Starting everyone's favorite annual tradition a little early because we're two weeks into conference play, there's some upset fan bases out there, and there's two power conference jobs already open! Threw this together pretty quickly based on some articles out there mostly before the season so some sections need work, especially the guys likely to make a big jump. Who are the guys y'all are keeping an eye on?

Already open

Virginia - Tony Bennett retired right before the season and the interim isn't looking promising
Miami - Jim Larranaga got retired at Christmas
Florida State - Leonard Hamilton retired 2/3
Indiana - Mike Woodson - Stepping down at the end of the year

Fire/retire watch

Arizona State - Bobby Hurley
Central Florida - Johnny Dawkins - maybe doing enough?
Oklahoma - Porter Moser - four alarm fire here, he's not done done, but it's getting close
Memphis - Penny Hardaway - real hot seat coming into the season, but doing well so far. Of course last year at this time they were doing pretty well too and then collapsed.
Oregon State - Wayne Tinkle - If Oregon State stopped playing basketball, would anyone notice?
Villanova - Kyle Neptune - three alarm fire
Virginia Tech - Mike Young - after a hot start taking over Buzz's old program, they straight up suck.

Ready to jump?

Niko Medved - Colorado State - thought he'd jump last year
Bucky McMillan - Samford
Ross Hodge - North Texas

Back to the big time?

Will Wade - McNeese
Andy Kennedy - UAB
Bryce Drew - Grand Canyon
Richard Pitino - New Mexico

How 'bout that school in Austin? That seat seems hot.

Dawkins and UCF at #70 in NET so that's a challenge to make the NCAAs. Yep, hot.

Moser at OU -- at least OSU and UT stink

Shrewsberry at ND in second year. They stink but probably gets another year.

Shrewsbury took over a disaster of a roster and they're slightly improved this year. I think ND will give him a long leash.

Won't shock me if Thad Matta is out at Butler. Also not sure how much longer LSU will be content with McMahon, but also not sure how much they actually care.

Is Indiana desperate enough at this point to hire a scumbag like Chris Beard?

Topher17 said:

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Shrewsbury took over a disaster of a roster and they're slightly improved this year. I think ND will give him a long leash.

Won't shock me if Thad Matta is out at Butler. Also not sure how much longer LSU will be content with McMahon, but also not sure how much they actually care.

Is Indiana desperate enough at this point to hire a scumbag like Chris Beard?

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Given what people still think Knight was…

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Is Indiana desperate enough at this point to hire a scumbag like Chris Beard?

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My Aggie grad son is engaged to an Indiana grad. Asked him how much crap she was giving him this past year during IU's CFP run and he said that it was mild and not too frequent, even if he initiated it for fun. "Hard to talk smack about football when all Indiana cares about is men's basketball"

So yeah, I think they would hire a Beard/scumbag type in a heartbeat if they think he would return them to basketball glory.

Mike Young is at a dumpster fire at VT. Their football gets all NIL and they still suck. He's working with mid major talent in the ACC and it's not getting any better with no NIL. For his sake he needs to bounce.

Beard is in the first year of a new contract. It won't be prohibitively expensive to get him, but it's no small thing. He owes Ole Miss 4.5 mil if he leaves this year.

bobinator said:

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Beard is in the first year of a new contract. It won't be prohibitively expensive to get him, but it's no small thing. He owes Ole Miss 4.5 mil if he leaves this year.

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For Indiana basketball, that's pocket change. They're so desperate to get back to Blue Blood status, they'd probably find a way to come up with 10 times that amount if they had to.

Porter Moser did an unbelievable job getting Loyola Chicago to a Final Four and Sweet 16, however, his career winning percentage is 55%.

[url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/sports/college/sooners/2024/03/11/ou-basketball-porter-moser-responds-depaul-rumors-oklahoma-sooners-coach/72938827007/][/url]

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The most recent report on Moser's buyout has it at about $6.5 million, which is what it would cost OU to fire Moser without cause (and no, not winning basketball games is not considered a cause). That is down, though, compared to USA Today's report of a buyout of $10,293,750 last year.

