OK, here’s the question:

Would Providence College have hired John Thompson III four years ago if it had a coaching vacancy?

And the answer is no.

An Ivy League coach. No cachet. Not someone who was going to excite the fan base back then, right?

But would they hire him now if they could?

Of course, since Thompson has quickly taken Georgetown out of its slumber and turned them into one of the top programs in the country, and emerged as one of the most successful coaches in the country.

Well, guess what?

The next John Thompson III is right here in Providence.

It’s Brown’s Craig Robinson, and you don’t have to know an X from an O to see the parallels.

They both played at Princeton for Pete Carril, one of the most storied figures in college basketball coaching history, the originator of the so-called Princeton offense. They both are black men in a game that’s dominated by black players. And they both can flat-out coach.

What Robinson did this year at Brown almost borders on the unbelievable. Not only did he win 19 games, the most in school history, he did it with a team that had virtually no inside offense, and whose only two real scorers were two guards who both had trouble creating their own shot.

To see his team be ahead of Penn by 30 in the first half, to see his players be smart and tough and relentless, was to see a coaching job that had to be seen to be believed.

Maybe it’s this simple: last year, his first at Brown, he beat PC in the Dunk and that is not supposed to happen, no how, no way.

His only problem was this was taking place in the virtual anonymity of Brown basketball, far away from the spotlight.

The fact that Robinson walked away from big money in the financial world of Chicago to take a job as an assistant coach at Northwestern for roughly a tenth of the salary just adds to his uniqueness.

The fact that he went from Chicago’s South Side, the son of parents who had never gone to college, and used basketball to get a Princeton degree and later a masters degree from the University of Chicago does too. Or that his recruiting pitch, especially with black parents, is that if you’re kid comes with me he can become me.

It’s a powerful message, no insignificant thing for a school that’s been swimming against the current in this new Big East and needs all the recruiting advantages it can get.

And that’s not even getting into the fact his brother-in-law is Barack Obama, and his sister could end up being the first lady of the United States.

And let’s get one thing understood.

As someone who loves Brown basketball, and once played there, I hope Robinson stays at Brown until the end of time. But I know that’s not going to happen, regardless of what happens with the PC job.

Robinson is a star on the rise, and he’s simply too good and Brown basketball is too small to keep him at Brown very long. That’s just the way it is. To think Robinson is going to coach at Brown for a long time is naïve.

Which is not to say that Robinson is the only person on the planet for the PC job.

The woods are full of excellent coaches, and I’ve heard a lot of names. Who wouldn’t be intrigued with St. Joe’s Phil Martelli? Who wouldn’t be intrigued with Jim Larranaga, the onetime Friars’ great who two years ago took George Mason to the Final Four? I’ve known Tim O’Shea for years, and there are few better talent evaluators out there.

And these are just some of the names in the paper. Rest assured there are others. This is a Big East job, and there are only 16 of them. Already I’ve heard what seems like a zillion names. It seems everyone has an opinion, and that’s a good thing. It means the job is considered important. It means that people still believe this program with all its tradition can still have another great act.

But selecting a new coach is always taking a chance, a cut of the cards, no matter who it is.

Which brings us back to Robinson.

PC’s problem in the Big East is they’ve never been able to carve out their own niche, no easy task in a league with Hall of Fame coaches and big-time programs. With few exceptions, the Friars have been considered an afterthought.

Hiring an accomplished black coach would give them their niche in a league where there are only two other black coaches. Hiring a coach who can go into homes on the recruiting trail and be viewed differently would give them an advantage they haven’t had in a long time.

For that’s just the way it is, even if it’s not exactly politically correct to say so.

And I know that that’s not the only way to go, know that there are others out there who can be a good fit for this job. Know that PC has a good track record when it comes to hiring basketball coaches. And the common thread that runs through so many of them over the past half century or so? They made their reputations here, not before they got here. They came here on the way up.

Isn’t that what PC should do now?

You tell me.

But I keep going back to John Thompson III, who four years ago flew beneath the coaching radar and now has become the most successful coach in the Big East.

And that we have the next John Thompson III right here.

breynold@projo.com