In the days Kevin Willard was mulling a move to Villanova, the one name that kept coming up as his potential replacement at Maryland was Texas A&M's Buzz Williams. About 48 hours after Willard officially left College Park, the Terrapins announced Williams as their new head coach.
And with that, we're on to the next domino in what could be a high-major coaching carousel that continues spinning past the Final Four.
Below is the latest intel and buzz.
Go to: A list of every single coaching move so far
April 2
What are the pros and cons of the Texas A&M job?
Williams leaves A&M after guiding the Aggies to three straight NCAA tournament appearances, though they haven't advanced beyond the first weekend since Billy Kennedy led them in 2018. The program has never advanced past the Sweet 16, so athletic director Trev Alberts will hope his next hire breaks through.
A&M has a reputation of having lots of resources and very deep pockets. And it does, but it hasn't shown a propensity to use it for hires in major sports. In football, the Aggies hired Mike Elko after two solid seasons at Duke. In baseball, they promoted from within when Jim Schlossnagle left for Texas last June.
On the plus side, they are in a fertile recruiting ground with enough resources to keep high-major prospects home for college and battle for players out of the portal. It's still a football-first school in a state filled with basketball programs -- Baylor, Texas Tech, Houston and Texas -- that have had more recent success than the Aggies.
Are there realistic home run swings for the Aggies?
Editor's note: ESPN's Pete Thamel and Jeff Borzello reported on Wednesday afternoon that Chris Beard has decided to stay at Ole Miss after having discussions with Texas A&M.
The most common name linked to a potential Texas A&M vacancy over the past couple of weeks has been Ole Miss' Chris Beard.
Beard has longtime Texas roots, dating back to high school. He went to the University of Texas as an undergrad and has coached at seven different colleges in Texas, most notably leading Texas Tech to the national championship game in 2019 and spending a season and a half at Texas before being fired following an arrest on a felony domestic violence charge that was later dismissed.
In two seasons with the Rebels, Beard is 44-24, leading them to the Sweet 16 this season. His buyout is a reported $3.5 million.
As mentioned, A&M hasn't shown a tendency to pay big buyouts to hire coaches, but if the school decided to reach into its deep pockets and take a couple of more swings, two names with obvious ties to the state are Texas Tech's Grant McCasland and Illinois' Brad Underwood. McCasland's buyout is believed to be around $8 million, while Underwood's is believed to be around $15 million. It seems doubtful either would leave their current situations.
Who else could get a look?
If Beard says no and A&M doesn't want to pony up to pay a big buyout, there are still plenty of options.
Among Power 5 head coaches, Mississippi State's Chris Jans and Wake Forest's Steve Forbes are logical calls. Jans has led Mississippi State to three straight NCAA tournaments, although the Bulldogs didn't win a game in any of those three tournaments. He also went to three NCAA tournaments in five seasons at New Mexico State. Forbes spent two seasons as an assistant at A&M under Billy Gillispie in the early 2000s, and had success as a head coach at East Tennessee State. He has yet to go to the NCAA tournament in his five seasons at Wake Forest, though.
Oklahoma's Porter Moser is another sitting high-major coach who has been linked to multiple jobs this cycle.
At the mid-major level, Samford's Bucky McMillan or High Point's Alan Huss would be at the top of the list. McMillan is a name to monitor if Beard leaves Ole Miss, too.
One wild card could be Houston assistant Kellen Sampson. He is obviously very familiar with the state, not only from the past 11 years on his father's staff at Houston, but also with one season as an assistant at Stephen F. Austin. Sampson has played a key role in the Cougars' success in recent years.
March 30
What are the positives and negatives of the Maryland job?
If you listened to Willard over the past couple of weeks, there are some serious drawbacks, but let's start with the positives. Maryland was the last Big Ten program to win a national championship (2002) when the Terrapins were in the ACC. The Terps have tradition and a passionate fan base.
They also have arguably the most talent-rich recruiting base in the conference, from a high school and AAU perspective. The D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area produces an incredible number of high-major players, so the Terps should be in the running for most -- or at least have an edge in attracting transfers when they want to return home.
Willard highlighted some of the financial difficulties; he said the program was near the bottom of the Big Ten in name, image and likeness budget. But with Big Ten media and Under Armour money, that shouldn't be the case. And perhaps that will change once revenue share kicks in.
The other big negative is the lack of an athletic director. That could hinder the search from a decision-making perspective, while some candidates could be reluctant to take the job without knowing who their boss will be.