There was also a group of OU fans who even wanted Moser gone after last season when the Sooners were snubbed from the NCAA Tournament after another poor showing in conference play (that time in the Big 12). Instead, Moser was given a $100,000 raise, bumping his salary to $3.2 million after going 54-45 during his first three seasons at OU.

Moser's contract also includes a "Stay Benefit," meaning he gets a bonus everytime he stays with OU instead of going somewhere else to coach. That stay benefit was $400,000 after the first season and has been $200,000 since. So while some fans wanted Moser gone last year, he got an extra $300,000 to stick around.

When OU hired Moser away from Loyola Chicago and paid his $750,000 buyout, Moser signed a contract that runs through 2028.

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agent-maroon said:

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So yeah, I think they would hire a Beard/scumbag type in a heartbeat if they think he would return them to basketball glory.

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IU refuses to accept it, but they gave up their non-existent moral high ground with the hiring of Kelvin Sampson. They are likely at the point where they would embrace someone like Beard if they thought he would win.

I mean it's not like they went huge and made a splash last time. I agree the money wouldn't be the main hold up if they decide Beard is their guy, they'd find it, but it's at least a consideration. You're looking at 4.5 mil even to hire him on top of increasing his salary which is 5 mil also. That's basically 10M up front to hire him and that's assuming he'd even leave Ole Miss for Indiana for roughly the same money. Might take a lot more than that.

Eh, I think it's a different moral high ground to hire someone who did some light cheating versus someone who was arrested for domestic assault (even if the charges were later dropped.)

WildcatAg said:

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agent-maroon said:

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So yeah, I think they would hire a Beard/scumbag type in a heartbeat if they think he would return them to basketball glory.

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IU refuses to accept it, but they gave up their non-existent moral high ground with the hiring of Kelvin Sampson. They are likely at the point where they would embrace someone like Beard if they thought he would win.

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If you know the whole story behind Sampson's cheating, you'll see what he did was petty and minor. Same with Bruce Pearl. Those guys were sacrificial lambs who were made examples of. I like seeing them both succeed...as long as it's not against A&M.

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If you know the whole story behind Sampson's cheating, you'll see what he did was petty and minor. Same with Bruce Pearl. Those guys were sacrificial lambs who were made examples of. I like seeing them both succeed

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Sampson's infractions were minor (and pretty dumb on his part). I agree, the game is better with Pearl and Sampson in it. However, IU's mentality for decades was "everyone cheats but us." Similar to the sips. This is how they consoled themselves during the end of the Knight era and the Mike Davis era as they continued to slip. Bringing in Sampson completely destroyed that narrative to anyone without the darkest of IU colored glasses.

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I think it's a different moral high ground to hire someone who did some light cheating versus someone who was arrested for domestic assault (even if the charges were later dropped.)

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IU has intolerable sins and sins that are ignored.

Intolerable Sins: Paying players, academic scandals, recruiting violations, not graduating players
Ignored Sins: Moral failings and behavior of the coach

It is really crazy given their recruiting base, resources, and tradition that they have not been able to get back to consistently being good. Similar to us in football, there seem to be a pretty good amount of resistance to change/adapt to the times that is a barrier.

I'm sure Beard heard enough about IU from Knight, who knows if Beard would even give them the time of day.

I doubt Beard would have much interest in moving to Bloomington at this point in his career…to put it simply, he can do better.

IU Basketball = Nebraska Football

That seems like a quick trigger by SFA. Yea, they're bad this year, but they haven't been terrible up until now. They had to vacate a bunch of wins early in his time at SFA, but I don't recall if that was on him or his predecessor. I'm guessing there was something else in play besides his W-L record.

