5 March Madness coaches who could get a better job with strong performance

During March, the spotlight focuses on coaches who could be moving jobs after the season. Before March Madness even tips, college basketball’s off-season coaching carousel is already active. Kansas State filled its open position with Belmont’s Casey Alexander. As of this writing, Arizona State, Boston College, Butler, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Providence and Syracuse are available high-major jobs.

A number of NCAA tournament coaches coming off of strong seasons will be candidates for open jobs once their seasons are over.

It was only natural to assume Steele would be getting mentioned for bigger jobs after the RedHawks finished the regular season 31-0. After making the NCAA tournament as an at-large, Steele’s name is already being linked with Butler and Cincinnati.

The hook for Steele with both jobs is simple. Steele graduated from Butler in 2004 and was previously a Big East head coach at Xavier. Cincinnati is the city where Steele was an assistant and head coach for 14 years before going to Miami (Ohio) — giving him extensive local background for the Bearcats.

Of course, other programs could also show interest, as Steele reaches his first NCAA tournament after eight seasons as a head coach. If one of the most memorable mid-major teams of the decade can secure a win or two in March it would cap an incredible season for the RedHawks.

Staying in the MAC, Groce maintains a similar pedigree to Steele’s during a strong tenure with Akron. Making four NCAA tournament appearances in five years — including three years in a row — Groce has positioned Akron into one of the most consistent mid-major programs of the early NIL era.

Groce also has an interesting connection with the Butler and Cincinnati jobs thanks to his coaching career. An assistant at Butler in 2000-01, Groce is familiar with the Bulldogs as a former staffer. Groce was also an assistant at Xavier and Ohio State for seven seasons before becoming a head coach at Illinois. Significant Ohio ties make for an intriguing connection for Groce and the Cincinnati job.

Should Akron play well as a No. 12 seed against No. 5 seed Texas Tech, Groce might garner even greater interest across the carousel.

The angle for the 44-year-old Calhoun is easy. Over the last four seasons, Calhoun has 100 wins, two NCAA tournament appearances and one NIT trip in two years at Youngstown State and the last two at Utah State.

In his two seasons with the Aggies, Calhoun reached at least 26 wins and kept the program moving through consistent change. Utah State is No. 29 on KenPom with a top 45 offense (No. 28) and defense (No. 45). Spending seven seasons at Youngstown State before moving west, Calhoun turned the Penguins into a consistent threat in the Horizon League by finishing with back-to-back seasons of at least 22 wins.

Starting his career as a student assistant under Bob Huggins at Cincinnati, it’s only natural to wonder how Calhoun might fit with the Bearcats given his extensive Ohio background. But given his ability to win a lot in recent years, Calhoun could be sought after by a number of programs.

Becoming a solid head coach of his own after working as a long-time assistant for Nate Oats, Hodgson has a rising reputation. In his first year with the Bulls, Hodgson delivered immediate results with a tournament appearance and top-50 finish on KenPom.

Prior to South Florida, Hodgson took Arkansas State to back-to-back postseason appearances — peaking with a tie for first in the Sun Belt and culminating in an NIT trip last season. A native of upstate New York with previous assistant experience at Buffalo, Hodgson could be an intriguing name for the Syracuse job, among others, with a solid showing in March. An extensive JUCO background as both player and coach adds an interesting wrinkle in Hodgson’s profile.

Coaching Troy to five straight 20-win seasons and back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances has the 51-year-old Cross being mentioned in the coaching carousel.

Before turning around the Trojans, Cross was UT-Arlington’s all-time winningest coach with a 225-161 record in 12 seasons leading his alma mater. Cross is still the only head coach to finish his career at UT-Arlington over .500 and received credit for consistency at a tough job. Although Cross hasn’t worked for a high-major program, his experience leading his own program for two decades is a relevant factor.