2020-21 Coaching carousel

[Da Coach]

There was one new Division I head coaching job opened earlier this month. UC Riverside head coach David Patrick has left Riverside to take the Associate Head Coach position at the University of Arkansas.
https://gohighlanders.com/news/2020/...all-coach.aspx

UC Riverside filled the head coaching position by elevating Associate Head Coach Mike Magpayo to the top position.

[Da Coach]

Another D1 coach steps down-

https://www.kxan.com/sports/texas-state-basketball-coach-danny-kaspar-resigns-amid-investigation-into-racially-biased-comments/

Long time Texas State University Head Coach Danny Kaspar resigns amid an ongoing investigation into some of his actions.
Assistant Coach Terrence Johnson takes over as Interim Head Coach.

[Da Coach]

Add another to the D1 coaching openings-
Penn State head coach Pat Chambers suddenly announces he is resigning. Assistant coach Jim Ferry (former head coach at both LIU and Duquesne) will serve as interim coach for the 2020-2021 season.
https://gopsusports.com/news/2020/10...all-coach.aspx

Penn State conducted an internal investigation of allegations of inappropriate conduct by Chambers.
https://onwardstate.com/2020/10/21/p...e-hoops-coach/

[Da Coach]

This is very unexected and sad news...
Anthony Stewart, who was just starting his 5th season as head coach of UT-Martin, died suddenly today at the age of 50.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/ut-martin-basketball-coach-anthony-stewart-dies-suddenly-at-age-50/

No details have been released about the cause of death, but because all NCAA team members are tested regularly, it does not appear related to Covid-19.

[Da Coach]

Here is a surprising firing- Northern Illinois fires head coach Mark Montgomery. NIU is 1-7 (0-3 in MAC games) on the season so far. Their only win was a 64-54 win over lowly Chicago State in a game that was a 1-point game until the final 3 minutes. Chicago State has already cancelled their season after an 0-8 start, and the NIU game was the only game that Chicago State came within 22 points of their opponent.

It is surprising that Northern decided to fire Montgomery at this point of the season, but the only other surprise is why it took this long. This is Montgomery's 10th season as head coach, and he has had only 2 winning seasons (only 1 in the MAC), and has a cumulative record of 124-170 (.422) and 63-98 (.391) in the MAC.
https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb...hern-illinois/

He has had never had great talent there, and this season is no different. He came from Michigan State, where he was the associate head coach under Tom Izzo, and was he heralded widely as a great recruiter and certain to be a success as a head coach. But he has never shown any success as a recruiter at NIU, and has never proven he can win games with his coaching, despite being given 10 years to prove himself. Despite being close to one of the best recruiting cities in America, he has never been successful in recruiting Chicago kids. This season's roster does not have a single Chicago kid.

Maybe they'll go after Coach Molinari again? I think that would be smart. He is their only head coach in nearly 50 years with a winning record at NIU. Coach Mo took over a losing program at NIU in 1989 and went 42-17 in 2 seasons before being hired away by Bradley. He went 25-6 in 1990-91 and took them to the NCAA tournament.

[Da Coach]

One name that has already been mentioned as a possibility at Northern Illinois is Bradley assistant Jimmie Foster, and he will likely be an applicant.

[64NIT]

What took NIU so long? Montgomery should have been gone five years ago.

[Da Coach]

Jeff Neubauer, who has been the head coach at Fordham University since 2015, is reported to be "leaving Fordham, effective immediately".
In a somewhat cryptic message, Fordham made this announcement-

https://fordhamsports.com/news/2021/1/26/rams-mens-basketball-head-coach-jeff-neubauer-leaving-fordham.aspx

This doesn't really surprise many people because of how bad Fordham has been under Neubauer. Most rumors suggest he was fired, but there is no official statement confirming a firing, and there have not been any allegations of NCAA violations or specific causes for firing, other than W's and L's, which usually doesn't get a coach fired in January.

Many believed Neubauer was likely to be fired at the end of this season for lack of success. This would have been his 5th losing season in a row after a 17-14 record his first season there. He did have success at Eastern Kentucky prior to being hired away by Fordham-

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/coaches/jeff-neubauer-1.html

Fordham has been a disaster since they joined the Atlantic 10 in 1995. Here is their historical record. They have not had a winning conference record since 2006-07, and have been bottom dwellers almost every year for decades.

https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/schools/fordham/

Long time assistant Mike DePaoli will serve as Interim Head Coach until Fordham completes a national search to find a new head coach.
Fordham is 1-7 on the season. They did not play any non-conference games, and thus are 1-7 in the Atlantic-10 Conference. They really struggle to score and are averaging just 49.9 points per game, which is dead last (347th out of 347 teams) in NCAA Division I-

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/statistics/team/_/stat/scoring-per-game/sort/avgPoints/order/false

They are 346th (out of 347 teams) in overall FG%-

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/statistics/team/_/stat/scoring-per-game/sort/fieldGoalPct/order/false

They are 345th (out of 347) in 3 point FG%-

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/statistics/team/_/stat/scoring-per-game/sort/threePointFieldGoalPct/order/false

And they are 322nd in Free Throw percentage-

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/statistics/team/_/stat/scoring-per-game/sort/freeThrowPct/order/false

As bad as Fordham is this season, they are not the bottom team in the Atlantic-10. St. Joseph's, which was scheduled to play Bradley this season but was cancelled and moved to next season, is 0-7 and is in last place in the 14-team Atlantic 10 conference.

