Three-and-a-half weeks into the 2021-22 college basketball season, the coaching carousel officially began to turn on Friday, as Maryland announced head coach Mark Turgeon was stepping down.
While college football has owned headlines all fall for its string of midseason coaching changes — not the least of which came earlier this week when Brian Kelly left Notre Dame for LSU before a possible playoff appearance — the trend has now carried over to the hardwood. It’s not often big programs make coaching changes this early in the season, barring off-court or NCAA issues. UCLA did it with Steve Alford on New Year’s Eve a few years ago and Andy Kennedy resigned from Ole Miss in February 2018, but such circumstances have been few and far between.
Turgeon had some level of success in College Park, winning a share of one Big Ten regular-season championship, going to five NCAA tournaments and one Sweet 16, but he only made it past the first weekend once. He caught an unfortunate break in 2020, when the Terrapins would have likely earned a top-three seed in the NCAA tournament, but it was canceled due to coronavirus.
But Turgeon and the Maryland fan base have not seen eye-to-eye for years now, and a poor start to the season was the opening both the school and Turgeon needed to move on.
Maryland is now the first big job on the board and should have a head start on the rest of the country during its search for a replacement — so what’s next?
Job description
Maryland is considered a top 15 job nationally by many in college basketball and a consensus top-five job in the Big Ten. The Terrapins are actually the most recent Big Ten program to win a national championship, back in 2002, although Maryland was still in the ACC at the time.
The biggest advantage the Terrapins have is their fertile recruiting ground; the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area might be the most talent-rich recruiting base in the country. On top of that, Maryland has tradition, it has an energetic fan base that cares about basketball and it has a great home-court environment.
There aren’t too many negatives to the job, outside of its location being outside the Big Ten’s geographic footprint and the fact the school doesn’t have the resources of some of the league’s biggest programs. But if the Terrapins hire the right coach who can keep the DMV’s best recruits home for school, they have a chance to be a consistent Big Ten contender at the top of the standings.
Who should be on the list?
Sean Miller: Can Maryland hire him? If so, he’s probably the best name for the job. He was considered the favorite back when the Terrapins hired Turgeon and his success on the court and on the recruiting trail (yes, how his program attracted recruits to the school remains a question) led to plenty of wins at Arizona. But he was let go in Tucson last spring and the NCAA’s sanctions have yet to fall on the Wildcats yet. It might be difficult for another school to hire him until penalties and punishment are official. Miller could still be subject to an NCAA show-cause penalty.
Nate Oats, Alabama and Bruce Pearl, Auburn: Neither of these guys seem all that eager to leave, but both would bring some much-needed energy to the program. Oats has had enormous success almost immediately in Tuscaloosa. The 61-year-old Pearl’s case would be trickier, given his issues at both Auburn and Tennessee, but he is close to Under Armour people given Auburn’s deal with the shoe company, and Maryland is also a UA school. And if Turgeon’s inability to excite the Maryland fan base was an issue, Pearl certainly would solve that problem. Both Oats and Pearl are currently at football-first schools, so a move to a basketball school could be attractive. It might be worth the call.
Kevin Willard, Seton Hall: An annual staple in the “would he leave?” hypothetical segment of the coaching carousel, Willard has yet to make the jump elsewhere despite the constant links. There were strong rumors back in 2019 that he was going to Virginia Tech to replace Buzz Williams, but he opted to stay at Seton Hall. One year later, Willard won a share of the Big East regular-season championship, and despite an NIT season last year his stock is still as high as it was.
Andy Enfield, USC: Enfield has turned things around in Southern California after a couple of down years, going to the Elite Eight last season and continuing to recruit at a high, high level — headlined by back-to-back top-six NBA draft picks in Onyeka Okongwu and Evan Mobley. He also has experience in the area — and the school — playing at Johns Hopkins and then earning a Master’s degree from Maryland. The Trojans are off to a 7-0 start this season.
Ed Cooley, Providence: Cooley hasn’t made the NCAA tournament since 2018, although the Friars were headed there in 2020 before the pandemic hit. They’re off to a 7-1 start this season and just beat Texas Tech on Wednesday. Cooley has a great reputation in the coaching industry and he went to five straight NCAA tournaments from 2014-18.
