With Avery Johnson officially out at Alabama, the school’s AD Greg Byrne met with the media on Monday to discuss the process of identifying the next head basketball coach in Tuscaloosa.

It’s certainly an interesting time in college basketball to be looking for a coach, as there’s no telling how far the FBI’s ongoing investigation into the corruption in the sport reaches and which coach will be dragged into the mess next. For example, this time a month ago, Will Wade was viewed by many as the slamdunk Coach of the Year candidate from the SEC but now it appears he may never coach again at LSU.

How well Alabama handles the coaching search will determine if the school faces the embarrassment of hiring someone they had no idea was attached to the saga until after officially making a hire that could result in the search starting all over again.

Aside from the obvious pitfalls of hiring a coach that comes with some baggage, Byrne laid out the criteria he will be looking for in his next head coach.

“In terms of what we are looking for in a college coach: player development, college background, strong academics and NCAA compliance. Those will be four of the primary factors we will be looking at,” Byrne said on Monday. ‘We want a relentless recruiter as a head coach and someone that has the ability to put together a great staff that recruits well and makes our student-athletes better across the board.

“Today’s climate in men’s basketball is very unique. In fact, there are ongoing legal issues with the FBI, as well as ongoing NCAA investigations and we don’t know how all that will play out at this point. That being said, we are going to be very thorough during this process. We want to make sure we keep the University of Alabama’s reputation at the forefront of what we do. I think our sports should contend at the highest levels and should contend for championships and we know that’s 100 percent the case here at Alabama — we want that to continue.”