[Da Coach]

Another Head coach fired in D1..... Portland University has started the 2020-21 season 6-11, but they are 0-8 in the West Coast Conference. Head Coach and former NBA star Terry Porter was fired today midway through his 5th season as head coach. He had 1 season left on his contract.-
https://www.courier-journal.com/pict...al/4363518001/

Porter's record at Portland has been terrible. They have not come close to a winning season, and they have won only 7 West Coast Conference games in 5 years, and only 1 in the last 3 years.
Year............W/L....WCC
2016-17... 11-22... 2-16
2017-18... 10-22... 4-14
2018-19.... 7-25.... 0-16
2019-20.... 9-23.....1-15
2020-21.... 6-11..... 0-8

Coaching changes for 2020-21-

Portland- Fired Terry Porter; named assistant coach Ben Johnson Interim Head Coach.
Fordham- Fired Jeff Neubauer; named assistant coach Mike DePaoli Interim Head Coach
Northern Illinois- fired Mark Montgomery; named assistant Lamar Chapman Interim Head Coach
UT-Martin- Head Coach Anthony Stewart died unexpectedly; assistant coach Montez Robinson named Interim Head Coach
Penn State- Pat Chambers resigned related to an investigation for inappropriate behavior; assistant coach Jim Ferry named Interim Head Coach.
Texas State University- Danny Kaspar resigned amid an ongoing investigation; assistant Coach Terrence Johnson named Interim Head Coach.
Wichita State- Gregg Marshall resigned; assistant coach Isaac Brown named Interim Head Coach.
UC Riverside- David Patrick has left UC to take the Associate Head Coach position at the University of Arkansas; Associate Head Coach Mike Magpayo named Interim Head Coach.
University of Texas- Rio Grande Valley- head coach Lew Hill died; assistant coach Jai Steadman was named Interim Head Coach
Boston College- Jim Christian fired; assistant coach Scott Spinelli named Interim Head Coach.
New Mexico- Paul Weir reportedly will not return next season.
Indiana State- Greg Lansing reportedly let go after season (not official)
Binghamton- Tommy Dempsey let go

[Tommy]

Terry Porter - heck of an NBA player.

[Da Coach]

Lew Hill, head coach at University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley in his 5th season, died suddenly and unexpectedly yesterday, after coaching a game Saturday night.
https://www.ksat.com/sports/2021/02/...er-final-game/
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...-dies-day-game

He reportedly died in his sleep, but no further details have been released. UTRGV announced they will name an interim head coach soon.
Some older Bradley fans might remember Lew Hill from when he played for Wichita State from 1986-1988 under Eddie Fogler. He was an All-MVC guard his senior season at WSU.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lew_Hill_(basketball)

[Da Coach]

Lew Hill, head coach at University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley in his 5th season, died suddenly and unexpectedly yesterday, after coaching a game Saturday night.... UTRGV announced they will name an interim head coach soon....

UT Rio Grande Valley has named assistant Jai Steadman as interim head coach for the rest of the season, per release.

[Da Coach]

Boston College just fired head coach Jim Christian.

https://bceagles.com/news/2021/2/15/boston-college-announces-change-of-leadership-in-mens-basketball-program.aspx

Boston College is 3-13 this season, and 1-9 in the ACC. They are dead last in the 15-team ACC.
This is his 7th season there. Christian's overall record at Boston College is 78-132, and he is 26-94 in the ACC.
Assistant coach Scott Spinelli was named Interim Head Coach.

[Da Coach]

Report that New Mexico head coach Paul Weir has agreed to step down after this season-
https://www.abqjournal.com/2363904/weir-unm-agree-to-part-ways-at-end-of-season.html

New Mexico is 6-14, but just 2-14 and last place in the Mountain West Conference. UNM and Weir have reportedly reached a final settlement for the 2 remaining years on his contract.

[braves16]

Jeff Goodman @GoodmanHoops Indiana State coach Greg Lansing is unlikely to return after the season, sources told @stadium . The administration prefers to move on despite fact that Lansing is two wins shy of all-time winningest coach in school history and Sycamores are 14-9 overall this season.