Coaching Carousel: Up-and-Coming College Basketball Coaches

As the college basketball season comes to a close, the coaching carousel begins to turn. Coaches getting fired, getting hired.  

Already this off-season we have seen several high profile positions open up such as Cal, Indiana, and Oklahoma State. While Tom Crean has already taken the Hoosiers head position, there are several other jobs still available.  

Here is a list of some of the top “up-and-coming” coaches in college basketball. Note: The names on this list are of people who are already head coaches at other programs and have put themselves in a position to move up to bigger name jobs.   
 
Anthony Grant, VCU—Grant is one of the top names up for the LSU job. He was a Florida assistant for 10 years and after leading VCU past Duke in last years NCAA tournament, he was all but announced as the next head man at Florida after Billy Donovan temporarily defected to the NBA. Initially LSU contacted USC head man Tim Floyd before he said he wasn’t interested. As soon as the speculation began, USC insiders pegged Grant as the likely top choice at the school.

 2. Darrin Horn, South Carolina—The latest coach to skyrocket up the charts at the surprising coach factory that is Western Kentucky. Led the Hilltoppers to a 111-48 record in five seasons including a sweet 16 birth in this years tourney. The cat’s out of the bag on this guy. Just this week he was named Dave Odom’s successor at South Carolina.

3. Travis Ford, UMASS – Really hot name right now after leading UMASS to the NIT final, which doesn’t seem that impressive. Actually, his overall record as a Division 1 coach is 98-104, but he does have a track record for improving teams. His first job with NAIA Campbellsville University he led his team to a 28-3 record and was Mid-South Conference Coach of the Year.

 He moved on to Eastern Kentucky and turned the team around in one year, as they were 7-19 the year before he got there and 22-9 when he took over. He led them to the NCAA tourney and pushed his alma mater Kentucky to the brink before falling short. He is either the first or second candidate along with VCU’s Anthony Grant for the open position at LSU, which would get him back to his SEC roots.

4. Sean Miller, Xavier—Has turned Xavier into a legitimate power in his first head coaching position. Last season they should have beaten eventual national runners-up Ohio State in the second round, and this year they made it all the way to the Elite 8. His name was thrown out there for the Indiana job as well as the South Carolina job already, but many people see him staying at Xavier until his dream job becomes available, which would be the job at Pitt (his alma mater). But that will only happen when and if Jamie Dixon feels the need to return to his roots on the west coast as others have speculated he will eventually do.

5. Jim Christian, TCU

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