![[object Object] Logo](https://sportshub.cbsistatic.com/i/2020/04/22/e9ceb731-8b3f-4c60-98fe-090ab66a2997/screen-shot-2020-04-22-at-11-04-56-am.png)
Conference tournaments are in full bloom and the coaching tracker is now getting multiple updates daily. High-majors are hiring coaches at a rate that's unprecedented. It's a signal to where we're at in the portal era. You can read those stories below:
» Miami has plucked Duke assistant Jai Lucas as its next coach
» Utah alum Alex Jensen is leaving the Mavericks to coach his alma mater
» FSU alum Luke Loucks was hired in Tallahassee
Some mid-majors landed their next coaches in recent days as well.
As for the firings, the most recent big one happened Sunday with NC State. You can read our newser on Kevin Keatts' firing here.
The most recent hiring happened Tuesday: La Salle plucked Darris Nichols away from Radford, sources told CBS Sports. Nichols spent the past four seasons with Radford and won 68 games.
This story is where you'll find our ever-updating men's college basketball coaching tracker. Over the next month this piece will get dozens of updates. Carousel intel, sourced info, inevitably debunking some rumors and the latest on what's happening off the court amid the busiest month of the year in college hoops: you'll find it all here. I'll update this with some high-major scuttlebutt in the next 24-36 hours. A few spots look vulnerable to opening soon, while others rumored to be shaky may wind up not flipping.
The next job that opens on Tuesday will be No. 21. We'll almost definitely hit at least 40 coaching moves in this cycle — and 50-plus wouldn't be a surprise at all. That said, I don't expect 2025 to hit the levels of absurdity that 2024 did, when there was a record 68 job swaps. Be sure to bookmark this page. It will get daily updates moving forward.
College basketball hot seat rankings: Where 17 underwhelming coaches stand as high-major carousel picks up
David Cobb
Major-conference changes
| 1 |  |
| Out: Leonard Hamilton | In: Luke Loucks After 22 seasons, Hamilton, 76, is leaving his post in Tallahassee once his contract is up at the conclusion of this season. He won more than 450 games at FSU and molded nine first-round NBA picks. But the program slipped in recent seasons and a reboot is in order. Hamilton is also being sued by five of his former players over disputed non-payments tied to NIL opportunities from the 2023-24 season. Loucks is an FSU alum and most recently worked as an assistant with the Sacramento Kings. | |
| 2 |  |
| Out: Mike Woodson | In : TBD The Hoosiers may well play their way into the NCAAs during Woodson's lame-duck run in Year 4. If IU makes it, that will mark three Big Dance showings in four years under Woodson. Big picture, the program failed to hit the upper echelons of the sport, and thus, IU will be hiring its sixth coach in a quarter century. The candidate pool on Woodson's replacement is up for debate. Can IU lure a name as big/accomplished as Scott Drew? Hard to see ... but not impossible. TJ Otzelberger, Buzz Williams, Greg McDermott and Ben McCollum should all get calls. There's been some Mick Cronin noise out there, but the buyout is massive. I just don't see that one at this juncture. | |
| 3 |  |
| Out: Jim Larranaga | In: Jai Lucas When Larranaga retired the day after Christmas, it sent a bad Miami team skidding into trouble full-on off the cliff and into an all-time plunge. The 7-24 Hurricanes had one of their worst seasons in program history. It's wild to look back at this program now vs. where it was less than two years ago when it made the Final Four. Lucas has left Duke for good; ultimately, it was decided it would be best to not have too many distractions for him to stay on. The portal opens March 24, so Lucas has time to build out his staff behind the seasons. A massive roster flip will be underway in Coral Gables in no time. Highly respected ace player development coach Andrew Moran (who has deep ties around Miami) will be joining Lucas' staff, sources told CBS Sports. | |
| 4 |  |
| Out: Kevin Keatts | In: TBD What a year for Keatts and NC State. From nearly being fired in 2024, then reeling off nine straight win-or-go-home games to make the Final Four ... to being fired Sunday, after falling to lowly Miami and ending the season 12-19. State will play nearly $8 million to send Keatts packing. Asking around, this job has a lot of varied opinions on its viability moving forward. ACC ties are good, home arena not so much. Fan base needs a name to really rally some optimism. It's unclear at this stage how long this search will play out. | |
| 5 |  |
| Out: Craig Smith | In: Alex Jensen Utah AD Mark Harlan's awkwardly timed firing of Smith didn't do him any favors in the industry; a lot of people around college athletics panned Harlan for how he handled it. Turns out, that timing enabled him to convince Jensen to take the job and get a head start on the inevitable portal purge. Utah's NIL situation is near the bottom of the Big 12. Will this hire create a surge of financial support? With fellow former Ute Andre Miller in the mix to join Jensen's staff, that would only help the cause. More big changes in the Beehive State. | |
| 6 |  |
