The season of college basketball coaching changes started earlier than expected, with two top-20 jobs opening more than two months prior to Selection Sunday. Maryland popped in early December, while Louisville opened in mid-January. Both jobs finally filled this past week, with Louisville announcing alumnus and NBA assistant Kenny Payne, and Maryland set to announce Seton Hall's Kevin Willard in the next day.
While the timing of those openings came as a surprise, the annual Champ Week carousel started spinning right on time, with around 10 programs making changes before Selection Sunday weekend arrived. Of those 10, the two biggest jobs -- Georgia and Kansas State -- had been expected for some time, but LSU's move to fire Will Wade and Mike White's departure from Florida to were not predicted.
Though most of the top jobs have been resolved, the dominoes will continue to fall for weeks to come. For as long as the carousel spins, though, we'll keep you updated here with the latest intel, rumors, scuttlebutt and everything in between for 2022 college basketball coaching changes.
The latest chatter
All times Eastern.
Tuesday, 7:30 a.m.: Six of the eight available high-major jobs were filled over the weekend -- opening one new one, at Seton Hall -- and the other two moved quickly on Monday.
After taking some swings for big names, LSU hired Murray State's Matt McMahon. McMahon was a popular name this cycle after leading the Racers to a 31-3 record and an NCAA tournament win over San Francisco. He was involved at Florida and Missouri, but the Gators and Tigers opted for Todd Golden and Dennis Gates, respectively, and then McMahon chose LSU following overtures from both the Tigers and South Carolina.
Shortly after news broke that McMahon was taking the LSU job, South Carolina moved to finalize a deal with Chattanooga's Lamont Paris. That hire should become official later this week. The Gamecocks pursued Sean Miller (Xavier), Dennis Gates (Missouri) and McMahon, but Paris had been involved in the search from the outset and interviewed at the school Sunday. Paris has high-major experience from his seven seasons as an assistant coach at Wisconsin and led the Mocs to Southern Conference regular-season and conference tournament titles this season.
Seton Hall is now the only power conference job left, and the heavy favorite is Saint Peter's coach Shaheen Holloway. But as mentioned below, the high-major carousel might not be done spinning just yet.
La Salle also opened on Monday morning, when Ashley Howard was fired after four seasons in Philadelphia. The Explorers could target Colgate's Matt Langel, a New Jersey native and Penn grad who has led the Raiders to three regular-season titles and three NCAA tournament appearances over the past four seasons. Hartford's John Gallagher is another potential candidate.
Monday, 7 a.m.: The weekend, as expected, brought some clarity to the carousel -- especially the high-major vacancies.
It's not often the name that first emerges when a job opens remains the favorite for three and a half months, but that was the case with Kevin Willard and Maryland. Willard was considered a front-runner since early December, and even though the Terrapins explored other options, he always seemed the likely pick in College Park.
Sean Miller to Xavier might have been the biggest headline hire of the cycle; with Miller returning to the program, he led to four straight NCAA tournaments -- including two Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight appearance in 2008. He had been considered one of the primary candidates for both the Musketeers and South Carolina jobs, but the pull to come back to Cincinnati was too much to pass up.
Florida didn't waste any time following San Francisco's loss to Murray State in the first round of the NCAA tournament, hiring Dons' head coach Todd Golden the next morning. Only 36 years old, Golden has won 57 games in three seasons at USF and has built a reputation for efficient offenses and a focus on analytics.
Much of the buzz surrounding the Missouri job before the weekend centered on Murray State's Matt McMahon, but the Tigers pivoted to Cleveland State's Dennis Gates as their hire. And it's a hire that makes sense. He has plenty of experience recruiting at the high-major level from his time at Florida State and other programs, and he's already won two regular-season titles and been to an NCAA tournament as head coach.
New Mexico State's Chris Jans was the favorite for the Mississippi State job as soon as it opened. Athletic director John Cohen had done plenty of background work on a number of candidates, but Jans checked a lot of boxes for the Bulldogs. In five seasons with the Aggies, he won three regular-season titles and four conference tournament titles. More importantly, he's a worker -- and is proficient in the portal.
