By Aidan Joly
The college basketball season starts back up in less than two weeks. Here, we will evaluate the six coaching changes that took place in the Atlantic 1o this offseason.
Davidson: Bob McKillop out, Matt McKillop in
Bob McKillop, the best coach that the Davidson program has ever seen, having led the program since 1989 and is also noted to have been Stephen Curry’s college coach, retired this past June. He amassed over 600 wins and reached the NCAA Tournament 10 times, five of them coming since 2012. He is replaced by his son Matt, who has been an assistant with the program since 2008. This is a great way for the program to “keep it in the family” so to speak and continue to have success moving forward.
Fordham: Kyle Neptune out, Keith Urgo in
Former Villanova coach Jay Wright threw a wrench into the college basketball landscape in April when he announced his retirement and Neptune was immediately named his replacement. Neptune had spent just one season as head coach of the Rams, going 16-16 (8-10 A10) at a notoriously tough place to win. That was a 14-win improvement from the 2020-21 season, while reaching the quarterfinals of the conference tournament for the first time since 2007. Urgo was an assistant and got promoted to his first head coaching job. Urgo is recognized as one of the top assistants in the league and an elite recruiter. He should be able to keep the momentum going while he brings in a strong recruiting class.
George Washington: Jamion Christian out, Chris Caputo in
It wasn’t long ago that Christian was regarded as one of the top young coaches in our sport, but flamed out at George Washington, going 29-50 (17-26 A10) 0ver three seasons. Caputo is a Jim Larranaga disciple, who started with him at George Mason and then followed him to Miami. Having long been considered a future head coach, and still just 42 years old, this feels like a perfect fit for him to succeed.
La Salle: Ashley Howard out, Fran Dunphy in
He’s baaaaaaaack. After the Explorers canned Howard after four lackluster seasons, they bring the 74-year-old Dunphy out of retirement to lead the program. The Philly legend won over 300 games as the head coach of Penn from 1989-2006 and then 270 more at Temple until he stepped down following the 2018-19 season. This hire brings credibility and relevance to a program that has lagged behind the other Philadelphia schools in recent years.
Massachusetts: Matt McCall out, Frank Martin in
This is a program that needed a bit of a kickstart and they got it in Martin. He is the third-winningest coach in program history for South Carolina, which he led from 2012 until he was fired at the end of this past season. He also led the Gamecocks to its only Final Four in program history in 2017. The goal here will be to restore the once-proud program back to relevance. With his well-documented energy and enthusiasm, this feels like a great fit.
Rhode Island: David Cox out, Archie Miller in
Miller was once one of the top coaching prospects in basketball, bringing Dayton to four straight NCAA Tournaments from 2014-2017, reaching the Elite Eight once. However, he was scooped up by Indiana and floundered, treading water for four years until he was fired following the 2020-21 season. After a year out of coaching, he’s back in the same league where he had that success in Dayton. Rhode Island is definitely a place you can win and having a name like Miller at the helm will almost surely be able to help with recruiting.
AJ Hoops 