Pete Thamel joins "College GameDay" to detail Kevin Willard's move from Maryland to Villanova.
What's the biggest name buzzing around for the vacancy?
It's not-so-subtly referenced in the question. Texas A&M's Buzz Williams has been linked to the job since it became apparent Willard was leaving for Villanova. Williams has been mentioned for a few jobs this cycle, although Maryland is the most viable. His buyout isn't prohibitive and he has arguably the deepest résumé of the attainable big names. He has made 11 NCAA tournaments, including the past three at Texas A&M. He also reached four Sweet 16s at Marquette and Virginia Tech, taking the former to the Elite Eight in 2013.
One potential drawback? Williams has developed a tendency to move to another high-major program every five or six years, so Maryland could be in a similar situation to the one it's in earlier than expected if the Terps go with Williams.
Who else could get involved?
There are a couple of paths Maryland could take. One is to opt for a local up-and-coming mid-major coach, while the other would be pursuing a more established name.
In the first category, the two obvious candidates would be George Mason's Tony Skinn and American's Duane Simpkins. Skinn has been a head coach for only two years, but just led Mason to a share of the Atlantic 10 regular-season title after spending several seasons as an assistant coach at multiple high-major schools -- including Maryland. Simpkins played at Maryland in the 1990s and has been the head coach at American for two seasons, guiding the Eagles to the Patriot League regular-season and tournament titles this season, earning a spot in the NCAA tournament.
If the Terps go the latter route, Ole Miss' Chris Beard has been mentioned as a potential candidate, although a more likely move for Beard could be to Texas A&M if Williams takes the Maryland job.
Oklahoma's Porter Moser was likely among the next choices at Villanova had Willard said no, so it wouldn't be a surprise to see Maryland put him on its list, too. Northwestern's Chris Collins is close to an extension at Northwestern, but could Maryland try to tempt him to make a move within the league? Mississippi State's Chris Jans and Wake Forest's Steve Forbes could be two more Power 5 coaches with some lateral-move intrigue.
Another name could be Loyola Chicago's Drew Valentine, who seems destined for a high-major job in the next couple of years. He is on the way up, but has also coached in the NCAA tournament and won a share of the A-10 regular-season title in 2024.
We would also be remiss if we didn't mention a name with a surprising amount of social media endorsements: UConn assistant Luke Murray. There has been a groundswell of support on Maryland message boards and in Maryland communities on X for the two-time national champion.
March 25
As expected, the coaching carousel ramped up dramatically after the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. On Monday, Ben McCollum to the Iowa Hawkeyes, Niko Medved to the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Sean Miller to the Texas Longhorns were officially announced -- three deals which were reported or heavily rumored in the previous days.
Four more deals were also made official: South Florida hiring Arkansas State's Bryan Hodgson, Columbia hiring Florida assistant Kevin Hovde, Chicago State getting Alcorn State's Landon Bussie -- and the surprise of the day, UNLV landing former Georgia Tech and Memphis head coach Josh Pastner.
That leaves just three power-conference jobs on the board -- and a carousel that, on the surface, looks like it could be wrapped up by the Final Four. Let's reset the landscape:
What, no Xavier search primer?
We didn't even have time for a Texas search primer! Miller emerging as the top target at Texas broke on Sunday afternoon, right in the middle of NCAA tournament action and just hours after the Longhorns officially informed Rodney Terry he wasn't being brought back next season.
Xavier is believed to be focused on sitting head coaches, with Charleston's Chris Mack the favorite to land the job -- although nothing was done as of Tuesday morning. Mack, of course, was the head coach of the Musketeers from 2010 to '18, leading the program to seven NCAA tournaments, four Sweet 16s and one Elite Eight, before leaving for Louisville. He would be the second boomerang hire in a row for Xavier, as Miller had two separate stints as the Musketeers' boss as well.
Other names linked to the job include New Mexico's Richard Pitino, Loyola Chicago's Drew Valentine and High Point's Alan Huss.
What's going on at Villanova, West Virginia and VCU?
The Kevin Willard links to Villanova kicked into high gear last week with his scorched-earth news conference about needing more support in College Park. He then turned around and guided Maryland to its first Sweet 16 since 2016. Willard is going to get a sizable bump in salary, whether it's with the Terps or at Nova. If he turns down Villanova -- and all indications are that he's the Wildcats' top target -- the next names on the list are believed to be Pitino and Oklahoma's Porter Moser.
