Boston College Daily Links: Cooley? Amaker?

It's been a great week of discussion here at BCI. First, we discussed and debated the issues with the men's hockey team following their unceremonious exit from the Hockey East tournament. Then, we waited, waited, waited for basketball coaching news that it looked like would never come. But then it did. Yesterday then featured a great, highly interactive day at BCI, complete with long discussions here in the comments and on-air on BC Interruption Radio.

If you didn't get a chance to listen to BCI radio last night, you can relive the broadcast here.

On to the links regarding the dismissal of Steve Donahue and potential replacements:

GoLocalProv | Sports | BC Targets Ed Cooley in Coaching Search

GoLocal has learned from sources close to the BC Athletic Program that there is interest in Providence College Head Coach Ed Cooley.

It was 17 years ago that Boston College swooped into Rhode Island to pluck Al Skinner from URI as men's basketball coach. With the news of Steve Donahue's dismissal Tuesday, might BC be inclined to again look just south of the Massachusetts border for a new coach?

Harvard’s Tommy Amaker a leading candidate for BC - Sports - The Boston Globe

Tommy Amaker appears to be at the top of a very short list of candidates to replace Steve Donahue as BC basketball coach.

Some others:

Ed Cooley, Providence - A former assistant under Al Skinner at BC, guided the Friars to a Big East tournament title and even defeated the Eagles (82-78 in OT) in the season opener for both teams this year. He coached at Fairfield before taking over at Providence. A Stonehill College grad and former player, Cooley also served on Skinner's staff at URI.

BC Director Of Athletics In ‘No Rush’ To Hire Steve Donahue’s Successor | Boston College | NESN.com

"No rush to make the hire. This is a long-term decision and you can't hurry into some spontaneous decision. We need to move as quickly as possible but we need to be very deliberate in terms of the timing and process."

"Every athletic director in America has candidates for every position in his department in mind. Now whether those candidates have interest or whether there is a historical predisposition on coming into Boston College you don't really know. Part of my job is to be prepared for any attrition."

Eagle in Atlanta -- atleagle.com: What we learned from the Football hire

I don't know how this will play out. I hope for Howland, but there are plenty of good candidates. The Globe said Amaker is the leading candidate. That makes sense since he is a known recruiter and already has a few different BC constituents pulling for him. I am not a fan of Amaker, but will wait to see how this plays out a bit.

Steve Donahue out as BC basketball coach - Sports - The Boston Globe

Steve Donahue seemed to make an eloquent case for himself in support of his return for a fifth year as Boston College basketball coach after a 73-70 overtime loss to Georgia Tech in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament a week ago in Greensboro, N.C..

In his summation why the future appeared promising, even after BC suffered through the worst season in its basketball history with an 8-24 campaign, Donahue said the team would return its top seven players: three juniors, two sophomores and two freshmen. "We haven't coached a senior here yet,'' Donahue said, plaintively, in his postgame remarks. But Donahue will not get that opportunity.

Steve Donahue out as BC basketball coach | Boston Herald

Bates said he spoke with Donahue about the decision today. There were reports last week that Donahue would be retained and would serve out the final year after a 4-14 mark in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Bates said that report was "speculation" and that the school went public when an official decision was made.

Boston College parts ways with basketball coach Donahue - Sports - MetroWest Daily News

Steve Donahue was fired as basketball coach at Boston College on Tuesday after four seasons without an NCAA tournament berth and two with the most losses in school history.