2020-21 Coaching carousel

[Da Coach]

Oklahoma head coach Lon Kruger announces he will retire. That opens another head coaching position.
One of Kruger's assistant coaches is Jim Molinari, so Jim's future is now on hold. He is 66 years old, so I wonder how much longer he might want to coach. I think he will have offers if he is not retained at Oklahoma.

https://www.cbssports.com/college-basketball/news/oklahoma-coach-lon-kruger-announces-his-retirement-after-10-seasons-as-sooners-coach/

[Da Coach]

College of Charleston hires Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey
https://www.postandcourier.com/sport...6cc116144.html

And Jacksonville University hires Jordan Mincy as their next head caoch
https://judolphins.com/news/2021/3/2...ead-coach.aspx

Coaching changes for 2020-21-

Portland- Fired Terry Porter; hired Shantay Legans
Fordham- Fired Jeff Neubauer; hired Villanova assistant Kyle Neptune
Northern Illinois- fired Mark Montgomery; named AZ State assistant Rashon Burno named new head coach
UT-Martin- Head Coach Anthony Stewart died unexpectedly; Ryan Ridder named Head Coach
Penn State- Pat Chambers resigned related to an investigation for inappropriate behavior; assistant coach Jim Ferry named Interim Head Coach.; to hire Micah Shrewsberry.
Utah- dismissed Larry Krystkowiak; hired Craig Smith
Jacksonville- fired Tony Jasick; hired Jordan Mincy
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.
Denver- parts ways with Rodney Billups
University of Texas- Rio Grande Valley- head coach Lew Hill died; hired Austin Peay head coach Matt Figger
Boston College- Jim Christian fired; assistant coach Scott Spinelli named Interim Head Coach; hired Earl Grant.
New Mexico- Paul Weir reportedly will not return next season.- hired Richard Pitino, who was fired 1 day earlier by Minnesota
Binghamton- Tommy Dempsey let go
Albany- Will Brown let go; hired Dwayne Killings
Eastern Illinois- Jay Spoonhour let go
Central Connecticut State- Donyell Marshall resigns
Eastern Michigan- Head coach Rob Murphy let go
Indiana State- Head Coach Greg Lansing let go; hire Josh Schertz
McNeese State- Head coach Heath Schroyer will step down and assume full-time AD duties; Assistant coach John Aiken promoted to head coach.
San Jose State- has "parted ways" with head coach Jean Prioleau
Indiana- fired Archie Miller
Minnesota- fired Richard Pitino; hired Ben Johnson
DePaul- fired Dave Leitao
Texas A&M Corpus Christi- Willis Wilson retired
Charleston- Head Coach Earl Grant takes Boston College job; hired Winthrop head coach Pat Kelsey
South Carolina State- parts ways with Murray Garvin; Hired Memphis assistant Tony Madlock.
Iowa State- to part ways with Steve Prohm; hired Las Vegas coach T'J. Otzelberger
UNLV- T.J. Otzelberger left for Iowa State; hired assistant coach Kevin Kruger
Marquette- fired Steve Wojciechowski; hired Shaka Smart
George Mason- fired Dave Paulsen; hired Kim English
Lamar- fired Tic Price
Eastern Washington- Shantay Legans left to take Portland job; replaced by assistant coach David Riley
Oklahoma- Lon Kruger retires
Winthrop- Pat Kelsey leaves to take job at College of Charleston
Texas- Shaka Smart leaves to take Marquette job
Utah State- head coach Craig Smith left to take Utah job
Austin Peay- head coach Matt Figger left to take UTRGV job
Bethune-Cookman- Head Coach Ryan Ridder left to take job at UT-Martin

[bradleyfan124]

Are Kevin Kruger at UNLV and Lon Kruger at Oklahoma related?

[houstonbrave]

Kevin Kruger is Lon’s son and played for Lon at UNLV. He was an assistant under Lon at Oklahoma before going to UNLV as an assistant.

[Da Coach]

South Carolina State has hired Memphis assistant Tony Madlock as its next head basketball coach.

[Da Coach]

Marquette will be hiring Texas head coach Shaka Smart. This looks like a lateral move for Shaka Smart, but he is under pressure at Texas and now is a good time for him to get out of there. He is an excellent coach, but for whatever reason, in 6 years at Texas, he has not had the expected success and has never won an NCAA Tournament game. He has come under criticism by fans for not being more competitive in the Big 12 and for his recruiting. His teams have never finished higher than tied for 3rd place in his 6 years as head coach. He took over from Rick Barnes, who had made the NCAA Tournament 16 of his 17 seasons at Texas. But under Smart, Texas has made the tournament only 3 out of the last 6 seasons, and they have lost in the first round every time. They have not won an NCAA Tournament game since 2014. This season, their loss to #14 seed Abilene Christian has ramped up the calls from fans for a change. He had 2 years left on his deal at Texas that paid him around $3.5 million per year. There is no word yet how much he'll earn at Marquette.