| Out: Ron Sanchez | In: TBD Though Virginia hasn't officially moved on from Sanchez -- he's been the interim after Tony Bennett's abrupt retirement in October -- it's only a matter of time. Sources said a search firm working on behalf of Virginia has been in touch with multiple candidates. One of them is local and obvious: VCU coach Ryan Odom. The Rams are atop the A-10, and Odom's father Dave coached in the league (Wake Forest and Virginia for more than 20 years). He's not the only one in play here, though. Richard Pitino is one to watch, especially given the outstanding job he's done at New Mexico this season. I also got word of a potential mystery candidate (head coach with NCAA Tournament experience), but will suss out more before I'm comfortable disclosing here. I'm told UVa expects to have around $7 million to provide in NIL and anticipated revenue sharing for the 2025-26 season. | |
Non-Power Five changes
| 1 |  |
| Out: Scott Davenport | In: Doug Davenport Scott Davenport was an institution at Bellarmine, guiding the program from D-II to D-I in recent years. He won a national title in 2011 and went to four D-II Final Fours in total, in addition to 426 games across 20 seasons. In total, he spent more than four decades coaching basketball in Louisville. A fixture in that city. With his retirement, Bellarmine has allowed Scott to hand the job to his son, Doug, who has been on staff for nine years. | |
| 2 |  |
| Out: Kevin McGeehan | In: TBD McGeehan lasted 12 seasons with the Fighting Camels but was fired Sunday following a 15-17 campaign. He went 184-199 and couldn't bring Campbell to the NCAAs during his dozen years. The school moved from the Big South to the CAA two years ago and will seek a reboot. | |
| 3 |  |
| Out: Scott Spinelli | In: TBD A one-year experiment gone awry. Chicago State went 4-28 and finished 361 at KenPom in its first season in the NEC. Truly one of the five toughest jobs in all of Division I. | |
| 4 |  |
| Out: Jim Engles | In: TBD Two Ivies opened Monday (Penn the other). Engles was with the Lion for nine years but never wound up with a season above .500. This is a tough gig, but it is in a great part of New York City. Florida assistant Kevin Hovde (previously an assistant at Columbia) and NYU coach (D-III) Dave Klatsky should get strong looks here. | |
| 5 |  |
| Out: Fran Dunphy | In: Darris Nichols The 76-year-old Philly legend is retiring this month after nearly 50 years in college basketball coaching. Dunphy won more than 600 games and is among the most well-liked and accomplished coaches in the storied history of Philadelphia basketball. La Salle's program is among the more cash-strapped at the multi-bid-league level. Nichols got the nod after a few low-major coaches from the northeast were heavily looked into. La Salle has made one NCAA tourney in the past 33 years. | |
| 6 |  |
| Out: Bob Marlin | In: Quannas White After a 15-year run that included two Sun Belt auto bids (2014, 2023), Marlin was fired in December. After some wait-and-see and a few tussles with contract negotiations, Louisiana got White to the finish line. He's 44 and been ready to run a program for a few years now after spending the past eight with Kelvin Sampson. He'll join the program after Houston's season ends. | |
| 7 |  |
| Out: Keith Richard | In: TBD Richard began his time as coach of the Warhawks in the Sun Belt in 2010, but he was never been able to break through and make the NCAAs. Program last made the Big Dance in 1996. | |
| 8 |  |
| Out: Steve Prohm | In: TBD Prohm's second go-round with the Racers wasn't fruitful. He resigned Friday after Murray State's loss to Bradley. He leaves with a 45-52 record in three years. Word in the Missouri Valley is Murray State is ready to invest more money into its program than any other school in that league for the 2025-26 season. One logical candidate here is Dayton assistant James Kane, whose roots are tied to Murray State and who nearly got the job three years ago when it went to Prohm. | |
| 9 |  |
| Former coach: Russell Springmann | In: TBD A semi-surprise, as Springmann only made it two seasons before getting sacked. The Golden Eagles went 7-23 this year and sunk to the bottom of the Summit League. | |
| 10 |  |
| Out: Steve Donahue | In: TBD It was a decade for Donahue in Philly, with the Quakers making the NCAAs in 2018. This year was the worst yet, with Penn going 8-19 and finishing 292 at KenPom. Need to make a few calls to get a real sense of the candidate pool here. I'm told the objective is to hire a sitting head coach (but we'll see). | |
| 11 |  |
| Out: Darris Nichols | In: TBD The Highlanders are looking for a new coach after four years with Nichols, which totaled a 68-63 record at the Big South program. The school has made three NCAA Tournaments since 1998. | |
| 12 |  |
| Out: Michael Czepil | In: TBD David Patrick resigned last May (and eventually joined Matt McMahon's staff at LSU), which led to Czepil being the interim. The Hornets finished the regular season 7-24. | |
| 13 |  |
| Out: Kyle Keller | In: Matt Braeuer Keller coached SFA for nearly nine seasons and won 18 or more games in six of those years. He was fired in January. He also was responsible for one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history, when his Lumberjacks team upset No. 1 Duke in November of 2019 . Braueuer comes via Texas Tech, but his ties within Texas date back to being on Grant McCasland's staff at North Texas as well. He'll join the program after TTU's run ends in the NCAA Tournament. | |
| 14 |  |
| Former coach: Amir Abdur-Rahim | In: TBD A sad inclusion to the tracker, as Abdur-Rahim tragically died in the preseason at 43 , leading to Ben Fletcher serving as the interim head coach over the past four-plus months. Abdur-Rahim was a rising star. The American Athletic Conference named Abdur-Rahim its Honorary Coach of the Year for 2024-25. | |