Kansas State ended its search on Sunday by hiring Baylor assistant Jerome Tang, a move that should be official in short order. The Wildcats had zeroed in on Tang, and K-State officials flew to Texas on Sunday to discuss the deal with him. Tang is considered one of the premier assistants in the country and has been alongside Scott Drew in Waco for the last 19 seasons. It was only a matter of time before Tang -- perceived among some in the industry to be "this year's Tommy Lloyd" -- landed a high-major job.
Here are some updates on some of the mid-major and smaller multibid-conference jobs still available:
Tulsa's search could be nearing an end. Louisiana Tech's Eric Konkol has emerged as the favorite, while Stephen F. Austin's Kyle Keller is also involved. Other names include Wright State's Scott Nagy and Baylor assistant John Jakus.
San Diego cast a wide net in its quest to find a Sam Scholl replacement, with several big names at the top of the Toreros' list. A couple of names that are still buzzing are Yale's James Jones and former Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak. UC Riverside's Mike Magpayo, former Mississippi State coach Ben Howland and Montana State's Danny Sprinkle have also been linked over the last few weeks.
It's been difficult to get concrete information out of the UMass search, other than athletic director Ryan Bamford spoke to more than two dozen potential candidates. At different points, rumors have had it as a done deal to UConn assistant Kimani Young and Bryant's Jared Grasso. Neither have turned out to be true thus far. One wild-card name is former South Carolina coach Frank Martin, who spent four years in the area as an assistant coach at Northeastern.
George Washington has drawn a variety of names, including former Louisville interim coach Mike Pegues, Vermont's John Becker, Miami assistant Chris Caputo, Yale's James Jones, former Maryland interim coach Danny Manning and Virginia's Jason Williford.
There's speculation that New Mexico State could opt to promote associate head coach James Miller to replace Chris Jans, but other industry sources expect the Aggies to go through a legitimate search.
Ed Conroy is perceived to be the favorite at The Citadel, where he was a head coach for four seasons from 2006 to 2010. He also played his college ball for the Bulldogs.
The perceived favorite at Western Michigan remains Michigan assistant Saddi Washington, according to nearly everyone we spoke to. But Washington was also the favorite when it opened two years ago and opted not to pursue the job. Has he changed his mind this time around?
Before we get to which jobs might be next, let's catch up on several jobs that seem unlikely to open.
Arizona State's Bobby Hurley, Georgetown's Patrick Ewing, NC State's Kevin Keatts, Nebraska's Fred Hoiberg, Pittsburgh's Jeff Capel and Stanford's Jerod Haase all received public votes of confidence and therefore seem relatively safe. California athletic director Jim Knowlton said "it's important" for recruits to know about Mark Fox's contract stability, so Fox seems likely to get a fourth season.
Another coach trending toward returning for another year is Clemson's Brad Brownell. The Tigers won five in a row before losing on Wednesday night, and multiple industry sources told ESPN there's now an expectation that Brownell will get another year.
Where does the carousel go from here? Barring some heavy dominoes or a surprise retirement, the carousel -- at least at the major-conference level -- might be spinning pretty slowly come Final Four week. Nearly every job we had our eyes on either opened or announced a vote of confidence.
But there are still a couple to at least monitor.
Butler: There have been whispers for the past couple of weeks that LaVall Jordan could be in trouble. It's Year 5 for Jordan as head coach. He went to the NCAA tournament in his first season and would have received around a 5-seed before the tournament was canceled in 2020. But the Bulldogs have really struggled the past two seasons, especially this season after entering the campaign with some expectations.
SMU: The Mustangs were one of the last teams left out of the NCAA tournament field, and given the way Houston and Memphis performed, they probably should've gotten a little more credit for winning three games against the Cougars and Tigers. There were enough whispers to at least keep an eye on Tim Jankovich's situation following their home loss to Washington State in the NIT on Sunday. Jankovich hasn't been to the NCAA tournament since 2017.