GREENSBORO, North Carolina - What do Martin Newton, Scott Stricklin and Eric Hyman, among others, have in common?

They're all Division I athletics directors in search of a new head basketball coach.

Coaching changes: The other March Madness.

One meeting with your boss and you're done. At some places. Others can take longer.

If you're not here, or at one of the seven other sites for the second and third rounds of the NCAA Tournament, you may be nowhere.

Do you think Rick Stansbury would've "retired" Thursday after 14 years as head coach at Mississippi State if this weren't the third straight year he missed the dance? If he hadn't failed to advance beyond the first weekend in each of his six NCAA appearances?

Would South Carolina have swallowed Darrin Horn's hefty buyout if he'd gone to the tournament at least once during his four years there?

How much easier was it for Newton to end Jimmy Tillette's 15-year tenure because the coach's back-to-back NCAA trips came more than a decade ago?

Anthony Grant made his own coaching life a little easier by pushing Alabama through its series of injuries and suspensions and into the field for the first time in his three years in Tuscaloosa. He'll gather a little more capital here today if the Tide can take down Creighton. He also might start to show up on the radar of other schools. If he's not already there. Looking at you, Illinois.

Different schools with job openings have different needs. Samford's Newton, Mississippi State's Stricklin and South Carolina's Hyman will be fishing in different ponds, but they should have something in common beyond the ability to hand someone the keys to a Division I program.

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Coaching changes: The other March Madness