New Omaha World-Herald UNO beat writer Rob White talked about some of the candidates for the UNO head coaching job. We'll go through and try to parse some of the quotes to figure out how interested they are in the job.
Mike Guentzel: It's been no secret that Guentzel really wanted any head coaching job in college hockey,and he already has a connection to Omaha. He's said he will apply.
Dave Quinn: It would have to be hard for him to leave BU when they're on top of the college hockey world. But he did say he wants to be a head coach some day, and that UNO and BU are special places to him. I think he'll end up applying. The wildcard here is that BU head coach Jack Parker is 64, so he's got some time left, but won't be there forever. Quinn may want to stick at BU if he has the opportunity at that head coaching some time in the somewhat near future.
Steve Rohlik: Rohlik has said he's interested in the job,and is a former UNO assistant. Rohlik was a finalist for the Alaska head coaching position, so he's shown interest in becoming a head coach. His resume may not be as strong as Guentzel or Quinn, but is close to Mike Kemp, having been recruited by Kemp as Wisconsin, and Kemp will likely make the final decision.
Mike Hastings: Hastings was considered a front-runner for the job when it first opened up. So far, UNO has contacted him, and he said he has an interest in the job, but hasn't committed to applying for the job yet. Hastings is a great candidate, but his interest in the job has seemed lukewarm, and there other candidates out there that are just as good, and seemingly more interested.
Dean Blais: I haven't seen officially linking Blais to this job, other than the fact that his name comes up for every college coaching job, vacant or otherwise. On the old site, when I used tags as a crude organizational system, it was kind of a joke that Dean Blais was the individual to have his own tag, as a way of keeping up with all the rumors about him. But if Blais does want the job, he may be the top choice. The strong possibility that UNO will be in the WCHA in two years time has to be an incentive for him.
Those are probably your top five candidates. There are some other excellent candidates out there that have been mentioned, but I think at least a couple of those five will apply and one of them will end up with the job. And really, there's not a bad choice among them. UNO is likely to end up with a great coach out of all of this.