Anxiety over empty benches. (Insider).(related article)(Brief Article)

As Stan Heath stood roughly 24 hours removed from trying to coach his team to the Final Four--this less than 12 months after being hired by Kent State--he was asked if he might become a candidate for a job that was not yet open.

Wow, this wheel spins fast.

Cincinnati still had not discovered whether Bob Huggins would leave for West Virginia, and already speculation churned regarding who might replace him.

Would it be Heath, who elevated the Golden Flashes from terrific Mid-American Conference team to national contender as a rookie head coach? Could Cincinnati compete with Arkansas for former Chicago Bulls coach Tim Floyd? Might the school go entirely in the direction favored by some in the university administration and hire a promising assistant coach whose salary wouldn't cover the taxes deducted from Huggins' checks?

This figured to be a quiet year on the coaching carousel because the process exhausted itself during the previous two springs. Then West Virginia's shoot-it-if-you've-got-it guards drove Gale Catlett into retirement, and Nolan Richardson's shoot-from-the-lip public speaking drove him to the unemployment line.

Though it was unclear last weekend precisely who would end up where, it was obvious that many of these schools were bungling along.

Even with less competition for candidates, Florida State handled the firing and hiring more efficiently than most schools. The Seminoles removed Steve Robinson after a loss in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals and had the ideal choice--Leonard Hamilton--in place fewer than 10 days later.