It's official: one year after COVID-19 brought the coaching carousel to a near halt, the merry-go-round is twirling at a normal rate. We are on the precipice of north of 40 job changes, with nearly a dozen happening in high-profile spots.
Two of the five best openings closed in less than 24 hours heading into the weekend: Marquette plucked Shaka Smart from Texas; Utah landed Utah State coach Craig Smith.
For Marquette, a splashy hire and a homecoming affair. Smart grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and will likely be better suited in the Big East than he was in the Big 12. The Texas opening, meanwhile, becomes the top job on the market. And as for Utah, it was unable to lure a couple of alumni who are NBA assistants (Alex Jensen, Johnnie Bryant), so instead it makes what might wind up being the safer choice anyway. Smith was a home run hire for Utah State three years ago.
Thursday afternoon brought another big headline: Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger is retiring. Kruger's decision was guided in large part by two factors. The first being his son, Kevin, getting the UNLV job. Kruger plans to move back to Las Vegas to be around and watch Kevin begin his head coaching career. The second aspect of this is tragic: Kruger's former assistant, Lew Hill, was the head coach at UTRGV and died unexpectedly in early February. That brought about some more urgency for Kruger, who's long looked forward to a vibrant life after coaching.
Oklahoma will now open a national search with plenty of options -- including at least one man still coaching in the NCAA Tournament.
The other headline from Thursday was Winthrop's Pat Kelsey leaving for the Charleston job. Multiple sources told me that Charleston was offering $650,000, which is more than double what Kelsey was making at Winthrop. Charleston is regarded as the best job in the CAA. Kelsey was at Winthrop nine seasons and won three league postseason titles.
Elsewhere: Earlier this week Minnesota announced alumnus Ben Johnson was its choice to succeed Richard Pitino. The school and Johnson agreed to a five-year contract. He graduated from Minnesota in 2005 and was previously an assistant at the school from 2013-18. Johnson spent the past three years as an assistant at Xavier. Four power-conference jobs are open: Texas, Indiana, Oklahoma and DePaul. Analysis on all those openings can be found below.
High-profile jobs that have closed in recent days: Marquette, Utah, Minnesota, Iowa State, UNLV and New Mexico.
Texas: We now have two top-10 jobs open in college hoops. That happens maybe once every five years. Texas is considered the better job vs. Indiana, albeit slightly, and the obvious top-target candidate here is Chris Beard. Sources told me that Texas made its initial push on Beard all throughout Friday. It also has reached out to at least four other candidates, according to one source, in the event Beard winds up not being the pick. I'd expect clarity on Beard's situation by Monday; he's not believed to be involved at Indiana, so the decision will come down to whether or not he wants to stay in-state and stay in the Big 12, but leave the school that gave him his big break.
Indiana: The best job on the market this carousel cycle, of course. Both Gary Parrish and I offered up different takes related to Indiana this week. His was more tied to the program's current situation in the aftermath of firing Archie Miller, while my column was tied to Porter Moser's will-he-won't-he and why I believe Marquette is the more sensible landing spot for the white-hot coaching candidate. With Moser's option of Marquette no longer being an option, Indiana is the best fit -- if IU wants to keep Moser as a top target.
Oklahoma: Joe Castiglione has been the athletic director at OU since 1998 and is yet to misfire on a hire in any of Oklahoma's major sports (football, men's and women's basketball). Now he has to fill vacancies in both basketball programs (women's coach Sherri Coale recently retired after 25 seasons with the program). People who should get a call include Oral Roberts coach Paul Mills, Utah State coach Craig Smith, North Texas coach Grant McCasland and Houston assistant Kellen Sampson. But might OU have its guy already in the building? Associate head coach Carlin Hartman is ready to lead a program and has effectively built the roster in the past four years. He'll get an interview as well. There is some buzz about Mark Turgeon leaving Maryland and being a candidate here, but I can't see it.
DePaul: Dave Leitao is out, and athletic director DeWayne Peevy gets his first chance to make a hire that can transform a dormant program. Sources are telling me the school is trying to get a hire finalized by Sunday at the latest, but we'll see. New York Knicks assistant Kenny Payne, along with Cleveland State coach Dennis Gates, are involved. I'd lean that the next coach will come from this group, barring a surprise candidate swooping in last minute.
We'll continue to update news here as it comes in. Here are the 39 jobs that have changed to this point.
