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2018 NCAA Coaching Carousel: What's Happening At Louisville and Pittsburgh

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Another blog that I plan on updating as we find out more. People want to know who is coaching where – at least I assume people want to know that. As we get serious updates, decisions or changes in coaching vacancies we’ll go through and update the blog with thoughts. I’ll try to keep this as accurate as possible, but I’m sure I’ll miss something at some point. 

Georgia: In, Tom Crean, Out, Mark Fox
He is perfect at Georgia. He can recruit the DMV area still and then he should be able to build a pipeline with one of Georgia’s AAU programs or high school programs. That’s going to be key here. The other thing is Crean is actually strong at rebuilding programs. He was able to succeed at Marquette and he turned Indiana from the sanctions into the No. 1 overall seed. While you may rightfully question his X’s and O’s he is strong at rebuilding.

UConn: In, Dan Hurley, Out Kevin Ollie

Hurley spent the last six years at Rhode Island, bringing the program back to the NCAA Tournament and starting to become the flag-bearer for the A-10. They won the conference this year and made the NCAA Tournament the last two years. What Hurley really has shown though is the ability to recruit. As of today, Rhode Island has the 30th best recruiting class for next year, led by 4-star Jermaine Harris from Maryland. That’s going to be the key for Hurley as he moves from UConn. It should be easier to recruit at UConn as it is a well-known program and the AAC is a step up from the A-10. He also has important connections to the DMV area and NJ/NY area – obviously with the Hurley name holding weight in north Jersey/New York. Another thing Hurley does incredibly well is work with guards, especially lead guards. Go back and take a look at his group at Rhode Island and you’ll see the success of the team came from that position. If he can keep Adams, possibly bring a couple recruits with him and develop Christian Vital or keep Alterique Gilbert healthy, UConn could possibly be a tournament team next year.

Memphis, In, Penny Hardaway, Out, Tubby Smith
Now, what makes the Hardaway hire so intriguing? Well, outside of his name and being a former player, Hardaway currently runs Team Penny in the Nike EYBL AAU circuit while also being the head coach at East High. One of the players he has is the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2019 – James Weisman. Kentucky has been the favorite for Wesiman, but now with Penny at Memphis, there’s a good chance Weisman ends up staying at home. That right there would be a massive step in the right direction. Also, he’ll draw ticket sales and get money back for the department. As Gary Parrish said before Memphis is likely to miss out on an $800,000 payday due to lack of attendance.

Ole Miss, In, Kermit Davis, Out Andy Kennedy
I’ll be honest, I thought Davis was a great hire until his press conference yesterday. Completely unprompted he said the basketball program will respect the flag and the anthem. Uh, what? This is the same school that uses a Rebel mascot, you know Confederate soldiers? This is the sort of comment that coaches will use against him 100% of the time in recruiting. This is a tough job to begin with, though there is help now with the new facilities. But, Davis needs to figure out a way to recruit Memphis, something I don’t know how well he’ll do now with Penny there.

Cal State Northridge: In, Mark Gottfried, Out Reggie Theus
Shocked to see Gottfried here? Yeah, same here. This is a big name though and despite his name popping up in reports linked to the FBI investigation the school was comfortable hiring him.

Pepperdine: In, Lorezno Romar, Out Marty Wilson
Another fairly big hire out in California. Romar actually coached Pepperdine from 1996-1999, leading them to one NIT bid before heading to St. Louis. He was able to rebuild quickly though going from 6 wins in year 1 to 19 wins in year 3.

Maine: In, Richard Barron, Out Bob Walsh

This was a weird move as Bob Walsh announced his own departure and within hours Barron was announced. What makes it weird? Barron was the women’s head coach at Maine before taking a year off for personal reasons.

Charlotte: In Ron Sanchez, Out Mark Price

A no-brainer here as Sanchez, the former Virginia assistant gets the gig. That means don’t be surprised to see Charlotte running the pack line defense here soon.

Missouri State: In Dana Ford, Out Paul Lusk
Ford is familiar with the league spending time as an assistant at Wichita State and Illinois State. At just 39 years old he has a real chance to be a star and expect him to be defense-first.