West Virginia has shuffled through a long list of names. When the job first opened, most perceived Utah State's Jerrod Calhoun as the favorite, given his ties to the state and his time as an assistant under Bob Huggins. But he's signing a new contract and staying with the Aggies. WVU athletic director Wren Baker is believed to have made a brief run at Ben McCollum, although he was obviously too far down the road with Iowa. North Texas' Ross Hodge is in the mix, as is Huss. Another name to monitor could be Wake Forest's Steve Forbes, although nothing has materialized between the two sides just yet.
VCU might seem out of place in this conversation, but the Rams are arguably the best job in men's college basketball outside of the power conferences, so let's discuss them. They also targeted Pitino last week, although he might have better options as the carousel continues to spin. There were also some links to Huss and UNC Asheville's Mike Morrell, but neither seems likely at this point. Athletic director Ed McLaughlin has played things very close to the vest to this point, with no clear favorite for the job emerging.
What might happen at the long-rumored openings at Drake, Colorado State and McNeese?
Athletic directors at all three programs likely knew for some time they would have an opening on their hands this spring.
Drake is on an incredible run of coaches, with its last three names -- Niko Medved, Darian DeVries and Ben McCollum -- all landing Big Ten jobs in the past week. South Dakota State's Eric Henderson is believed to be in the mix here, while Omaha's Chris Crutchfield and Cleveland State's Daniyal Robinson have also been linked.
Colorado State is expected to go through a legitimate search, although promoting Ali Farokhmanesh, Medved's assistant at both Drake and Colorado State and an integral part of the Rams' three NCAA tournaments in four seasons, would be a logical outcome. UC Riverside's Mike Magpayo has been another name attached to the search.
The favorite to replace Will Wade at McNeese is Baylor assistant Bill Armstrong, who was an assistant under Wade for five seasons at LSU.
What else are we hearing?
A long, long list of names has been mentioned at Fordham, with athletic director Charles Guthrie looking for head coaching experience in his next hire. Three names linked in recent days include Kent State's Rob Senderoff, Bryant's Phil Martelli Jr. and Magpayo.
Penn seems to be nearing the end of its search, with recently fired Iowa coach Fran McCaffery, a Philadelphia native and Penn alum, emerging as a candidate. The Quakers initially focused on younger, up-and-coming targets, but after taking a few swings, McCaffery is in the mix.
March 24
By the time we came out of the first weekend of the NCAA tournament, the coaching landscape had shifted significantly. Let's recap the biggest moves that came down.
Virginia announced it was hiring VCU's Ryan Odom as its next head coach on March 21. Odom is best known for orchestrating the first ever 16-over-1 upset in the NCAA tournament, when UMBC beat the Cavaliers in 2018. He has led three different programs to the NCAA tournament. In two seasons at VCU, he finished 52-21 overall and 26-10 in conference play. The 11-seeded Rams fell in the first round Thursday to 6-seed BYU.
Will Wade to NC State was made official on March 23, the morning after McNeese exited the NCAA tournament after a second-round loss to Purdue. Wade won 58 games overall in two seasons at McNeese, including an NCAA tournament game, when the 12-seed Cowboys stunned 5-seed Clemson Thursday. He was previously the LSU coach from 2018 to '22.
Texas fired Rodney Terry Sunday, but the search was quick. On Monday, AD Chris Del Conte announced Xavier's Sean Miller had got the job. Miller was on his second stint at Xavier -- leaving in between to coach at Arizona. Xavier will commence its search now as well.
Ben McCollum replaces Fran McCaffery at Iowa, it was announced March 24. McCollum led Drake to the round of 32 -- where the 11-seed Bulldogs fell to 3-seed Texas Tech. A successful single year in Des Moines followed an even more successful stint at D-II Northwest Missouri State. He led the Bearcats to four Division II national championships and a 394-91 record during his 15 seasons at the helm.
Another domino fell Monday morning, with Minnesota officially hiring Colorado State's Niko Medved, just over 12 hours after the Rams lost on a buzzer-beater to Maryland in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Medved has been a hot name on the coaching carousel for a few years now, as he has led Colorado State to the tournament in three of the past four years. Overall, he went 143-65 in seven seasons.
On the mid-major front, UNLV is hiring Josh Pastner, former Georgia Tech and Memphis head coach. Pastner replaces Kevin Kruger, who was fired earlier this month.
