Coaching Carousel (Spring Edition)

updated 4/17

updated 4/9 with Kentucky, Texas A&M, Kansas State, Arkansas, LB State, Marshall

updated 4/5/07 with West Virginia/Kansas State, Santa Clara, Butler, Iona.

updated 4/3/07 with the Creighton/Arkansas UNDO, Louisianna Tech and Colorado/Air Force

ESPN.com keeps track of all the coaching changes, firings and hirings.


Current Job Openings for 2007-2008

Saint Louis, Texas A&M Corpus Cristi, Princeton, UC Riverside, and a few more low-majors.

None of the TV analysts left their comfy analyst chairs for a coaching job this spring.


Filled Job Openings for 2007-2008

Kentucky, Arkansas, Kansas State, Minnessota, Michigan, Iowa, South Florida, Colorado, Texas A&M, West Virginia.

MWC: Air Force, New Mexico, Colorado State, Wyoming, Utah (5 of 9 teams have new coaches!)

Valley of Darkness (MVC): Wichita State, Drake, Illinois State, Indiana State, Evansville. (Re)FILLED: Creighton. Half of the teams have new coaches.

Louisiana Tech (LaTech), St Bonaventure, South Alabama, Bowling Green, Winthrop, Butler

Everybody wants to be the next Gonzaga on the west coast: Hawaii, San Diego, Santa Clara, Long Beach State.

Ha'av'ad (Harvard), Marshall, Denver, Binghampton, Liberty, Southern Utah, Iona


Select Assistant Coach Job Openings for 2007-2008

Louisville (Kevin Willard went to Iona) FILLED: with his son!

UCLA (Kevin Keading went to Santa Clara)


Hiring Head Coaches vs Hiring Assistants Coaches (as of 3/24)

Of the 17 jobs filled so far nine were given to current/former head coaches. The remaining eight jobs were given to assistant coaches, from either the same program (2) or from another program (6).

Assistants at Georgetown, Kansas, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Gonzaga, Fresno State got their first head coaching jobs at mid-majors.

Two #2s got promoted from within to become the head coach: North Dakota State and Drake (daddy's son)

Rod Barnes was an assistant at Oklahoma this year, but he was the Ole Miss head coach before.

One lower division coach was given a D1 job (Evansville)


Recently-fired coaches quickly get new jobs

Ricardo Patton from Colorado to Northern Illinois

Ritchie McKay from New Mexico to Liberty

Ray Giacoletti from Utah to Gonzaga as the top assistant

Stan Heath from Arkansas to South Florida

Louis Orr from Syracuse to Bowling Green

Tommy Amaker from Michigan to Harvard

Dan Monson from Minnessota to Long Beach State

Joe Scott from Princeton to Denver (pushed-out as opposed to fired?)


Top Available Candidates

TV Analysts: Rick Majerus, Steve Lavin, Pete Gillan, Steve Lappas, Perry Clark, Mike Jarvis, Paul Westphal, Fran Fraschilla (Frachilla? Franchilla? Frachila?)

Fired from the NBA: Mike Montgomerry, Larry Brown, Flip Saunders

Comeback longshots: Nolan Richardson, Gene Keady, Eddie Sutton, Dick Bennett, Dr Tom Davis (PhD)

Recently fired: Brad Sodenberg, Jim Molinari, Dan Monson, Riley Wallace, Dick Davey, Robert McCullum, Dale Layer, Anthony Solomon, Steve McClain, Brad Holland, Rob Jirsa, Dan Dakich, Jeff Ruland, and a few more

Fired last year: Rob Evans, Quin "bad hair day every day" Snyder (HA!), and a few more



Reference data

Standings of the 2006-2007 regular season.

Historic records with RPI/SOS data at KenPom RPI, going back to 1999


Who should be fired (in my opinion)

Steve McClain of Wyoming

The AD of Santa Clara for pushing Dick Davey out after 30 years at SCU. Sorry Santa Clara but you are not going to become the next Gonzaga just because you hire a 35-year old coach. Unless of course you already have an under the table agreement with Mike Montgomerry with his son taking over at some point in the future.

Cincinatti President Nancy Z and her fellow administrators/beauraucrats along with the AD for scapegoating Huggins for all their problems and issues. Clearly Huggins was only the tip of the iceberg. And unlike the real icebergs, Global Warming won't make it go away.

