By Aidan Joly
Monday was a very busy day in the coaching carousel across the college hoops landscape after all of the games over the weekend.
Some of the biggest openings this season were filled, while perhaps the biggest opening of the cycle still remains open as of Tuesday afternoon.
Let’s get into it.
Filled openings
Dusty May to Michigan
This was probably the second biggest opening on the board this off-season. It goes to May, who brought Florida Atlantic to the Final Four before hovering in the top 25 all season this year.
May is familiar with both the Big Ten and the area, having famously been a student manager at Indiana, is from Illinois and got his first coaching job at Eastern Michigan all the way back in 2005. Ann Arbor feels like a great fit for May.
For what it is worth, it seemed like for a long time that May would end up at Louisville, but seems to have had a change of heart. May replaces Juwan Howard, who was fired after a dreadful 8-24 season this year, just three years after going to the Elite Eight.
Darian DeVries to West Virginia
DeVries has been in the running to get a high major job for a few years now, and finally lands in Morgantown.
DeVries owned a 150-55 record in six seasons at Drake and led the program to the tournament three times in that span. Before he arrived, Drake only had four NCAA tournament appearances to its name. His teams play an attractive style of basketball that is tough on defense and aesthetically pleasing on offense.
DeVries will also probably end up bringing some key pieces with him to WVU, including his son Tucker, who would have been one of the best players in the transfer portal this spring.
He replaces interim coach Josh Eilert, who ran the program this season after the unceremonious firing of Bob Huggins last summer. WVU went 9-23 this season and 4-14 in Big 12 play.
Danny Sprinkle to Washington
It’s been quite the rise for Sprinkle, one of the fast rising coaches in the country. A year ago he left his alma mater in Montana State to take the job at Utah State, and now he departs that job to move to Washington.
A native of the state of Washington, Sprinkle led Utah State to a 28-7 record this season and 14-4 in the Mountain West, getting an 8-seed in the tournament and advancing before a second round loss to Purdue on Sunday. He got Montana State to the tournament twice in his four-year tenure there.
Washington is getting one of the best young coaches in the country with this. He has won big everywhere he has gone and will try to revive a Huskies program that has only been to the tournament once since 2011.
He replaces Mike Hopkins, who went 62-72 in Pac 12 play and 118-106 overall in seven seasons.
Kyle Smith to Stanford
Smith elects to leave Washington State as the program drops down to the WCC amidst the demise of the Pac 12 to head to Stanford as the school joins the ACC for next season.
Stanford is one of the tougher jobs in the high majors when you consider the academic requirements of the school, but coaches have won there before. Smith has experience at schools with high academic requirements, having coached at Columbia in the Ivy League from 2010-2016. He had two 20-win seasons there.
He helped rebuild the Washington State program this season, leading it to the tournament for the first time since 2008 this season. Smith is a great tactician who will bring in good players to fit his system.
He replaces Jerod Haase, who went 126-127 overall and 67-84 in eight seasons. Stanford has not been to the NCAA tournament since 2014.
Mark Byington to Vanderbilt
This one feels like a very strong fit. Byington heads to Nashville after four seasons at James Madison, going 82-36 and 41-23 in conference play in two different leagues. JMU was one of the best mid majors in the country this year, ending the season 32-4 with an appearance in the second round.
Byington also spent seven years as the coach at Georgia Southern, picking up three 20-win seasons. He seems like a very similar coach to Dusty May, but without the Final Four run. He is also one of the fast rising coaches from the mid major ranks, and should do well at Vanderbilt.
Vanderbilt has not been to the tournament since 2017. It fired Jerry Stackhouse, who went 70-92 and 28-60 in SEC play in five seasons.
Chris Holtmann to DePaul
Holtmann finds a landing spot in Chicago after being fired midseason by Ohio State. He joins the star-studded coaching ranks of the Big East after his tenure in Columbus, which ended poorly but featured five 20-win seasons in six-plus seasons as well as four NCAA tournament appearances.
DePaul is probably the worst job in all of Power 6. No facilities, no NIL money, barely any winning tradition. Holtmann will have his work cut out for him, especially in the Big East and its powerhouses in UConn, Creighton and Marquette.
The program has not been to the tournament since 2004, the longest drought in all of Power 6. It fired Tony Stubblefield in the midst of his third season, departing with a 28-54 record and 9-38 in league play. Interim coach Matt Brady went 0-14 as DePaul finished the season 3-29.
In addition, Ohio State took the interim tag off of Jake Diebler, giving him a five-year contract. It’s definitely a risky move, with such a small sample size, but Ohio State is electing to make the same move Texas did one year ago.
Diebler is 8-2 as interim head coach, while the Buckeyes are in the NIT quarterfinals.
Jobs still open
There are three Power 6 jobs still open: Louisville, Oklahoma State and SMU.
We all know about the Louisville job, and many of their top candidates seem to have taken other jobs at this point, so choices are surely limited for athletic director Josh Heird now. Josh Schertz, the head coach at Indiana State is still available, but the Sycamores are also still alive in the NIT. There is a lot out there about the Louisville job right now and it’s still not clear the direction the school will go.
Oklahoma State is still open after the firing of Mike Boynton after seven seasons, resulting in a 119-109 overall record and 51-75 in Big 12 play. Boynton also only had one NCAA tournament appearance in that span.
SMU is also open after the surprising firing of Rob Lanier after just two seasons as the program goes to the ACC next season. Lanier had a 10-win improvement this season, too, as well as six more conference wins. It’s a bit of a head scratcher to say the least. SMU’s thought seems to be that they can get a bigger name with the move to the ACC. USC coach Andy Enfield’s name has surfaced in multiple reports within the past 24 hours.
Lanier landed on his feet pretty quickly though, being hired at Rice within days.
Of course, Utah State and FAU are both open. You have to feel for Utah State, which has now had its last three coaches leave after three or less seasons for other jobs. Craig Smith went to Utah after three years, Ryan Odom went to VCU after two and now Sprinkle goes to Washington after just one season.
Kyle Church is currently the interim coach at FAU, and probably deserves the full-time gig. Drake is now open as well.
In the Atlantic 10, Duquesne and St. Louis are both open. Dru Joyce III seems to be leader at Duquesne after he served as the top assistant for the retiring Keith Dambrot. Joyce is a high school teammate of LeBron James and the two remain friends. Schertz’s name has been in play at St. Louis, but the Billikens may have to pivot if he lands the Louisville job.
Fresno State is also open after the firing of Justin Hutson.
Quickly transitioning to a few mid-major jobs that have been filled, former Tennessee, California and Missouri coach Cuonzo Martin has now landed at Missouri State for his second stint there. He was the coach at Missouri State from 2008-2011, going 61-41 in those three seasons.
Austin Claunch has also been hired at UTSA. He went 90-61 in five seasons at Nicholls before spending this season as an assistant at Alabama.
AJ Hoops 