We're keeping track of every move in a list here.
March 20
And now we wait.
After Iowa and Villanova opened last weekend and Indiana found its coach in West Virginia's Darian DeVries, the high-major carousel is in a bit of a holding pattern. The primary reason? Pretty much every viable candidate for most of the jobs is in the NCAA tournament.
NC State reached an agreement with McNeese's Will Wade on the eve of the tournament, and Wade is expected to take over in Raleigh once the Cowboys are eliminated, sources told ESPN.
The presumed favorite at Iowa is Drake's Ben McCollum, although he could also emerge as a candidate at West Virginia or Minnesota. But the Bulldogs are set to face 6-seed Missouri on Thursday.
High on Minnesota's target list is Colorado State's Niko Medved, who's leading the Rams against Memphis on Friday. Another name linked to the Gophers' vacancy in recent days is Denver Nuggets assistant Ryan Saunders, Flip Saunders' son and a Minnesota alum.
The front-runner at Virginia since early in the process has been VCU's Ryan Odom, and he remains the favorite to replace Tony Bennett in Charlottesville. But the Cavaliers also have a wait, with Odom and the Rams facing BYU on Thursday.
West Virginia opened only on Tuesday, but the Mountaineers' top candidates are likely to be Utah State's Jerrod Calhoun as well as McCollum. Both are set to play on Thursday against higher-seeded opponents.
Outside of those five, the only other power-conference job open is Villanova Wildcats -- and the Wildcats are looking primarily at coaches in the NCAA tournament. Maryland's Kevin Willard is the name generating the most buzz in recent days, especially after his reported contract extension with the Terrapins was disputed by sources close to the situation. Oklahoma's Porter Moser, New Mexico's Richard Pitino and Northwestern's Chris Collins have all been linked to the job, as has Miami Heat assistant Malik Allen.
While we wait for the next big domino to fall -- and something like Willard or Moser going to Villanova would certainly qualify -- we also have our eyes on Texas. Rodney Terry extended his time in Austin by winning two games in the SEC tournament and earning a bid to the NCAA tournament, but the Longhorns blew a 13-point lead on Wednesday night and were bounced out of the First Four by Xavier. If and when Texas opens, the carousel will go into overdrive.
What else we're hearing
As we reported on Monday, the clubhouse leader to replace Tobin Anderson at Iona is New Orleans Pelicans assistant Dan Geriot.
One item we alluded to when the tracker first launched was the potential for Baylor assistant Bill Armstrong to turn down other jobs in case the McNeese job opened. Well, the McNeese job is poised to open, and Armstrong, who worked for Wade at LSU, is considered the favorite.
March 19
For the third time in 20 months, West Virginia is set to embark on a men's basketball head coach search.
Darian DeVries left the Mountaineers on Tuesday after just one season in Morgantown to take over at Indiana. A year ago, DeVries was hired to replace interim head coach Josh Eilert, who had temporarily replaced Bob Huggins following his resignation in June 2023. The school conducted a permanent search when Huggins stepped down, but swung and missed on a couple candidates and ultimately waited until last March to hire DeVries.
Now athletic director Wren Baker is back on the hunt for a new leader of his men's basketball program.
How good is the West Virginia job?
We should start with the biggest talking point when it comes to coaches' assessment of jobs these days: name, image and likeness support and revenue share.
West Virginia was toward the top of the pecking order when NIL was introduced, with the Country Roads Trust collective helping Huggins and the Mountaineers on the recruiting trail early on. More recently, Baker has indicated that West Virginia will look to share the maximum $20.5 million per-school budget (or close to it), so the men's basketball program should be competitive when it comes to an NIL budget.
The program has had success under multiple head coaches, making deep NCAA tournament runs under both Huggins and John Beilein. The Mountaineers have never won a national title and have been to one Final Four since 1959, but they are annually in the NCAA tournament hunt. While high school recruiting isn't as big a factor as it used to be, they do have a unique footprint in the Big 12 in the sense that they can pull from the Northeast and mid-Atlantic while also going into Ohio and the Midwest to get players.
Are candidates already emerging?
The two primary names immediately linked to the position were Utah State's Jerrod Calhoun and Drake's Ben McCollum.
Calhoun has strong ties to the program as a former student assistant under Huggins at Cincinnati who later joined his West Virginia staff for five seasons. Calhoun has also raised his profile over the last few years as a head coach, leading Youngstown State to a Horizon League regular-season title in 2023 and winning 46 games over his final two seasons with the Penguins. Utah State hired him last year, and he guided the Aggies to the NCAA tournament in Year 1.
