By Aidan Joly
The NCAA Tournament is still a couple days from getting underway, but the silly season that is the coaching carousel is very much rolling, especially in the Power 6. Here’s a look at what has happened so far and what could happen in the next few weeks.
Indiana: Archie Miller out
The biggest opening of the offseason. Miller is out in Bloomington after four seasons and a league record of 33-45, including a 7-12 mark in the Big Ten this season. He went 67-58 overall. This seemed like a slam dunk hire when he was hired but it didn’t work at all, never making it to the NCAA Tournament. Expect some big names to be in the running here. Scott Drew, John Beilein, Chris Beard and Rick Pitino are all being thrown around as candidates. According to reports, Steve Alford and Nate Oats will not be candidates. And no, Brad Stevens isn’t going to happen.
Minnesota: Richard Pitino out
The younger Pitino went 141-123 overall and 54-96 in the Big Ten in his eight-year tenure, making the NCAA Tournament twice and winning a game in 2019. However, the Golden Gophers collapsed after a 10-2 start, finishing 14-15, 6-14 in the Big Ten. Some candidates for this job are Cleveland State head coach Dennis Gates, Loyola head coach Porter Moser, Utah State head coach Craig Smith and Drake head coach Darian DeVries. Pitino has already found his next job at New Mexico. I’ll get into that later.
Utah: Larry Krystowiak out
This one had been coming for a few years now. Krystowiak is out after 10 seasons in Salt Lake City, going 91-90 in Pac-12 play but has been under .500 in the league two years in a row. The Utes have not been to the tournament since 2016. BYU head coach Mark Pope is the overwhelming favorite to land this job. Longtime Utah Jazz assistant coach Alex Jensen could also be considered.
DePaul: Dave Leitao out
The second stint of Leitao in Chicago did not come close to the amount of success he had in his first stint. Hired in 2015, the Blue Demons won more than four league games just once and went 2-14 in the Big East this season. Overall, he went over .500 just once in six seasons. Gates has a strong Chicago connection and the home run hire would be Moser. New York Knicks assistant and former Oregon and Kentucky assistant Kenny Payne should be given a serious look. Duke assistant Jon Scheyer is also a name to watch.
Iowa State: Steve Prohm out, TJ Otzelberger (likely) in
Prohm’s tenure in Ames started out very promising, making the NCAA Tournament three times in his first four years including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2016. However, the Cyclones have struggled mightily since its last appearance in 2019, going 5-13 in Big 12 play, 12-20 overall in 2019-20 and bottoming out at 0-18 and 2-22 this season. UNLV head coach TJ Otzelberger is the reported hire here after two solid seasons with the Runnin’ Rebels, a program that now has to conduct a coaching search for the third time since 2016. I’m not sure how I feel about Otzelberger. He inherited Mike Daum at South Dakota State and went 28-29 at UNLV in two years. Maybe he will prove to be a good coach and have success in Iowa.
New Mexico: Richard Pitino in
I said I’d circle back to Pitino. This is kind of a roll of the dice, because he has no ties to the area but is a big name that will attract transfers, where he does his best work. It will be interesting to see how he does at a semi-big-name program that has not had real success in nearly a decade. Crazy stat time: The Lobos have not reached the Sweet 16 since 1974.
Boston College: Earl Grant in
I like Grant a lot. He had a lot of success at College of Charleston. But this doesn’t feel like the right fit. This kind of came out of nowhere when you had names like Mark Schmidt and John Becker in the northeast (Schmidt is an alum!) and you go with a guy who has no ties to the northeast. Maybe they want a clean slate and be able to compete with recruiting in the Carolinas but this doesn’t seem like the right way to do it. Not to mention, he is coming off of two down years. Going from the CAA to the ACC is also quite the jump. I’m not saying it’s a bad hire, just confusing and I’m still digesting it.
Anyway, College of Charleston is now open too. LeVelle Moton and Mike Jones should definitely be candidates.
Penn State: Micah Shrewsberry in
Man, this is such a good hire. The former Purdue, Butler and Boston Celtics assistant finally gets a crack at a D1 coaching job. He’s a great recruiter and great at player development. He comes from the coaching tree of Brad Stevens and Matt Painter, which is not too shabby. Penn State fans should be thrilled with this hire.
Now, to hit a couple mid- and low-major ones that are interesting to me.
George Mason: Dave Paulsen out
Paulsen had a lot of success at Bucknell but never found it with George Mason, where he went 95-91 overall and 46-54 in Atlantic 10 play across six seasons, never going better than 11-7 in league play. The candidates for this one should be plentiful across other mid-and low-major head coaches and high-major assistants. It’s definitely a place where you can win. As for Paulsen, look for him to land a low-major head coach job somewhere in the northeast.
San Jose State: Jean Prioleau out
This tenure went horribly. In four seasons, Prioleau went 20-93 overall and 8-62 in Mountain West play. The Spartans have had one season over .500 this century, 17-16 in the 2010-11 season. An assistant with head coaching experience such as Dave Rice or Marvin Menzies could be in play here. An outside-the-box hire could be former Phoenix Suns head coach Earl Watson.
Albany: Dwayne Killings in
Killings, formerly the associate head coach at Marquette, is a rising star in coaching. Before Marquette, he had assistant jobs at Temple, UConn, Boston University and the Charlotte Hornets. Albany has competed in the past, making five NCAA Tournaments under Will Brown, who roamed the Albany sidelines for nearly 20 years and unceremoniously exited after this season after his contract was not renewed. Killings will be tasked with replacing the most successful coach the program has ever had at the D1 level.
AJ Hoops 