UNC once again kept it in the Carolina family after Roy Williams’ retirement by elevating long-time assistant Hubert Davis. Davis has been on the Tar Heels staff for nine seasons. He is the first Black men’s basketball coach in UNC history.
Shaka Smart
Chris Beard
Texas nabbed its top target, which is a reflection on how coveted the UT job is. Beard went 112-55 at TTU and carries a 142-60 career record. It is anticipated that he will get Texas to the Final Four and turn that program into one that can win the Big 12 as often as any other. We shall see.
Archie Miller
Mike Woodson
Mike Woodson left the NBA life after decades in the pro game to return home and coach the Hoosiers. Woodson, an IU alum, agreed to a six-year contract. His biggest win came quickly; Trayce Jackson-Davis will return for his junior season in Bloomington.
Sean Miller
Tommy Lloyd
After a seven-day stretch that was filled with plenty of drama behind the scenes, in the end, it’s one of the best assistants in the country who winds up getting one of the best jobs in the country. Lloyd has spent nearly two decades helping Mark Few build up Gonzaga. Now he’ll seek to restore Arizona’s luster as a top-10 program.
Steve Wojciechowski
Shaka Smart
Marquette moved quickly and quietly to lure Shaka Smart away from Texas, and in doing so, turned some heads. A fresh start for Smart, a Wisconsin native, who goes back to basketball-first university in a basketball-first conference.
Larry Krystkowiak
Craig Smith
Smith scoots on down from Logan to coach in Salt Lake City. A solid hire for a historically proud program. There’s a chance this winds up as the longest lasting marriage of any power-conference hire in this year’s cycle.
Lon Kruger
Porter Moser
Kruger’s somewhat-sudden retirement opened the door for the Sooners to swoop in, offer a six-year deal and lure Moser away from Loyola Chicago. The question is, can he be as successful in a power conference as he was in the Missouri Valley? Following Kruger is doable, but not simple.
Steve Prohm
TJ Otzelberger
Otzelberger had a pair of mediocre seasons at UNLV, but prior to that was outstanding at South Dakota State. He is capable of having success in territory he’s quite familiar with. (He is a former ISU assistant.) The Cyclones have been to seven NCAA Tournaments since 2012.
Richard Pitino
Ben Johnson
Minnesota closed the deal with a Golden Gophers alumnus, Ben Johnson, who formerly worked under Richard Pitino before more recently serving as an assistant for Travis Steele’s Xavier staff.
John Brannen
Wes Miller
Cincinnati is in a state of disrepair from a roster perspective, so the 38-year-old Miller will have his work cut out for him. He went 183-135 in 10 seasons at UNCG. No telling if it’s a true home run hire, but it’s a stand-up double at absolute worst.
Chris Beard
Mark Adams
Adams, the top assistant on Beard’s Red Raiders staff, has been with the program since Beard took over the gig in 2016. He was elevated to associate head coach prior to the 2019-20 season. A Texas Tech alumnus, Adams, who graduated from the school in 1979, paid his dues and earned his shot.
Gregg Marshall
Isaac Brown
Marshall’s resignation in November allowed Brown to step in on an interim basis. After putting the Shockers into the NCAA Tournament and guiding them to the top of the AAC standings, the school announced a promotion for Brown to the full-time position on Feb. 26.
Jim Christian
Earl Grant
Grant comes from Charleston, where he went 127-89 in seven seasons with one NCAA Tournament bid. Christian was fired Feb. 15 after six and a half seasons. He went 78-132 and did not make an NCAA Tournament. Boston College has not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2009.
Pat Chambers
Micah Shrewsberry
Shrewsberry was considered an inevitable head-coaching hire in college basketball for a couple of years now, and he’ll stay in the Big Ten, as the school is now the only one in that league employing Black coaches in men’s basketball and football.
Dave Leitao
Tony Stubblefield
Congrats to Stubblefield, who was a pick out of left field for many. He’s spent the past 28 years in coaching, with this his first opportunity to run a program. He comes via Oregon, where he spent the past 11 years as an assistant for Dana Altman.
TJ Otzelberger
Kevin Kruger
Lon Kruger coached in Las Vegas once upon a time. Now his son will get the chance, as the school decided to stay in-house and promote the 37-year-old to his first head-coaching gig. Kruger finished his college playing career with UNLV in 2007.
Paul Weir
Richard Pitino
Pitino is adaptable, that’s for sure, and this opportunity should suit him well. New Mexico has lofty expectations given its conference and location. The fan base holds its head coaches accountable on the level you’d find at a top-40 program.