Meanwhile, McCollum was heavily in the mix for the Indiana job that ultimately went to DeVries, but it won't be McCollum's last pursuit of the cycle. For one, he's considered the favorite for the Iowa vacancy. Baker also knows McCollum well from their days at Division II Northwest Missouri State, where Baker was McCollum's athletic director between 2010 and 2013. McCollum led the Bearcats to four national championships before taking over at Drake last spring, winning 30 games and advancing to the NCAA tournament in his first season with the Bulldogs.
Indiana has selected West Virginia's Darian DeVries to replace Mike Woodson as men's basketball coach.
What other coaches could get looks?
If it's not Calhoun and McCollum, there are plenty of coaches who are likely to get conversations with Baker. Colorado State's Niko Medved was in the mix last year, though he's considered the favorite at Minnesota. Saint Louis' Josh Schertz was linked when he was still at Indiana State, as was Grand Canyon's Bryce Drew. There was also speculation that Wake Forest's Steve Forbes could be a target this time last year.
High Point's Alan Huss, Samford's Bucky McMillan, George Mason's Tony Skinn, South Dakota State's Eric Henderson and Furman's Bob Richey are all up-and-coming head coaches with intrigue, too.
Two more potential names: North Texas' Ross Hodge and Appalachian State's Dustin Kerns. Baker will be familiar with Hodge from their time at North Texas, while Kerns was interviewed last time around. There is also UAB's Andy Kennedy, who spent four seasons under Huggins at Cincinnati and was considered perhaps the most likely name to take over for him a couple years ago.
March 15
Check out the stats behind Kyle Neptune's time as head coach of the Villanova men's college basketball team.
Entering this season, the expectation was Kyle Neptune needed to lead Villanova to the NCAA tournament or he wouldn't get a fourth year with the Wildcats.
After a Big East tournament quarterfinal defeat to UConn on Thursday, Villanova's postseason fate was sealed and, less than 36 hours later, Neptune was informed of his dismissal.
Neptune was in charge on the Main Line for three seasons but failed to get the Wildcats to the NCAA tournament despite having substantial NIL support and a talented roster. Annual eyebrow-raising defeats to low-major programs combined with inconsistency in Big East play kept them from ever mounting a serious postseason charge.
It was always going to be hard to be the person who replaced Jay Wright, but now the Villanova administration has to figure out how to get the program back to the levels it saw under the Hall of Fame coach.
Where does Villanova stack up among the open jobs?
In our view, it's second to Indiana -- although there are some coaches who would prefer Villanova because of the less pressurized environment (i.e., Mike Woodson made the NCAA tournament in each of his first two seasons and was on the hot seat before his third season even ended).
Either way, it's a terrific job and one that will have sitting power conference head coaches interested. It has plenty of tradition and history, having won three national championships (two under Wright) and gone to seven Final Fours (four under Wright).
The Wildcats have resources and a hefty NIL budget, one that is expected to grow if and when the House settlement goes into effect. Given that Big East schools don't have high-level college football programs, their basketball programs are getting a larger share of the revenue-share pie, and Villanova is expected to be near the top of the league's pecking order when it comes to salary cap.
Now, can another coach ever live up to the standard of Wright's tenure? That might be the only fear in taking over the job.
Will Villanova take some big swings?
It will certainly try. There have been whispers for months that Villanova's dream target would be Marquette's Shaka Smart, although that seems like more of a pipe dream. Smart seems comfortable at Marquette, he's in the same league with plenty of resources and he didn't seem to show any interest in being pursued when Kentucky opened last year.
Given his manageable buyout, it wouldn't be a shock to see Villanova also call Iowa State's T.J. Otzelberger, although it's not quite an obvious regional fit, and Otzelberger would seem unlikely to take the job, regardless. Names such as UCLA's Mick Cronin and Arizona's Tommy Lloyd are unrealistic because of their buyouts, with Cronin's in the eight-figure range and Lloyd's dropping to $9 million in April.
More realistically, who could be in the mix here?
As mentioned earlier, there is going to be interest from sitting power conference coaches.
