Jerry Carino

@njhoopshaven

Pat Hobbs missed on his top target to fill the Rutgers basketball coaching vacancy, but it was not for lack of effort.

Dan Hurley agonized over the decision for 48 hours before deciding to remain at Rhode Island, where he has a potential Top 25 team in place next season, according to multiple sources familiar with Hurley’s thinking.

By all accounts, the 43-year-old Hurley came much closer to taking the job than he did three years ago, when Rutgers had no athletics director and he rebuffed the advances of Carl Kirschner, the academic dean in charge of the search.

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Hurley was impressed by Hobbs’ personality and acumen, plus his willingness to commit six years, upwards of $1.5 million per year and guarantees on facility improvements, the sources said.

They said Rutgers’ first-year athletics director displayed deep-level knowledge of the sport and a grasp of the steps needed to make Rutgers competitive after 10 straight years of losing records and a 7-25 debacle this past season.

However, the promise of Hurley’s prospects at Rhode Island and his commitment to those players, compared to the depth of the rebuild and historical difficulties at Rutgers, swayed the former Scarlet Knights assistant to stay put.

Wednesday’s development marks the latest in a long line of misses over the years by Rutgers, most notably Jay Wright and John Beilein during the 2001 search that yielded Gary Waters. Wright and Beilein went on to take other schools to the Final Four.

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But Hobbs has shown an ability to bounce back before. While leading Seton Hall’s search in 2010 he hired Kevin Willard after his original target of interest, Fran McCaffery, took the Iowa post. Willard just guided the Pirates to the Big East Tournament title.

The natural question becomes, who is next?

George Washington’s Mike Lonergan has interviewed and is a prime candidate. The 50-year-old’s resume is actually better than Hurley’s: He won a Division III national title at Catholic University of America and then guided Vermont and George Washington to NCAA Tournament berths.

Lonergan’s career record is 468-225 (.675), and he has spent much of his career recruiting the talent-rich Baltimore-D.C. corridor. This season the Colonials are 23-9 and face Monmouth in the second round of the NIT Monday.

Keep an eye on Steve Pikiell. Stony Brook’s coach built a transitional Division I program into a mid-major stronghold, winning 22-plus games in each of the past five seasons. This year’s team is 25-6 and playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time. The Seawolves face Kentucky Thursday.

Pikiell came up through a powerhouse program as a player and assistant coach under Jim Calhoun at Connecticut. He also recruited and developed an All-America candidate in senior forward Jameel Warney of Plainfield.

Two other names to watch are Iona’s Tim Cluess and Manhattan’s Steve Masiello, both of whom have achieved high levels of success in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Cluess has guided the Gaels to three NCAA Tournament berths; they take on Iowa State in the first round Friday. Hobbs knows Iona inside-out, having hired Willard away from the school. His successor as AD at Seton Hall, Pat Lyons, also came from Iona.

Masiello is a dogged recruited whose squads have appeared in the Big Dance twice. He came up through the ranks as an assistant at Louisville, the same route Willard took. Hobbs has a good relationship with Louisville coach Rick Pitino.

It's also possible Hobbs could go the assistant route, as he did when hiring football coach Chris Ash from Ohio State. Kentucky's Kenny Paine would fit that mold, coming from a national power. More locally, Seton Hall associate head coach Shaheen Holloway is a rising star who already has a good relationship with Hobbs.

Staff writer Jerry Carino: jcarino@gannettnj.com