Jeff Neubauer
Kyle Neptune
Neptune spent the past eight seasons serving under Jay Wright. This hire is a good one for the Bronx native, who can give Fordham its best chance at competing in the A-10 as any coach in the past 20 years. The job remains among the toughest in a multi-bid league. The school joined the Atlantic 10 in 1995; it’s failed to make the NCAAs since. In fact, it’s had just two seasons above. 500 in that span.
Dave Paulsen
Kim English
George Mason went young, hiring 32-year-old Tennessee assistant Kim English. The former second-round NBA pick starred at Missouri and also spent time on the bench at Tulsa and Colorado.
Craig Smith
Ryan Odom
Utah State tapped sitting head coach Ryan Odom — of UMBC — to fill its vacancy. Odom was 97-60 in five seasons with UMBC and most famously was the head coach of 16th-seeded Retrievers when they knocked off No. 1 Virginia in 2018.
Porter Moser
Drew Valentine
Loyola elevated 29-year-old Drew Valentine — who was on Porter Moser’s staff the last four seasons — to the head gig. Valentine played at Oakland where he later returned as an assistant. He also gathered experience at Michigan State under Tom Izzo. He’s the youngest head coach in D-I basketball.
Earl Grant
Pat Kelsey
The top job in the Colonial is filled by Kelsey, who has a chance to get Charleston back into national relevance. Surprising yet true: The program has made the NCAAs once in 22 years.
Jean Prioleau
Tim Miles
The toughest job in the Mountain West goes to a guy who was always going to get back in the game. Miles, last seen coaching Nebraska, could wind up being the perfect hire for a program that must climb out of the basement.
Rob Murphy
Stan Heath
Eastern Michigan tapped 56-year-old Stan Heath to be its next coach. Heath graduated from EMU in 1987. He has a 209-206 career record as a college head coach and spent the past four years as coach of the Orlando Magic’s G League program.
Greg Lansing
Josh Schertz
Indiana State dipped into the Division II ranks for its next coach. Schertz spent 13 years and Lincoln Memorial and won nearly 85% of his games. He’ll make for an interesting experiment in the Valley.
Rodney Terry
Joe Golding
Terry left his post at UTEP after three seasons to become the top assistant — making nearly a million dollars annually — for Chris Beard at Texas. Golding comes over via Abilene Christian, where he took the Wildcats to the past two NCAA Tournaments. Sensible hire.
Joe Mihalich
Speedy Claxton
Sadly, Mihalich stepped down after not coaching the 2020-21 season due to health reasons. Hofstra opted to hire a program legend in Claxton, 42, who spent the previous eight seasons as an assistant in Hempstead.
Pat Kelsey
Mark Prosser
Prosser got his first head job at Western Carolina three years ago. He went 37-53 and was handed the keys to Winthrop. A huge opportunity here.
Keno Davis
TBD
Central Michigan won more than 20 games three times in Davis’ nine-year run in Mt. Pleasant. The Chippewas last made the NCAAs in 2003.
Byron Rimm II
Matt Crenshaw
No shortage of alumni who’ve been picked to be head coaches this year. Crenshaw is among that group, and is one of the best guards in the history of IUPUI basketball.
Terry Porter
Shantay Legans
After taking Eastern Washington to the NCAA Tournament, Legans was swiftly lured away and into the WCC at Portland. Tough job in a great city.
Mark Montgomery
Rashon Burno
Arizona State assistant Rashon Burno is on his way to Northern Illinois. He’s a savvy, high-energy hire. Burno replaces Mark Montgomery, who was 125-170 in nine and a half seasons. The school last made the NCAAs in 1996.
Shantay Legans
David Riley
Within days of Legans’ move to Portland, Eastern Washington announced longtime assistant David Riley would take over. He gets a roster that just went to the NCAA Tournament, a perk few other coaches on this list get to inherit.
Chris Ogden
Greg Young
Ogden took a raise to join Beard’s staff at Texas, which is also Ogden’s alma mater. Nice work if you can get it. Young scoots one chair over at UT Arlington, as he was associate head coach under Ogden.
Tony Jasick
Jordan Mincy
Jacksonville did not have to look that far for its next coach. The school tagged Florida assistant Jordan Mincy to take over after serving the past six seasons on Mike White’s Gators staff.
Danny Kaspar
Terrence Johnson
Terrence Johnson stepped in and rightfully earned the full-time gig after guiding Texas State to an 18-7 season, following the firing last fall of Danny Kaspar.
Wes Miller
TBD
UNC Greensboro’s reputation has been mightily upgraded in the past six years under Wes Miller. Now that he’s off to Cincinnati, it will be interesting to see who the school can lure in to take this job.
