College basketball might feel like it’s just getting started as the NCAA Tournament approaches, but the year is already over for programs around the country who weren’t good enough to reach the postseason. As conference tournaments conclude, the annual coaching carousel is officially getting underway.
2015 college basketball coaching carousel tracker: who’s in and who’s out around D1 hoops
Offseason movement is already underway.
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Several programs have already made a move, led by Oliver Purnell’s decision to resign from DePaul. The Blue Demons lost their last eight games to end 12-20 after a surprisingly strong start to the season. Tennessee, Arizona State and St. John’s have also let go of coaches. Texas could open up soon, too.
We’ll keep track of every move made this offseason right here.
| 2014-15 COACH | SCHOOL | 2015-16 COACH |
|---|---|---|
| Dale Layer Fired | Liberty | Ritchie McKay Virginia associate head coach |
| The Flames went 8-24 this year, by far the worst of Layer's six years at Liberty. He made the NCAA Tournament in 2013, and only managed one winning season during his time in Lynchburg. He ends with a final record of 82-113, good for only a .421 winning percentage. | ||
| Oliver Purnell Resigned | DePaul | Dave Leitao |
| Purnell still had two years left on a seven-year contract he signed with DePaul in 2010, but a disappointing close to the season put the 61-year-old coach in a tough position. DePaul lost its last eight games in a row to finish 12-20 on the campaign. Before the dreadful finish, DePaul was actually showing signs of progress, with wins over Stanford, Xavier and St. John's. His replacement, Dave Leitao, most recently coached in the NBA D-League but was previously the head coach at DePaul for three seasons, from 2002 to 2005, where he led the team once to the tournament and twice to the NIT. | ||
| Jerome Allen Fired | Penn | Steve Donahue |
| A last place finish in the Ivy League this season finally doomed Allen, who never made the NCAA Tournament in his six years in charge of his alma mater. He finishes with a record of 58-88, and only managed one winning season in his first gig as a college head coach. He's replaced by Steve Donahue, who also had just one winning season in four years at Boston College but had a much better run at Cornell from 2000 to 2010. | ||
| Dick Hunsaker Resigned | Utah Valley | Mark Pope |
| Hunsaker was the only coach that Utah Valley has ever known, and helped guide the program from the junior college ranks to full Division I status. He's stepping down after six Division I seasons in charge, and ends with a record of 96-90 and two regular season Great West titles. The Wolverines were only 11-18 this past season, and now will look to first-time head coach and former NBA player Mark Pope as the head of the program. | ||
| Howard Moore Fired | Illinois-Chicago | Steve McClain Indiana associate head coach |
| Moore was only 49-111 in his five seasons in charge in Chicago, and failed to bring the Flames to the NCAA Tournament. The former Wisconsin assistant managed one winning season, but never had a winning record in the Horizon League. UIC went 10-24 this year. The Flames have brought in Indiana associate head coach Steve McClain to turn things around. He served as head coach of Wyoming from1998-2007 and led the Cowboys to the NCAA Tournament in 2002. | ||
| Chuck Driesell Fired | The Citadel | Duggar Baucom |
| Driesell was 42-113 in five years in charge of The Citadel, and the school opted not to renew his contract after their 11-19 campaign in 2014-15. Unfortunately, that was their best record during Driesell's tenure in Charleston. The son of Lefty Driesell, he previously served as an assistant at James Madison, Georgetown and Maryland. | ||
| Lennox Forrestor Fired | SIU Edwardsville | |
| After eight years in charge of the program and being the only coach they've ever had at the Division I level, Lennox Forrestor is gone at SIU Edwardsville. He went 82-146 in his eight seasons at the helm, with five coming in Division I. | ||
| Milan Brown Fired | Holy Cross | Bill Carmody |
| The Crusaders are moving on from Brown, who guided the school to a 69-83 record in five seasons. Holy Cross failed to make the NCAA Tournament during his tenure, which ended with a 14-16 record this season. Prior to coming to Holy Cross, Brown was the head coach at Mount St. Mary's for seven seasons. The team has hired Bill Carmody, who spent 13 years at Northwestern but was fired in 2013. | ||
