Long-Shot Gopher Coaching Candidates Not Yet Mentioned, Alan Major anyone?

The following names have not been mentioned anywhere. I have no sources that are feeding me these names. But they are names that were interesting for me and since I have a feeling that the actual hire will not be any of the names we've been seeing or hearing about I thought I'd throw these out. Tell me what you think...

Alan Major - Charlotte - Major was the post coach at Pacific and Ohio State where he worked with Michael Olowakandi, Greg Oden! His resume shows that he was an assistant to Thad Matta for 10 years before taking the Charlotte job in 2010. He has been at Charlotte, his only head coaching job, for three seasons and has improved each season. He brought in recruiting classes that were highly ranked among mid-majors. He is from Indiana, was a student manager under Gene Keady at Purdue and is a young up and coming coach. Oh, did I mention he is a Villa 7 guy? We haven't heard this name leaked but I think I could get behind this Major hire.

Jim Crews - Saint Louis - currently the interim head coach at Saint Louis after the passing of Rick Majerus (who Charlie Walters endorses, were he alive). Crews was a longtime coach at Evansville where he took the Aces to four NCAA Tournaments. This year he led the Bilikens to a 28-7 record, guiding them through an emotionally difficult season. Crews is a Big Ten guy. He played at Indiana, was an assistant for 8 years at Indiana and is from Illinois. I cannot confirm if he is a Villa 7 guy or not, likely not.

Wayne Tinkle - Montana - 47 year old head coach out in Montana. Tinkle is a native of Milwaukee who played at Montana, was an assistant at Montana and now is the head coach in his eight year. The fact that he is tightly tied to Montana might make him a difficult get. But the fact is he has had some pretty good success for the Grizzlies who have not been to the NCAA Tournament 3 of the last 4 years.

Tommy Amaker- Harvard - This is a name you'll recognize. Amaker spent six seasons at Michigan, accomplishing just three trips to the NIT. Not an inspiring Big Ten record, but maybe Michigan wasn't the right fit for Amaker and Minnesota is? If recruiting connections are important, Amaker has been recruiting Reid Travis. He has had some pretty good success at Harvard winning three straight Ivy League titles and earning Harvard's first ever NCAA Tournament win this year. I'm not super thrilled with the idea of a Big Ten retread, but I could wrap my mind around Amaker.

Dave Paulsen - Bucknell - Formerly a D3 coach at Williams where he won a national title (over Gustavus, I believe) and had a runner-up. D3 isn't his only experience. He was a D1 assistant at Michigan and at Cleveland State. Eventually he took the head job at Bucknell and has been rather successful. His first season saw 7 wins, 14 wins in his second season and then 3 straight 25-win seasons for the Bison. Paulsen's teams are typically very good offensively and run a well-oiled motion offense, they don't turn the ball over and they box out. Sounds kind of like a Bo Ryan except that his teams score points and emphasize offense. He also has recruiting ties in Minnesota, probably in large part because of his assistant Dan Fischer, who is from here. Paulsen has demonstrated some success at a school not known for it. With all of that said, I think Paulsen just signed a contract extension, and according to his bio he has three children in the Jr/Sr High age range that he might not want to move.

That is my short list of interesting names to look at. Again, there is no reason to believe that any of these guys are available, interested or have been contacted. Just names that I came up with while searching around the interwebz and they piqued my interest. To be honest, I really kind of like the idea of Alan Major.

What to you think? None of these guys would be a huge splash, but could you get behind any of them?