UTEP: In Rodney Terry, Out Tim Floyd

South Alabama: In Richie Riley, Out Matthew Graves

UC-Riverside: In David Patrick, Out Dennis Cutts

McNeese State: In Heath Schroyer, Out Dave Simmons

Colorado State: In Niko Medved, Out Larry Eustachy

Florida Atlantic: In Dusty May, Out Michael Curry

Evansville: In Walter McCarty, Out Marty Simmons
It’s not secret that McCarty wanted to be a head coach and actually has a chance to succeed at Evansville. We’ve seen the Purple Aces compete in the MVC and if McCarty can get some success there he’ll make the jump to a big time program relatively soon. He should be able to recruit the Evansville area and also dip into Kentucky thanks to his name there.

Middle Tennessee: In Nick McDevitt, Out Kermit Davis
This is another hire that made a lot of sense. When Davis left for Ole Miss, it was important to hire someone that could keep MTSU where they have been the last couple of years. This is a team that really succeeded on transfers and defense. McDevitt ran the same zone at UNC-Asheville that Davis did at MTSU, so we should see an easy transition.

Eastern Kentucky: In A.W. Hamilton, Out Dan McHale

Incarnate Word: In, Dr. Carson Cunningham, Out Ken Burmeister

Open Jobs 

Pittsburgh: Out Kevin Stallings
So this sort of seems like a bit of a disaster right now. Heather Lykes missed out on her first option in Dan Hurley. We’ve heard other names pop up but still no traction as of yet. If you’re a Pitt fan you should be a bit worried because you had a head start in the coaching hire process. Names that we’ve heard come up include Mark Schmidt (St. Bonaventure), Ryan Odom (UMBC) and Nate Oats (Buffalo). Either of the three would be fine hires, but most likely not fire up the fan base.

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Rhode Island: Out Dan Hurley
If you’re URI, there’s only two names you should have on your radar. That’s either promoting David Cox or hiring John Becker from Vermont. Either one of those makes sense and ultimately would be the correct hire. Cox has been known as a great recruiter and obviously familiar with the program as he’s worked on Hurley’s staff. Becker though is one of the best coaches in the country at any level. He actually has recruited well at Vermont and has shown the ability to develop guys like Trae Bell-Haynes and the Duncan brothers among others. He knows the area well. Again, just one of these two guys and you’re on the right path.

Louisville: Out David Padgett
This became official late last week and it’s no surprise. I’ve talked about how I actually think Padgett did a good job all things considered. He hardly had any time to put together a staff, had to deal with questions about the investigation at all times and still led Louisville to a decent season. I also think he should be hired immediately as a mid major coach and work his way back up, because he’s going to coach a big time program again. But, now for Louisville it starts and ends with Chris Mack. He’s the guy that the entire department wants and has been linked to this job the entire season. Mack’s wife is from Louisville and even though he’s had incredible success at Xavier, Louisville is a top-10 job in America. The other thing we heard last night though is Louisville has reached out to request the right to interview Kentucky assistant coach Kenny Payne. Payne played at Louisville in the mid-80s and is regarded as one of the top assistant coaches in the country. Now, that could just be Louisville having an option B if Mack says no, but we’ll likely hear something about this job tomorrow or Tuesday. If they don’t get Mack, Louisville should throw out big money to the likes of Matt Painter, Chris Beard and Chris Holtmann – make them say no while you get a top-25 coach. 

East Carolina: Out Jeff Lebo

La Salle: Out Dr. John Gianni

North Alabama: Out Bobby Champagne

High Point: Out Scott Cherry
Little Rock: Out Wes Flanigan
USC Upstate: Out Kyle Perry

UNC Asheville: Out Nick McDevitt

Drake: Out Niko Medved

Delaware State: Keith Walker

Marist: Out Mike Maker

Fresno State: Out Rodney Terry

Bryant: Out Tim O’Shea

Utah State: Out Tim Dureya

Tennessee State: Out Dana Ford

Loyola (Maryland): Out G.G. Smith

Western Carolina: Out Larry Hunter

Nicholls State: Out Richie Riley

Chicago State: Out Tracy Dildy

San Diego: Out Lamont Smith