Mark Schmidt, St. Bonaventure: Schmidt is familiar with the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the country, he’s won two Atlantic 10 regular-season titles, went to the NCAA tournament last season and had the Bonnies in the preseason top 25 to start the season. He would have to recruit at a higher level to succeed in College Park — although it’s significantly easier to recruit there than Olean, New York — but from a basketball coaching standpoint, there aren’t too many better than the 58-year-old Schmidt.
Mike Brey, Notre Dame: His name will undoubtedly be linked to the job, given his Bethesda, Maryland roots and time spent in the region at DeMatha Catholic High School, the University of Delaware and the fact he still has a summer house on the Delaware beaches. But there were rumors last spring of him potentially stepping down at Notre Dame and it’s difficult to see him at 62 years old making a move and trying to rebuild a program.
John Beilein: Beilein is going to be mentioned for most high-major jobs that open this spring, although that was also the case last spring and he didn’t get much traction for anything. He obviously had an enormous amount of success in college before struggling mightily in his one season with the Cleveland Cavaliers. He’ll also be 69 years old in February.
Dennis Gates, Cleveland State: The hottest name on the coaching carousel last spring, Gates stayed at Cleveland State after leading the Vikings to the NCAA tournament. He has high-major pedigree as an assistant coach at Florida State and California, and another NCAA tournament appearance would make him an attractive candidate once again.
Niko Medved, Colorado State: He doesn’t quite fit from a regional standpoint, but Medved is going to be one of the best mid-major names on replacement lists this spring. He hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament yet, but Colorado State is the Mountain West favorite and should go dancing this season. He’s won at least 20 games in two straight seasons and has had success at three different schools.
Archie Miller: It might be difficult for Maryland to hire someone who just spent four years in the same league and didn’t finish higher than sixth in the conference — but Miller is going to have a track record better than many candidates in the spring. He went to four NCAA tournaments at Dayton, including an Elite Eight run in 2014.
Wes Miller, Cincinnati: He was only hired seven months ago by the Bearcats, but he makes more sense than the other mid-major candidates from a regional perspective. Won at least 21 games his final five seasons at UNC Greensboro, going to two NCAA tournaments and winning three Southern Conference regular-season titles.
Mike Rhoades, VCU: Rhoades has experience in the region, going back to his five years as an assistant at VCU and his current stretch as the head coach of the Rams since 2017. He’s also continued the winning ways at VCU, going to the NCAA tournament in 2019 and 2021.
Mike Jones, UNC Greensboro: Wes Miller’s replacement at UNCG, Jones won back-to-back Big South Conference regular-season titles at Radford before finishing second last season. He has plenty of ties to the region, attending college at Howard and starting his coaching career at Sidwell Friends School in Washington D.C.
Kim English, George Mason: It’s only his first year as a head coach, but English has experience recruiting at the high-major level from his time at Colorado and Tennessee and is a Baltimore native. He also took his team to College Park and beat Maryland on the road earlier this season. If George Mason has a successful season, he could really be a name to watch here.
Mike Jones, Virginia Tech assistant: While regional ties might be overrated when it comes to coaching hires, Jones does check a lot of boxes when it comes to being a good candidate. He has stronger connections on the recruiting trail in this area than any other name on the list, given his 19 years at DeMatha Catholic High School (Maryland). He’s in his first year as an assistant coach with the Hokies, but he has plenty of high-level pedigree.
Adrian “Red” Autry, Syracuse assistant and Mike Pegues, Louisville assistant: The trend of high-major programs hiring high-major assistant coaches took off last spring, and Autry and Pegues could be potential names if Maryland opted to go that route. Autry has been at Syracuse for more than a decade, but has strong ties to the D.C. recruiting circuit from his days with Team Takeover and at Paul VI High School (Virginia). Pegues is from D.C., went to DeMatha and just led Louisville to a win over the Terrapins as the Cardinals’ interim head coach. His 5-1 stint in suspended coach Chris Mack’s place earlier this season could put him on the radar for a few jobs this spring.
Prediction
It doesn’t appear there’s a clear No. 1 option for Maryland at this point. If Danny Manning stockpiles a lot of wins as the interim head coach and wins an NCAA tournament game or two, he could get the permanent job — but it looks like the Terrapins are planning to look elsewhere for their next guy. I think Kevin Willard makes the most sense — if he’s interested. If he says no and the school decides it can’t hire Sean Miller, the next three or four months of the season could dictate their top options.