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Several major college football programs in recent years have hired assistant football coaches (often at very high salaries) with the idea that they would ultimately succeed their current head coaches when they retire. Now the "coach-in-waiting" trend has extended to college basketball, where Southern Methodist University -- which this month hired 71-year-old Larry Brown to head its men's hoops program -- has hired Tim Jankovich, the head coach at Illinois State University, to serve as an assistant under Brown at a salary of close to $700,000, USA Today reported. Longevity in a specific job has never been Brown's strong suit, and at his age, many observers expect him not to be in the SMU job for more than a few years. Jankovich's hiring is expected to make it harder for the coaches of other programs to discourage would-be Southern Methodist players from enrolling there because of the expected turnover upon Brown's retirement.
