So Coaching Changes posted this: “San Jose State has a pool of names in the mix that included Dave Rice, Earl Watson, Marvin Menzies, Steve Lavin and Kurtis Townsend.”

So a long term ultra unsuccessful program is going to begin showing some spark because:

• Townsend has been an assistant since 1993 and has caught the recent attention of the NCAA
• Lavin was fired at UCLA and then St. John’s so he’s going to be a savant at SJSU
• Menzies did well at New Mexico State but was fired at UNLV later for going 48-48 overall, 23-31 in the Mountain West Conference
• Rice got fired at UNLV after five years (his only head coaching job) after going 37-32 in the Mountain West Conference and currently is an assistant at Washington (a bad team this season).
• Watson played and assisted in the NBA but was fired as Phoenix Suns head coach after posting an overall 33-85 record

Please tell me the above are camouflage for the serious names. None of these guys sport an ‘SJSU saviour’ tattoo.

As for other names ponied up as possibilities by Spartan fans, well, sometimes a sanity check is needed:

Sorry, Jim Les is not departing UC Davis to come to Silicon Valley.

Rex Walters had so many players coming and going at USF the uniform seamstress reportedly quit.

Russell Turner is not going to jump from UC Irvine for San Jose.

Dan Majerle couldn’t succeed at Grand Canyon even with all the resources provided there.

Larry Eustachy, well, a no comment will suffice.

Coach Shantay Legans has Eastern Washington in the Big Dance and Portland fans are definitely enthused. But with Legans’ status now en fuego, he likely has outgrown the Pilots program for a situation offering a bigger paycheck and better facilities. One Portland fan valiantly posted:

Legans has also gotten bigger than anything SJSU can offer.

There is also this news about Eastern Washington athletics.

14th seed Eastern Washington faces Kansas in the Big Dance on Saturday in Indianapolis.

No names have slipped out (or been dropped intentionally) for the open Portland position. The early word was that some West Coast Conference assistants might be in the running.