Among those linked in recent days are Northwestern's Chris Collins, Oklahoma's Porter Moser and Maryland's Kevin Willard. Collins has taken Northwestern to three NCAA tournaments since taking over in 2013, including back-to-back appearances in 2023 and 2024, at a place that had never gone dancing before his arrival. He's a Chicago guy who might not want to leave anyway, but he does have some ties to Philadelphia through his father, Doug Collins, who coached the 76ers in the early 2010s.
Moser is likely going to the NCAA tournament for the first time in four seasons at Oklahoma, after just missing in 2022 and 2024. He has a Final Four on his résumé from his time at Loyola Chicago, but he, too, is a Midwest guy without any obvious Philadelphia or Northeast ties.
Willard wouldn't be unfamiliar to Villanova fans. He was the head coach at Big East rival Seton Hall for 12 seasons, where he led the Pirates to five NCAA tournaments, and has Maryland poised for a top-four seed on Selection Sunday after winning 25 games this season. Willard's buyout is not considered prohibitive.
VCU's Ryan Odom and New Mexico's Richard Pitino are in the mix for multiple jobs this cycle, and they're going to be mentioned for this one, too. Odom seems like Virginia's top target and he could already be too far down the line in Charlottesville, but Villanova is a better job and could turn his interest if the Wildcats show their interest. Pitino in the same league as his father would be interesting, but he has experience on the East Coast and has done a very good job over the past couple seasons at New Mexico.
March 14
What seemed inevitable following Iowa's loss to Illinois in the second round of the Big Ten tournament Friday afternoon looks to become official soon: Fran McCaffery is out as the head coach of the Hawkeyes after 15 seasons at the helm, sources told ESPN.
McCaffery took the program to seven NCAA tournaments and produced four NBA draft picks since 2021, including back-to-back first-rounders in 2022 and 2023, but failed to advance Iowa past the second round and missed the NCAA tournament in each of the past two seasons.
The Hawkeyes started positively this season, sitting at 12-4 in mid-January after beating Indiana by 25 points, but lost 11 of their next 14 games to fall out of NCAA tournament contention.
Now, the program turns to its next chapter.
How good of a job is Iowa?
It's in the bottom half of the Big Ten, with the perception of its expected NIL setup post-revenue share also not painting it in an overwhelmingly positive light. The Hawkeyes haven't made it past the first weekend of the NCAA tournament since 1999 and have been passed by Iowa State in terms of recent success within the state.
Can the Hawkeyes generate enough in NIL funding to consistently compete with the top half of the Big Ten for NCAA tournament appearances? Given the success of the school's women's basketball and wrestling programs, its men's basketball program could get a smaller slice of the revenue share pie compared to its conference rivals.
The candidates being mentioned for the job, however, provide the school with the chance to make a resoundingly positive hire.
"The Pat McAfee Show" crew react to news of Fran McCaffery's imminent departure from his role as head coach of the Iowa men's college basketball team.
Who is at the top of the list?
Two names have been linked to this potential opening for most of the past couple of months: West Virginia's Darian DeVries and Drake's Ben McCollum, both Iowa natives.
DeVries was the head coach at Drake for six years, leading the Bulldogs to three NCAA tournament appearances before taking over at West Virginia last spring. Now, he has the Mountaineers poised for an NCAA tournament bid.
Iowa has significant pull for DeVries. His younger brother was an All-American football player for the Hawkeyes, and DeVries is still an avid Iowa football fan.
The potential issues are financial: It will cost Iowa money (believed to be just under $5 million) to get him out of his West Virginia contract, given he has been there only a year, and the school will have to show DeVries it will be able to provide comparable NIL support to West Virginia -- or at least enough to build a competitive team.
McCollum replaced DeVries at Drake after winning four Division II national championships at Northwest Missouri State, then led the Bulldogs right back to the NCAA tournament after bringing along four of his starters from the Division II level. Financially, he would likely be easier to get than DeVries.
So why not McCollum? Well, he's perceived to be among the leaders for the opening at Indiana and could opt for the Hoosiers over the Hawkeyes if presented with both offers. The other potential concern: He has coached Division I for only one season and has barely recruited at that level.
If it's not DeVries or McCollum, who could be next?
Iowa will have no shortage of candidates for the job.
Colorado State's Niko Medved is believed to be the favorite at Minnesota, but he could be a viable option for the Hawkeyes. Mississippi State's Chris Jans is an Iowa native and was briefly linked to other jobs last spring; he has the Bulldogs headed to their third straight NCAA tournament in his third season at the helm.
