The Boston College basketball coaching search appears to be nearing a conclusion, as St. Bonaventure announced that Mark Schmidt would be staying at the upstate New York school, and multiple reports indicated that Syracuse assistant Mike Hopkins no longer is a candidate.
ESPN’s Jeff Goodman reported that BC informed Hopkins on Tuesday that the Eagles were moving in a different direction with their coaching search. Hopkins reportedly interviewed at BC over the weekend.
Schmidt’s decision to remain at St. Bonaventure for his eighth season was announced by the school Tuesday afternoon.
“We are thrilled that Mark has decided to continue as the head coach of our men’s basketball program,’ St. Bonaventure athletic director Steve Watson said in a statement. “He has done a remarkable job of building the program. We hope Mark will be our coach for a long time, and to that end, we have started discussions about an extension of our commitment to him.”
Said Schmidt: “It is an honor to be the head coach at St. Bonaventure. This is a fantastic university with passionate fans in a community my family and I are proud to call home.”
That leaves Ohio’s Jim Christian as the leading candidate, at least based on what’s surfaced in the media over the past week. Christian, who previously held head coaching positions at TCU and Kent State, is a New York native played at Boston University and Rhode Island in the 1980s.
Joe Dooley, a former Kansas assistant who just completed his first season at Florida Gulf Coast, has seen his name associated with the BC opening in the last 24 hours, but he said Tuesday that it was news to him, as he’s had no contact with the Eagles.