| David Carter Fired | Nevada | Eric Musselman |
| After three straight losing seasons, Carter is out as the head man in Reno. The Wolf Pack went 9-22 this year, Carter's sixth as head coach. He did guide the program to a Mountain West regular season title in 2011-12, but the team failed to appear in the tournament during his time there. He finishes with a record of 98-97. His replacement, Eric Musselman, has NBA experience, briefly coaching the Kings and Warriors. | ||
| Rick Ray Fired | Mississippi State | Ben Howland |
| Ray lasted just three years with Mississippi State, compiling a 37-60 record with no postseason appearances and a losing record each season. In a statement released shortly after the decision was made, Mississippi State athletic director Scott Stricklin thanked Ray for his work in Starkville, particularly in improving academics within the program, before calling on-court results "not satisfactory." Instead, Ben Howland will take over the program. Howland was fired from UCLA in 2013 despite a .685 winning percentage in his 10 years there. | ||
| Tom Pecora Fired | Fordham | Jeff Neubauer |
| Pecora spent five seasons at Rose Hill, but was never able to make the Rams competitive in the Atlantic 10. He led Fordham to a 44-106 overall record and 10-21 marks each of the last two seasons. Still, the future was bright at Rose Hill with leading scorer Eric Paschall just having finished his freshman season posting nearly 16 points per game. Fordham will now hand the program to Jeff Neubauer, who has a 188-134 record in 10 years at Eastern Kentucky. | ||
| Paul Hewitt Fired | George Mason | Dave Paulsen |
| After a disastrous start to the program's tenure in the Atlantic 10, George Mason fired coach Paul Hewitt. Hewitt was 66-67 in four seasons at the helm, but only 8-26 in conference play over the last two years. It's been a rough ride for Hewitt since he led Georgia Tech to the national championship game in 2004. Since then, he has not been able to get past the second round of the NCAA Tournament and did not take the Patriots to the dance while he was there. His replacement, Dave Paulsen, leaves Bucknell to take over at George Mason. | ||
| Murry Bartow Fired | East Tennessee State | Steve Forbes |
| Despite leading ETSU to the NCAA Tournament three times and winning the 2004 Atlantic Sun coach of the year award, Bartow was fired after 12 seasons. He compiled a 224-169 overall record with the Buccaneers and also coached the team to an NIT appearance and two appearances in the CIT. Steve Forbes, formerly an assistant at Wichita State, will take over. | ||
| Alan Major Resigned | Charlotte | Mark Price |
| Major spent five years with Charlotte, but was forced to take two leaves of absences in his time with the program. After the season, Major and the athletic department decided it would be to move on. Major, a former assistant under Thad Matta, finished 67-70 with the 49ers, including a 22-43 mark in conference play. Charlotte has spent time in the Atlantic 10 and Conference USA during Major's tenure. Mark Price is a first-time college head coach after a successful NBA career in the 80's and 90's. | ||
| Steve Shields Fired | Arkansas-Little Rock | Chris Beard |
| Shields was fired after 12 seasons in Little Rock, during which time he led the Trojans to a 192-178 record. UALR won its division in the Sun Belt five times in those 12 years, but never made the NCAA Tournament and finished 13-18 in 2014-15. He'll be replaced by Chris Beard of Division II Angelo State. Beard led Angelo State to a 47-15 record in two seasons on the job. | ||
| Dave Bezold Fired | Northern Kentucky | John Brannen Alabama assistant coach |
| As Northern Kentucky completes its three-year transitional period into Division I, the Norse have decided to move on from head coach Dave Bezold. Including time as an assistant and head coach, Bezold had been with the program since 1990. Northern Kentucky went 194-133 in the 11 seasons he led the program, but the Norse were just 33-54 in three seasons in Division I. He will be replaced by Brannen, who was an assistant at Alabama under Grant, and served as interim coach during this season's NIT after Grant was fired. | ||
