Not hard to connect the dots on this since Jim Boylen was on his way to New York City to take part of the CBS College Sports Network Sweet 16 coverage. So, why not take a side trip to Iowa City, Iowa and interview for the job, according to Fox Sports and make yesterdays rumored interest a reality.
A decision will not be made today as Iowa wants to talk to Dayton head coach Brian Gregory. The Flyers are currently in the semis of the NIT. Expect the Hawkeyes to go after Northern Iowa head coach Ben Jacobson even though he just signed a 10 year deal.
What is Iowa's fascination with Boylen? The only real connection -- as mentioned before -- is that he was an assistant for a number of years with Tom Izzo at Michigan State. Utah is his only head coaching experience and it has been a hit and miss for the past three years with a 42-25 record, a conference title, and one NCAA tournament berth. His plus sides are that he helped to turn around the mess that former Utah coach Ray Giacoletti left behind in only two years. The hope for Iowa could be that he could do the same but in a better league with better resources.
Also, why is Boylen interviewing? He is obviously not going to get fired by Utah he has only been on the job three years and last year received a five seed in the NCAA tournament. This could be a case of the job not being what he wanted and perhaps he has slacked on recruiting and knows he will be fired either in year four or five. So, why not go for the Iowa job which would get the standard five year deal and the money would probably be a slight bump from what Utah pays.
This will drag on for about a week once Dayton is out of the NIT and in my opinion once Northern Iowa is removed from the NCAA tournament.