Rodney Billups
Jeff Wulbrun
A Stanford assistant lands a Denver job that is viewed as a potential Summit League power. Good area, solid facilities for that level. Just waiting to be untapped.
Jason Shay
Desmond Oliver
Oliver goes to East Tennessee State and becomes the school’s third coach in as many seasons following the surprising resignation from Jason Shay, who lasted one season and went 13-12. It’s been reported he resigned after backlash over his players kneeling during the national anthem.
Ryan Odom
Jim Ferry
UMBC looks to have done well for itself in replacing Odom. Jim Ferry was a good interim head coach for Penn State last season, and prior to that took LIU Brooklyn to the NCAA Tournament before he sputtered at Duquesne.
Will Brown
Dwayne Killings
Brown lasted 20 seasons and made five NCAA Tournaments, but it was time for a change. Marquette assistant Dwayne Killings, who has been a rising star in the industry the past five years, has received rave reviews from peers as Albany’s next coach.
David Patrick
TBD
Mike Magpayo coached UC Riverside all last season in an interim role after Patrick left for Arkansas. Magpayo is almost certainly going to be the full-time coach, it’s just a matter of working out the specifics, which still aren’t settled, according to sources.
Barret Peery
TBD
Peery is one of a few coaches who left their spot as a head man to join a bigger program as an assistant. In his case, he moves from Portland State to Texas Tech.
Jay Spoonhour
Marty Simmons
Eastern Illinois hired Simmons due in large part to his depth of experience as a head coach at this level. Simmons is 282-248 with previous stops at SIU Edwardsville and Evansville.
Willis Wilson
Steve Lutz
Wilson transitioned out at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, and the university plucked Purdue assistant Steve Lutz to get his first head-coaching job in college basketball after 25 years as an assistant.
Joe Golding
Brette Tanner
Abilene Christian wasted no time. After Golding took UTEP, Tanner was rallied around by the players immediately. It resulted in one of the quickest hiring decisions of the 2021 cycle.
Mark Prosser
Justin Gray
Gray got the job after working the past two years at Winthrop. Best known for being a standout at Wake Forest, playing alongside a guy named Chris Paul.
Anthony Stewart
Ryan Ridder
UT Martin brought in Ridder, who won 48 games in three seasons at Bethune-Cookman. The team did not play this past season due to COVID-19. Ridder replaces Stewart, who tragically died less than a week before the start of the season when he never woke up from a nap. Stewart led the UT Martin Skyhawks for four seasons.
Matt Figger
Nate James
The next Duke assistant to get his shot is Nate James, who heads to the OVC and coach Austin Peay. James, 43, was an assistant at Duke since 2009.
Lew Hill
Matt Figger
Terribly, two coaching vacancies existed due to coaches dying. Lew Hill died in his sleep the morning of Feb. 7, perishing just hours after he coached what he thought would be his last UTRGV game for an indefinite hiatus. Figger will be the next coach after going 76-51 in four seasons at Austin Peay.
Tic Price
Alvin Brooks
Houston’s Final Four run propelled Alvin Brooks to make the leap from assistant under Kelvin Sampson back into the head-coaching ranks. Brooks’ last job as a head coach was at Houston, of all places, in 1998.
Tommy Dempsey
Levell Sanders
Binghamton is one of the toughest jobs in the country, and Dempsey lasted nine seasons despite never finishing above .500. Sanders steps in on an interim basis for the 2021-22 season.
Donyell Marshall
TBD
Central Connecticut never found momentum under UConn legend Donyell Marshall, going 40-104 in five seasons. This is maybe the toughest job in the NEC.
Ryan Ridder
Dominique Taylor
Bethune-Cookman opened when Ryan Ridder left to take the UT Martin job. Taylor was promoted on an interim basis for the upcoming season.
Heath Schroyer
John Aiken
Schroyer stepped down as McNeese State coach on March 11, but here’s the twist: He’s also the school’s athletic director. His first decision as AD was to promote assistant John Aiken to head coach. An unusual gambit, the program continues without enduring a coaching search after a trying season.
George Ivory
TBD
Ivory was let go after back-to-back four-win seasons that tailed out a 13-year run with Arkansas Pine Bluff.
Murray Garvin
Tony Madlock
South Carolina State, out of the MEAC, opted not to renew Garvin’s contract on March 15. Madlock, a Memphis assistant, will be tasked with turning around a 1-17 team.
Eric Skeeters
TBD
Skeeters was let go April 1. A MEAC job, Delaware State is back on the hunt after three seasons with Skeeters at the helm. School currently has no AD.