Another Iowa native who could be involved is Wake Forest's Steve Forbes. He was very successful at East Tennessee State and has won 20-plus games three times at Wake Forest, but has yet to take the Demon Deacons to the NCAA tournament in five seasons.
A few more names to monitor: Grand Canyon's Bryce Drew, Utah State's Jerrod Calhoun and Loyola Chicago's Drew Valentine.
March 13
The Champ Week phase of the high-major coaching carousel began in bizarre fashion, with a statement on Minnesota's athletics website shortly after 2 a.m. ET announcing the firing of men's basketball coach Ben Johnson.
Johnson finished his fourth season in charge of the Golden Gophers hours earlier, with a first-round Big Ten tournament loss to Northwestern. Upon returning to campus, he met with athletic director Mark Coyle and was informed of the change.
Johnson went 56-71 in four seasons at the helm, finishing below .500 in Big Ten play all four seasons.
Why was Johnson let go?
Johnson's perceived job status has ebbed and flowed throughout the season, but the word coming out of the program in recent weeks was that he was likely to return for a fifth season, with changes to his coaching staff and increased support from an NIL perspective. A road sweep of the Los Angeles schools in mid-February seemed to solidify his position, but the Gophers lost four of five to end the regular season and had a fairly listless second half in the Big Ten tournament loss to Northwestern.
It brought to an end a tenure that only briefly generated any sort of sustained momentum. Johnson went 6-33 in his first two seasons in Big Ten play, and although last season's 12-3 start and 19-win campaign provided some optimism, the roster was ravaged by the portal and led to this season's decline.
How good of a job is Minnesota?
Compared to the rest of the Big Ten, Minnesota is in the bottom tier, especially in the new era of NIL and the transfer portal. There's a consistent pipeline of high school talent in the state, which will provide roster options. But it's difficult to win in 2025 with primarily high school players, unless they're future lottery picks, and previous Minnesota coaches have also had trouble keeping the best talent home.
Moreover, the school simply doesn't have the salary cap most of the rest of the Big Ten has, putting it at a disadvantage when it comes to retaining talent. Talk of increasing the NIL support in a revenue-sharing era should give the new head coach some optimism, but Minnesota remains some distance from the top of the league.
Who might the Gophers turn to as Johnson's replacement?
The obvious name to consider is Colorado State's Niko Medved, a Minnesota native who attended Minnesota and was an assistant with the Gophers under Dan Monson in 2006-07.
Medved did a terrific job helping build the Furman program and righting the ship at Drake, and he has now made two NCAA tournament appearances in three seasons and led Colorado State to a 16-4 Mountain West record this campaign. He has been linked to other jobs in recent years, but Minnesota could be the one that convinces him to move.
San Diego State's Brian Dutcher is another Minnesota native and alum, and he has guided the Aztecs to five straight NCAA tournaments and a title game appearance in 2023. But he has shown no interest in going anywhere in recent years.
Two more names with ties to the state who could end up being linked: NBA assistants Dave Joerger (Milwaukee Bucks) and Ryan Saunders (Denver Nuggets), both of whom are thought to have some interest in the job.
Other potential options include High Point's Alan Huss, Bradley's Brian Wardle, South Dakota State's Eric Henderson, Northern Iowa's Ben Jacobson, Loyola Chicago's Drew Valentine and Grand Canyon's Bryce Drew -- all of whom have Midwest ties and have had success in the region.
Drake's Ben McCollum would be a logical inclusion on the list, but he's likely going to have better options.
If the Gophers want to go outside the box, they could call UNC Wilmington's Takayo Siddle, who just led the Seahawks to the NCAA tournament and has won 99 games in the past four seasons.
March 12
Indiana Hoosiers
As mentioned earlier, it seems unlikely at this point that a big name will land in Bloomington.
The two names that have come up the most are Drake's Ben McCollum and Clemson's Brad Brownell. McCollum won four Division II national championships at Northwest Missouri State, then led Drake to the NCAA tournament in his first season in Division I. Brownell led Clemson to the Elite Eight last season and an 18-2 ACC campaign this season.
As things stand, it doesn't look like Indiana is pursuing Ole Miss' Chris Beard.
NC State Wolfpack
NC State parted ways with Kevin Keatts just 11 months after he took the Wolfpack to their first Final Four in more than 40 years, paying him nearly $8 million on the way out. Immediately after Keatts' firing, two names emerged as favorites to take the reins in Raleigh: VCU's Ryan Odom and McNeese's Will Wade. Odom will be in the mix at multiple potential landing spots this cycle, while Wade has won 55 games over his past two seasons. There has also been speculation that New Mexico's Richard Pitino could become a factor in this one if Virginia opts for Odom.
