Report: Tennessee's coaching wish list includes some big names

After firing men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl on Monday, the University of Tennessee is moving quickly to bring in a new coach.

And if the Knoxville Sentinel has it right, the Volunteers are aiming high with several of their top candidates.

The newspaper reports on its web site that the school, which reportedly hopes to have a new coach in place within two weeks, is targeting the following five coaches to start:

• Pittsburgh's Jamie Dixon
• Villanova's Jay Wright
• Alabama's Anthony Grant
• Texas A&M's Mark Turgeon
• Wichita State's Gregg Marshall

Comcast Sports Net New England reported Wednesday that the school had talks with Boston Celtics assistant Lawrence Frank about potential candidates the school could look to interview.

Frank, who spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Tennessee, was not considered to be a candidate for the job, according to the report.

With the possibility of serious NCAA sanctions coming in the months ahead, will these coaches really answer Tennessee's call?

And after Tennesseee athletics director Mike Hamilton basically threw Bruce Pearl under the bus with his comments to a radio station just before the Vols were to play in the NCAA tournament, are these high-profile coaches going to want to work with Hamilton?

Both questions will certainly be answered in the weeks ahead, but Tennessee's best bet might be to aim a little lower and find a diamond in the rough -- as they thought they did initially with Bruce Pearl six years ago.