Underwood losing one conference game in three seasons might have changed their perspective on things similar to what BCG and Turgeon did here.

They haven't been all that bad but they haven't been what they were under him or the last couple seasons under Kaspar.

Leonard Hamilton out at FSU. That was all but guaranteed.

With Hamilton out, the new longest tenured coach in the ACC is the absolute legend of "just good enough not to get fired" himself Brad Brownell at Clemson.

Edit: somehow forgot Clemson made the elite eight last year, he probably got a lifetime contract extension

Talk about hanging on for way way too long. FSU had quite a run leading up to Covid and then just never got things back on track. One good hire in the ACC and you're easily back near the top though. Won't be surprised to see one of Miami or FSU sniff around Lake Charles to see what Will Wade wants in his next role.

bobinator said:

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With Hamilton out, the new longest tenured coach in the ACC is the absolute legend of "just good enough not to get fired" himself Brad Brownell at Clemson.

Edit: somehow forgot Clemson made the elite eight last year, he probably got a lifetime contract extension

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C'mon...it's not like he's an A&M football coach...

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/43723592/sources-woodson-unlikely-return-indiana-next-season

He's been toast for a while surely

bobinator said:

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He's been toast for a while surely

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Absolutely. The interesting part of the article is the mention of the size of their NIL budget. IU alums not giving up on trying to restore their blueblood status; that will carry over to opening the checkbook for the next try at head coach. Doesn't make them happy to see Matt Painter's success either I'm sure.

Long article on ESPN men's homepage about realistic and unrealistic IU replacement possibilities, starting with Brad Stevens (highly unlikely of course).

Buzz is listed as the best candidate that would listen if the top targets say no. I'd take it with a grain of salt of course, but IU is (kind of?) still a blueblood with better support than A&M, but I do feel like Buzz likes being home in Texas.

NE PA Ag said:

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bobinator said:

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He's been toast for a while surely

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Absolutely. The interesting part of the article is the mention of the size of their NIL budget. IU alums not giving up on trying to restore their blueblood status; that will carry over to opening the checkbook for the next try at head coach. Doesn't make them happy to see Matt Painter's success either I'm sure.

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My son's fiance is an IU alum. Bold part above is understated to say the least.

NE PA Ag said:

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Long article on ESPN men's homepage about realistic and unrealistic IU replacement possibilities, starting with Brad Stevens (highly unlikely of course).

Buzz is listed as the best candidate that would listen if the top targets say no. I'd take it with a grain of salt of course, but IU is (kind of?) still a blueblood with better support than A&M, but I do feel like Buzz likes being home in Texas.

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Who are realistic candidates if the top targets say no?

Buzz Williams, Texas A&M: Williams has had success at three different programs, leading Marquette to five NCAA tournaments, three Sweet 16s and an Elite Eight; Virginia Tech to three NCAA tournaments and a Sweet 16; and now he has Texas A&M headed for its third straight tournament appearance -- possibly as a top-three seed. His buyout is believed to be low, and his time at Marquette would minimize any regional concerns. It's also likely he would listen if Indiana called.

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https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/43722918/indiana-mens-college-basketball-coaching-candidates-mike-woodson-brad-stevens-bruce-pearl

Imagining Buzz somewhere like Indiana makes me laugh. Doesn't mean it won't happen, but it would be hilarious.

I'll be surprised if the Indiana search gets past Shaka

I just can't even fathom Buzz at a place like Indiana. It's an even worse fit than Kentucky was for Gillispie.

Will Trev bite. 10 year extension and raise coming up.

I think Buzz would have to listen to Indiana…even if he's not fully interested. I mean, throughout my career I've always listened to other offers, even if I wasn't really interested. Par of its curiosity, part professional courtesy. I think if Buzz stays at A&M long enough, we'll name buildings after him. But is that what he wants out of his career?

Indiana has one of the best NIL situations in hoops. Buzz doesn't have that here.