| Bill Grier Fired | San Diego | Lamont Smith |
| Grier got off to a great start with the Toreros, leading them to a first-round NCAA Tournament win over Connecticut in 2008, his first season. But San Diego has not returned to the Big Dance since, and have only appeared in the postseason once: a trip to the quarterfinals in the 2014 CIT. Grier's final record with San Diego was 117-143. Coming to take over the program is Lamont Smith, an alum of San Diego and formerly a New Mexico assistant. | ||
| Herb Sendek Fired | Arizona State | |
| Herb Sendek seemed like he was on relatively safe ground at Arizona State, having just signed a three-year contract extension just before this season. But a second-round NIT exit, following a disappointing regular season and first-round Pac-12 tournament exit to the worst team in the league (USC), inspired school leadership to make a change at the top. Sendek coached the Sun Devils for nine seasons and only qualified for two NCAA tournaments. He was 1-2 in NCAA Tournament play, with his lone win in the big dance coming as a No. 6 seed in 2009 behind sophomore James Harden. | ||
| Donnie Tyndall Fired | Tennessee | Rick Barnes Texas head coach |
| Tyndall lasted one season at Tennessee before the ongoing NCAA investigation into his time as the Southern Miss coach from 2012-14 forced Tennessee's hand to fire its first-year coach. Tyndall is being investigated for academic and financial violations during his two years at Southern Miss, and it's also "highly likely," according to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com, he failed to disclose materials regarding the investigation when Tyndall was hired at Tennessee last April. Tennessee athletics director Dave Hart said he never would have hired Tyndall had he known about Tyndall's missteps. Bringing stability to the program likely played a big factor in the hiring of Rick Barnes as the program's next coach after his departure from Texas. | ||
| Steve Lavin "Mutual agreement to part ways" | St. John's | Chris Mullins |
| Steve Lavin was eliminated in the round of 64 of the NCAA Tournament last week against San Diego State, and according to ESPN.com, the two parties were deep into discussions regarding a contract extension. Then, suddenly, it was announced the two sides had mutually agreed to part ways. Lavin made two NCAAs and two NITs in five years (and was sidelined for one season with cancer). According to Doug Haller of AZCentral.com, Lavin is interested in the vacant Arizona State job. To replace Lavin, St. John's has hired former NBA player and alumnus Chris Mullins, who played at St. John's from 1981 to 1985 and was the Big East Player of the Year three times, as well as a first-team All-American his senior year. | ||
| Rick Barnes Fired | Texas | Shaka Smart VCU head coach |
| Barnes' 17-year run at Texas was one only matched by a few others around college basketball, including 14 straight Tournament appearances and a 2003 run to the Final Four. But Texas missed the tournament for the first time in Barnes' tenure in 2013 and after a first round exit this season, his time was up with the Longhorns. Texas AD Steve Patterson was willing to keep him on, but under his terms, including an entirely new staff. Instead, Barnes walked, in part because of the Tennessee vacancy. Replacing him with VCU's Shaka Smart will hopefully provide the program with new life. | ||
| Anthony Grant | Alabama | Avery Johnson |
| Grant finished 117-85 in six seasons at Alabama, but was let go after making the NCAA Tournament only once. He's replaced by Johnson, who served as head coach of the Dallas Mavericks from 2005-08 and then the Brooklyn Nets from 2010-12. Johnson has been in broadcasting at ESPN since. | ||
| Shaka Smart Left to coach Texas | VCU | Will Wade Left to coach Chattanooga |
| The only year VCU missed the tournament under Shaka Smart was his first in 2010. The next year, the Rams earned the country's attention when they advanced to the Final Four, a move that has paid dividends for the program. Smart will be replaced by Will Wade, a former assistant at VCU under Smart who was with the team on its Cinderella run to the Final Four in 2011. The 32-year-old Wade compiled a 40-25 record in two seasons at Chattanooga. | ||
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