By Aidan Joly
On top of the NCAA tournament, another aspect of this type of year in the college basketball landscape is the coaching changes. We seem to have had a lot across the country this time around.
Some made huge headlines, while some may change the futures of programs. Let’s get into them.
(This is in alphabetical order)
California: Mark Fox out, Mark Madsen in
Many thought that Madsen, who is coming in from Utah Valley, would wait out the job at Stanford when that opens, considering he is a Stanford alum. However, that won’t happen as Madsen instead lands just under 50 miles north at California. It’s really tough to win there as the program hasn’t won an NCAA tournament game since 2012 and hasn’t been in the second weekend in this millennium, but it’s been done before. It will be a rebuild effort coming off of a disastrous 3-29 season.
Georgetown: Patrick Ewing out, Ed Cooley in
I wrote about this a little more extensively upon his hiring a few weeks ago, but this is a home run hire for the Hoyas. Cooley should be able to rebuild the program rather quickly after Ewing struggled. Recruiting and NIL are key here at a program that has a great tradition and brand, on top of being in a major city. Back in the NCAA tournament within two years should be the goal.
Georgia Tech: Josh Pastner out, Damon Stoudamire in
Pastner produced just one NCAA tournament appearance and two winning seasons in the ACC in his time at Georgia Tech. The administration went technically went to the NBA ranks for this one as Stoudamire was serving as a Boston Celtics assistant. However, he struggled as the head coach of Pacific from 2016-2021, going 34-47 in the West Coast Conference and 71-77 overall. Struggling in the WCC and then your next head coaching job coming in the ACC is a big leap. Let’s see how he does.
Iona: Rick Pitino out, Tobin Anderson in
Pitino leaving Iona after this season was a foregone conclusion and there were a few names thrown around. Anderson was in the race but wasn’t taken too seriously until Fairleigh Dickinson knocked off Purdue in the first round. Now, Anderson, who had been at FDU for just one season, is the next head coach at a program that has been the class of the MAAC in the past decade. Similar to Anderson, Pitino’s predecessor at Iona, Tim Cluess, had a lot of success at Division II before coming to Iona.
McNeese State: John Aiken out, Will Wade in
It’s a choice! After a year off following allegations, which includes five Level 1 violations, that led to his ouster from LSU one year ago, the controversial Wade is back in the ranks. McNeese is doing it without the NCAA investigation complete, and McNeese has already suspended Wade for the first five games of next season. There’s an inherent risk in hiring him right now, but it’s also high upside. After all, this is the same guy who turned around Chattanooga and coached in five NCAA tournaments by age 40.
Notre Dame: Mike Brey out, Micah Shrewsberry in
Brey was an institution in South Bend, but things had gone south in recent years so what ended up as Brey being kind of pushed out seemed inevitable. Now, the Irish bring in the now former Penn State head coach in Shrewsberry, who won 37 games in two years in Happy Valley and got the Nittany Lions to the NCAA tournament this year for the first time since 2011. Reports indicate that Penn State offered Shrewsberry a generous package to stay, but he decided to leave. It’s a similar archetype with both institutes being football schools. He’ll have more resources at Notre Dame, he should have the Irish back to success in no time.
Ole Miss: Kermit Davis out, Chris Beard in
It becomes clear in this hire where Ole Miss’ priorities lie. Beard was placed on leave by Texas in December and then subsequently fired in January amid domestic violence allegations, which eventually the charges were dropped. Beard has had a lot of success as a coach, sure, but this one kind of reeks of “we only care about winning.” Ole Miss is coming off of a 3-15 SEC, 12-21 overall season in which Davis was fired towards the end of the season.
Penn State: Micah Shrewsberry out, Mike Rhoades in
Penn State finds it replacement for Shrewsberry in now former VCU head coach Mike Rhoades. It’s not the flashiest of hires, but Rhoades went 72-32 in Atlantic 10 play in six years at VCU, which includes 39-11 in the past three years, with three NCAA tournament appearances overall. However, the type of tough guys he recruits at VCU might not fit the Big Ten mold. It’s a big difference in style. Might take a year or two of the jury being out here.
Providence: Ed Cooley out, Kim English in
I question this one. English was a big up-and-comer when he was hired at George Mason two years ago, but it feels like he needed a few more years before he made this jump. He went 34-29 overall and 18-16 in the Atlantic 10 in his time in Fairfax. I could certainly be wrong here, but it might be a few years of growing pains for a coach who is still only 34 years old. It will be nearly impossible to replicate what Cooley did at Providence, but if he’s given some time, this has a good chance at working out.
St. John’s: Mike Anderson out, Rick Pitino in
Another one that I wrote a little bit more extensively about, Pitino brings instant credibility and stability to a program in desperate need of it. Things had gotten stale with Anderson by year four, and reports of issues with the team’s chemistry has surfaced. No doubt that Pitino can bring wins in the regular season, it will be winning in the postseason that matters. St. John’s hasn’t won an NCAA tournament game since 2000.