Ironically, Just an hour before the news broke that he had reached an agreement in principle with Marquette, Texas fan blog BurntOrangeNation.com posted this article-
A path forward for Shaka Smart at Texas looks more difficult than ever
The embarrassing upset against Abilene Christian and roster turnover combine to make a change seem necessary in Austin
https://www.burntorangenation.com/20...hris-del-conte

Another blog, Hookem.com, had to revise a story calling for Smart's firing, and replaced it with this article-
https://www.hookem.com/story/sports/...12/4798198001/

Texas officials did not want to fire men's basketball coach Shaka Smart. But it was clear this was not working.
Smart is making a preemptive move by taking the Marquette job and leaving Texas after six seasons full of hope and NBA-caliber recruits but ultimately made no progress toward national competitiveness.

So now Texas will be looking for a new head coach. Texas is the #1 revenue-generating college sports program (mostly from football). So they have plenty of money, and will likely spare no expense in seeking their next coach.
On the other hand, Marquette is now out of the Porter Moser sweepstakes.

[Tommy]

Considering the facts you stated about Shaka Smart, I'm really surprised Marquette chose him. Now let's see if Texas shows interest in Moser.

[Da Coach]

Utah will hire Utah State head coach Craig Smith.
Utah State now looking for a new head coach.

[Da Coach]

There is a report from the Loyola student newspaper sports reporter that Porter Moser told his players he was staying at Loyola.

https://twitter.com/AbbySchnable/status/1375874446750318594

[BUfan17]

There is a report from the Loyola student newspaper sports reporter that Porter Moser told his players he was staying at Loyola.
https://twitter.com/AbbySchnable/sta...74446750318594

I won't be surprised at all if it is confirmed he is staying. He is a Chicago area native and looks to have middle/high school aged kids. Yeah he could probably double or triple his $1 million salary, but he is set up pretty comfortable at Loyola. I wouldn't blame him for chasing the big money at IU or Texas, that money comes with a lot more pressure to succeed though.

[Go_Braves]

Considering the facts you stated about Shaka Smart, I'm really surprised Marquette chose him. Now let's see if Texas shows interest in Moser.

Texas will miss Shaka next season and likely more - and regret the way that they (fans and all) treated Shaka.

Steve Wojciechowski was not getting the job done at Marquette - just look at Marquette's past conference records - not their overall records,

All that Shaka has to do is to create a more consistent top conference record. The new Texas coach will have a lot more pressure to not only win but win big from the very beginning.

The CBS Sports article below shares how Shaka is "smart" and a "survivor". Why would Shaka ever want to stay at Texas for the way he was treated.
What highly qualified person would ever want to now coach at Texas knowing it's past history?

Marquette made a great move to land Shaka Smart as coach, but what he did by leaving Texas was pure genius - CBSSports.com

[Da Coach]

Texas-Rio Grande will hire current Austin Peay head coach Matt Figgers. It seems like a lateral or even downward move, but Figgers was reportedly entering his final contract year and was in danger of not being renewed at Austin Peay.

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1376219223165431829

[Da Coach]

It's being reported that Indiana is in talks with former player Mike Woodson to hire him as their next head coach. Woodson is an Indianapolis native who played for IU from 1976-1980 under Bobby Knight. He played 11 seasons in the NBA for 7 different teams, and then coached for 7 different NBA teams, including as a head coach for the NY Knicks and Atlanta Hawks. He has never coached at the college level.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Woodson

[Da Coach]

Villanova assistant Kyle Neptune to be the next Fordham head coach-

https://twitter.com/JonRothstein/status/1376557319086075905

[Da Coach]

Here is an interesting development at Iowa State after their hiring of new new head coach T.J. Otzelberger.
The Des Moines Register just posted an article titled:
"UNI assistant Kyle Green is a leading candidate to join Otzelberger, Iowa State basketball"
https://www.desmoinesregister.com/st...er/6980266002/

UNI assistant coach Kyle Green is hired as Assistant Coach at Iowa State-

https://twitter.com/CycloneMBB/status/1376596525640417280

Will his son, former MVC Player of the Year A.J. Green, consider transferring?