Virginia Cavaliers
The job has been open at Virginia since October, when Tony Bennett suddenly announced his retirement. Ron Sanchez took over on an interim basis, but a sub-.500 season means the Cavaliers will look elsewhere for Bennett's replacement.
There are two coaches viewed as the favorites: Ryan Odom, a familiar face to Cavs fans after his former UMBC team beat Virginia in the first 16-over-1 upset (during the 2018 NCAA tournament), as well as Richard Pitino, who appears on his way to his second consecutive NCAA tournament. It's likely to be one of them, but another name buzzing in recent days is Colorado State's Niko Medved, who guided the Rams to a second-place Mountain West finish after going to the NCAA tournament in two of the past three seasons.
Like Odom, Medved also beat Virginia in the NCAA tournament, knocking out the Cavaliers in the first round last year.
What's next?
It likely won't take long for the next phase of the high-major carousel to start spinning: Seats at Iowa, Texas, UCF and Villanova are being watched closely this week.
Texas' Rodney Terry and Villanova's Kyle Neptune seem the most likely of this group to be fired, assuming neither the Longhorns nor the Wildcats make a run and get to the NCAA tournament. Terry advanced to the Elite Eight after taking over for Chris Beard in 2023 and went to the NCAA tournament last year, but he has an outside chance to return to the Big Dance this season. And Neptune hasn't gone to the NCAA tournament in any of his three seasons at the helm.
Iowa's Fran McCaffery is on track to miss the NCAA tournament for the second straight season, barring an unlikely run for the Big Ten tournament title. The school would owe him around $4 million if it were to fire him. And UCF's Johnny Dawkins is a staple on the hot seat, with the Knights primed to miss their sixth straight NCAA tournament after finishing with just seven regular-season conference wins for the second year in a row.
Outside of the power schools, the job with the most buzz is UNLV, which sources still expect to open despite winning six of eight to end the regular season. In the Atlantic 10, Fordham is likely to open shortly after the Rams' season ends, while Saint Joseph's is not definitively in the clear even after winning 20 games and five of six to end the season.
As of time of publish, it seems Ben Johnson is likely to get another year at Minnesota. It was reported Tuesday that Bobby Hurley is returning to Arizona State next season for the final year of his contract. Officials at Boston College, Cincinnati and Syracuse have publicly said their head coaches are getting another year, while Virginia Tech's Mike Young and Colorado's Tad Boyle have no plans to retire.
Roundup of the latest chatter
Among the names commonly linked to South Florida are UNC Wilmington head coach Takayo Siddle, George Mason head coach Tony Skinn and Alabama assistant Ryan Pannone, who attended South Florida.
Penn has a slew of alums who played for the Quakers as potential targets: Colgate's Matt Langel is the most decorated of the bunch, but he has passed on opportunities in the past, and it seems unlikely this is the one that finally gets him to move. Robert Morris' Andy Toole, NYU's Dave Klatsky and Auburn assistant Ira Bowman are all viable options. Outside the family but inside the league, Princeton assistant Brett MacConnell could garner a look. One wild card being mentioned is Iowa's Fran McCaffery, who could emerge as a candidate if he's fired by the Hawkeyes.
The name buzzing for Murray State is Creighton assistant Ryan Miller, though Dayton assistant James Kane -- who was an assistant at Murray under Steve Prohm and Matt McMahon -- and Auburn assistant Steven Pearl are also among the names that have been connected to the Racers.
High atop UL Monroe's list is Baylor assistant Bill Armstrong, but there is speculation he would prefer to replace Will Wade at McNeese if Wade jumps for a bigger job this spring.
Wake Forest assistant BJ McKie is emerging as one of the top candidates at Campbell, sources told ESPN. Other names linked to the job include Miami assistant Kotie Kimble, Penn State assistant Jamal Brunt, Florida assistant John Andrzejek and Nicholls head coach Tevon Saddler.
The early favorite at Columbia appears to be Florida assistant Kevin Hovde.
Radford officially opened on Tuesday, but a couple of names are already being speculated about: Highlanders current assistant coach Shane Nichols, who worked under his older brother for the past four seasons, and Mount St. Mary's coach Donny Lind.