South Florida: Brian Gregory out, Amir Abdur-Rahim in
The hiring of Abdur-Rahim could very well be the shot in the arm that this program needs. It’s a very tough place to win and that was shown by Gregory’s 33-72 mark in the American Athletic across six seasons and 79-107 overall. However, South Florida did win the CBI in 2019, the highlight of Gregory’s tenure. Abdur-Rahim pulled off one of the best rebuild jobs in college basketball in recent years, going 1-28 overall and 0-16 in the Atlantic Sun in 2019-20 (his first season) to 26-9, 15-3 in the league and the program’s first-ever NCAA tournament appearance this year and giving Xavier a real scare in the first round. This is a strong one.
Syracuse: Jim Boeheim out, Adrian Autry in
It’s always tough to replace the best coach the program has ever seen, but that’s a challenge that Autry is about to embark on. The 51-year-old had been an assistant under Boeheim since 2011 and played at Syracuse in the early 1990s, so he knows the program better than most. It wouldn’t have hurt for Syracuse to at least take a look outside the program for Boeheim’s replacement, but you can’t fault them for going this way.
Temple: Aaron McKie out, Adam Fisher in
McKie was re-assigned within the athletic department after going 30-37 and 52-56 overall in four seasons, but this is one you felt like was coming, despite back-to-back winning seasons. Apparently this wasn’t a search that went overly smoothly, but they finally land on the Penn State’s top assistant in Fisher. He has never had a head coaching job. On top of Penn State, Fisher has also assisted at Miami, Villanova and Boston University. Temple was last in the NCAA tournament in 2019 under Fran Dunphy. Still think Matt Langel should have gotten this job, though.
Texas: Rodney Terry’s interim tag taken off
It’s fair to say that Terry deserved to get the interim tag taken off after going 22-8 in that capacity and leading Texas to the Elite Eight, but the administration could have done better. Both can be true. He was last a full-time head coach at UTEP from 2018-2021, where he went 19-33 in Conference USA play and 37-48 overall. It’ll be intriguing to see how he does now that he has this momentum, or if the administration will be kicking themselves for not doing a more extensive search.
VCU: Mike Rhoades out, Ryan Odom in
I never got the fit of Ryan Odom at Utah State, but this makes a lot more sense for Odom geography-wise. He did well in two years out west, going 21-15 in the Mountain West and 44-25 overall, while the Aggies were in the tournament this season. However, back in an area he knows at a school that has a winning tradition, Odom can really shine.
Wichita State: Isaac Brown out, Paul Mills in
It was only a matter of time until Mills got a job at a higher level school after spending the last six seasons at Oral Roberts and turning it into a mid-major powerhouse. This is a really important hire for Wichita State, a school in which Gregg Marshall had to resign in 2020 amid abuse allegations. Wichita State has been less on the national radar the past few years than it was a decade ago, so Mills’ job will be to get the Shockers back on the national radar.
Notable schools still with openings: Utah State, Texas Tech, Buffalo, George Mason
Some mid-major hires that grabbed my attention:
Arkansas State: Mike Balado out, Bryan Hodgson in
Hodgson has spent the better part of the past decade as Nate Oats’ right-hand man at both Buffalo and Alabama, and now a guy who has been seen as a future head coach gets that chance. He’s a star recruiter.
Bucknell: Nathan Davis out, John Griffin III in
Bucknell is certainly a place you can win. Four straight losing seasons under Davis led to his departure, but he had been the NCAA tournament twice with the Bison before that. Bucknell has been to the NCAA tournament six times since 2005. Griffin III, who was the associate head coach at Saint Joseph’s, is the son of John Griffin II, who was the head coach at Siena and Saint Joseph’s.
Fairleigh Dickinson: Tobin Anderson out, Jack Castleberry in
FDU promotes the top assistant after Anderson left for Iona. It will be Castleberry’s job to build on the great season, capped off with the Purdue win.
Holy Cross: Brett Nelson out, Dave Paulsen in
This is a good hire for Holy Cross. This is Paulsen’s third Division I head coaching job, having the top job at Bucknell from 2008-2015 and George Mason from 2015-2021. He spent this season as an assistant at Fordham, which was the best season for the program in recent memory.
Manhattan: Steve Masiello (RaShawn Stores interim) out, John Gallagher in
Mixed feelings. Masiello got a raw deal at Manhattan, being forced out two weeks before this season began. RaShawn Stores did a good job in the interim and clearly had the full support of the players after a 10-10 MAAC campaign and 12-18 overall, so he probably deserved the full-time job. Instead, it goes to Gallagher, the former Hartford coach who resigned the day before the season began, basically accusing the administration of not caring about the program as it was entering its final season in the Division I ranks. You’re happy Gallagher gets another shot as a head coach, but there were some wrongdoings by the Manhattan administration here.
Oral Roberts: Paul Mills out, Russell Springmann in
Springmann finally gets a shot to run his own program, having been as an assistant at Oral Roberts since 2018. He also spent 17 years at Texas under Rick Barnes, becoming known as one of the top assistant coaches in the game, and also had an assistant job at San Diego. He also has NBA experience. It’s a situation where you can’t help but be happy a guy is finally getting a shot.
AJ Hoops 