Matt Doherty at SMU. A corrosive and abrasive personality, has not stayed anywhere long enough and the one place he did, he almost ruined Carolina basketball (and he was one of them even!).


Coaches on the Hot Seat, Tipping Point: Success of a Rival
A number of coaches (as expected) are having average to mediocre seasons. This is happening every year simply because every time a game is played exactly one team wins and exactly one team loses. A number of these coaches manage to avoid the hot seat or avoid getting fired, but one thing that may tip the scales and force a (firing) decision is success at a rival school. Here are some examples:

Utah: If Dave Rose can take over a struggling BYU team and turn it into a back-to-back NCAA team, how come Ray Giacoletti has been struggling for two years? Decision: Fired

New Mexico: If Reggie Theus (a TV coach) comes in and brings in all sorts of transfers to New Mexico State and makes them a top-tier WAC team just by arriving on campus, how come Ritchie McKay is going sideways. Decision: Fired!

Michigan: If Thad Matta can come in and in three years turn Ohio State into the most desirable recruiting destination despite NCAA violations (albeit not as severe as Michigan's) and a Final Four contender, how come Tommy Amaker has not been to the NCAA after six years? Decision: Wait and See.

Oregon State: If the Bennetts come in and turn Washington State into a top 25 team and a contender for the Pac-10 title, how come Jay John is barely able to win a conference game? Getting CJ Giles probably bought Jay John one more year, but the further Washington State goes into the NCAAs, the more Jay John's seat will heat up. Decision: Wait and see

Kentucky: If Rick Pitino can come in and take Louisville to the Final Four, and now turn a rag-tag fleet of injured but talented players into a contender, how come Kentucky is facing yet another 10-loss season, no wins against ranked teams, an unbalanced roster, losing streaks and the like. Decision: Wait and see



Coaches potentially on the Hot Seat

This is not necessarily deserving, I'm merely guestimated based on reaction by fans, alumni and ADs, and also by their record. Names are in random order:

Tommy Amaker at Michigan, especially if they don't make it to the NCAAs (this is probably more fan-based, it seems like the university is happy with Michigan?). He still has Jay Bilas to defend him on national TV.

Stan Heath at Arkansas (lots of raw talent, fans want more tangible results)

Tubby Smith/Kentucky (fans want a Final Four every year, AD non-show of non-confidence, Tubby's frustration with the whole situation)

Ben Braun at California Berkeley. This is only based on his record. The 420 crowd seems happy with Braun. Granted he has had a boatload of injuries and premature NBA-draft entries

Jay John, Oregon State. This seems more record-based than anything else. Especially when comparing to what the Bennett's did at Washington State

Steve McClain at Wyoming. Diminishing returns and results. Been stewing on the hot seat the last couple of years. Classless reaction after the loss at TCU should seal the deal.

Leonard Hamilton at Florida State. Year 5 and despite some high profile wins and losses, still no NCAAs. Hamilton should probably be okay because of his record both as an NBA and NCAA coach, but underachieving is never a good recipe for success.

Robert McCullum at South Florida. He got a nice vote of confidence last year, and he is faced with a huge mountain to climb in the Big East, but in the effemeral world of big money college sports...

Steve Alford at Iowa. Continues to trail sideways. Probably won't be fired unless Iowa thinks they can get a better coach.

Jim Molinari at Minnesota. He is an interim coach and the expection is that he will not be picked up.

Brad Soderberg at Saint Louis. With all the success in the Valley of Darkness surrounding the city of Saint Louis and Missouri on the uptick with the exciting Mike Anderson, St Louis will be tempted to get a bigger name and become relevant again

Kirk Spiraw at Central Florida. One of the largest universities population wise, combined with an upgrade to a more high-profile conference than before. Although Spiraw had a relatively successful run there, and finished 2nd in the regular season, the temptation to get a bigger name coach and fight for the national spotlight will be there if the right candidate is available.

Dale Layer at Colorado State, high profile recruits, low profile results


Happily Off the Hot Seat

Ernie Kent at Oregon. The run and gun Ducks are winning games again.



Coming Soon

Available candidates


Archives - previous editions of the Coaching Carousel
February 2007
Late January 2006