Other coaches reportedly receiving a close look by ASU administrators include Kevin Stallings of Illinois State and Skip Prosser of Xavier.
White says the field is still wide open and the university is considering all options.
"There are no done deals," says White.
White knows he will be criticized no matter who becomes ASU's coach. But White, like any promoter, stresses the upside.
"The positive thing is our kids have had nothing to feel good about in a long time," he says. "The kids have galvanized around him [Newman], they have had a great experience. He's redeemed himself in this profession. He was 20-114 by design at Sacramento State. Now he's a commodity."
For his part, Newman has stayed out of the coaching controversy, except to make it clear he wants to remain ASU's coach. (Neither he nor any member of his staff provided any information concerning Majerus. Nearly all the information had been previously reported in the Utah press.)
"I just hope when all the smoke clears, I feel that Kevin White is going to do the right thing and do what's best for the university," Newman says.
Don't let Newman's diplomacy fool you. He wants the job and he believes he's earned it.
He sees other universities hiring young coaches with less experience.
After UCLA fired its expense-account-abusing coach Jim Harrick in 1996, it named 33-year-old Steve Lavin as an interim coach before making him head coach in February 1997. Lavin had no head-coaching experience, serving as an assistant at UCLA and Purdue before gaining the post.
Oregon hired 43-year-old Ernie Kent to coach the Ducks last year. Kent's prior experience: six years as head coach of St. Mary's College in Moraga, California, where he compiled a 90-80 record and led the team to the NCAA tournament last year.
"What makes these guys prepared, but Donny Newman not ready?" Newman asks.
Newman doesn't buy the rap that he lacks experience and doesn't know how to recruit.
"I know what it's like to sit down and be recruited," he says. "I've been in this almost 12 years as a Division I coach. I was recruiting coordinator with [a] Pac-10 [team]. Ten years ago, I was recruiting coordinator with Kelvin Sampson. We walked into a program that was at the bottom of the Pac-10. We believed. We kept grinding. We kept getting the kids believing. And then finally we ended up taking that thing to another level."
Newman is baffled by the critics who say he is unworthy of consideration for the permanent job.
"It doesn't even make sense to me," he says.
ASU assistant coach Lanny Van Eman says Newman has amazed him. Van Eman didn't know Newman when he was hired as an assistant last September. But Van Eman knows a good coach when he sees one. He's spent 37 years in the college and professional ranks, including a lengthy stint under legendary Oregon State coach Ralph Miller.
Van Eman admits he was nervous about taking the ASU post, having spent the previous year as an assistant during a dreadful season with the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA.
The thought of another losing season almost turned him away from the job.
"I went in saying to myself that I'm going to be part of the sweep-up crew and being part of trying to straighten things out," says Van Eman.
So you can imagine his surprise when Newman announced early on that the Sun Devils would have a winning season. But that was nothing compared to the effort Newman got from his players.
"I would not have guessed that these players could give as much as they have given in the way of energy," Van Eman says.
As the season progressed, Van Eman says, he found his attitude shifting from just trying to maintain respect for the program to badly wanting to win every game, reach the 20-win plateau and make some noise at the NCAA tournament.
It's been a season Van Eman won't soon forget.
"Even at this point in my life, it's been a growing, good thing," he says.
Coaching basketball, Van Eman says, isn't only about X's and O's on a blackboard. "You don't have to be a genius to coach football or understand about basketball," he says.
What's more important is leadership.
The great coaches, Van Eman says, can "get people to actualize themselves and become a team, where maybe the sum total is greater than the individual parts."
Newman has that ability, Van Eman says.
"He, to me, has demonstrated that not only can he coach, but he can manage people and he can lead," Van Eman says. "I think that is a real important, that is probably the most important ingredient in Don that I can think of."
Nobody expected the remarkable season that unfolded this year in Tempe. The Sun Devils still have a shot at 20 wins, and winning the NIT championship.
"Words can't even describe [the season]," says guard Alhon Lewis. "It's like night and day. It's like Cinderella came and touched it with a magic wand."
But even Cinderella's fantasy was interrupted. Don't expect the glass slipper to fit Don Newman.
Contact John Dougherty at his online address: jdougherty@newtimes.com
