s done in Huntsville, the opportunity to coach at college basketball’s highest level with come. There’s no guarantee it will happen, but staying too much longer at SHSU might have assured that it never would.

The bitter taste Bearkat fans cant quite shake right now should not be considered a knock on Louisiana-Lafayette. When we say, “Why them? Why there?,” it’s that part in us that selfishly was hoping a higher-profile program would steal Marlin away and solidify our belief that we had been holding onto the best-kept secret in college basketball for the past decade. Congratulations to the Ragin’ Cajuns. You have a fantastic head coach, probably one better than you deserve. That’s a credit to your athletic department and administration for aiming high and recognizing one of the best in the business.

And for those of us who know him, we were hoping Marlin would get his shot on the big stage now. Instead, we will wait. If Marlin’s history is any indication, his time will come.