I am an Arkansas fan. My dad is from there. Calipari will make the Razorbacks winners. I am glad for that. BUT, I am holding my nose at the same time.Men's coaching carousel: Are we done spinning in 2024?
With BYU hiring Kevin Young as its new head coach, the biggest jobs ahead of the 2024-25 season have been filled. Here's how it all played out.www.espn.com
"The first coaching domino of John Calipari's seismic move from Kentucky to Arkansas has fallen.
The Wildcats are expected to hire BYU's Mark Pope as its next head coach, sources told ESPN on Thursday night.
Pope played at Kentucky for two seasons, winning a national championship under Rick Pitino in 1996. He's been a head coach for nine seasons, spending four of them at Utah Valley before coaching at BYU for the past five years. He's taken the Cougars to two NCAA tournaments, and led them to a 23-11 record in their first season in the Big 12 in 2023-24.
Kentucky pursued several high-profile candidates before landing on Pope, as Jay Wright, Dan Hurley and Billy Donovan all distanced themselves from the job very early in the process. The Wildcats had interest in Alabama's Nate Oats, but he announced he was staying in Tuscaloosa before the job even opened.
And earlier Thursday, Baylor's Scott Drew turned down Kentucky to stay in Waco; a second run at Hurley resulted in him staying in Storrs."
"So what's the state of the carousel?
As it stands, 62 jobs have opened -- 58 of which have been filled. As a point of reference, there were 61 job changes total last year, 60 in 2022 and 57 in 2021."
| School | Conference | Former Coach | New Coach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arkansas | SEC | Eric Musselman | John Calipari |
| Bryant | America East | Jared Grasso | Phil Martelli, Jr |
| BYU | Big 12 | Mark Pope | Kevin Young |
| Cal Poly | Big West | John Smith | Mike DeGeorge |
| Canisius | MAAC | Reggie Witherspoon | Jim Christian |
| Central Arkansas | ASUN | Anthony Boone | John Shulman |
| Charleston Southern | Big South | Barclay Radebaugh | Saah Nimley |
| Chicago State | NEC | Gerald Gillion | Scott Spinelli |
| Coastal Carolina | Sun Belt | Cliff Ellis | Justin Gray |
| College of Charleston | CAA | Pat Kelsey | Chris Mack |
| Cornell | Ivy League | Brian Earl | Jon Jaques |
| DePaul | Big East | Tony Stubblefield | Chris Holtmann |
| Detroit Mercy | Horizon | Mike Davis | Mark Montgomery |
| Drake | Missouri Valley | Darian DeVries | Ben McCollum |
| Duquesne | A-10 | Keith Dambrot | Dru Joyce III |
| Eastern Washington | Big Sky | David Riley | Dan Monson |
| Fairfield | MAAC | Jay Young | Chris Casey |
| Florida A&M | SWAC | Robert McCullum | Patrick Crarey |
| Florida Atlantic | American | Dusty May | John Jakus |
| Fresno State | Mountain West | Justin Hutson | Vance Walberg |
| Gardner-Webb | Big South | Tim Craft | Jeremy Luther |
| Hampton | CAA | Edward Joyner, Jr. | Ivan Thomas |
| Houston Christian | Southland | Ron Cottrell | Craig Doty |
| Indiana State | Missouri Valley | Josh Schertz | Matthew Graves |
| IUPUI | Horizon | Matt Crenshaw | Paul Corsaro |
| James Madison | Sun Belt | Mark Byington | Preston Spradlin |
| Kentucky | SEC | John Calipari | Mark Pope |
| Long Beach State | Big West | Dan Monson | Chris Acker |
| Louisville | ACC | Kenny Payne | Pat Kelsey |
| Loyola Maryland | Patriot League | Tavaras Hardy | Josh Loeffler |
| Marshall | Sun Belt | Dan D'Antoni | Cornelius Jackson |
| Mercer | SoCon | Greg Gary | Ryan Ridder |
| Michigan | Big Ten | Juwan Howard | Dusty May |
| Missouri State | Missouri Valley | Dana Ford | Cuonzo Martin |
| Morehead State | OVC | Preston Spradlin | Jonathan Mattox |
| Mount St. Mary's | NEC | Dan Engelstad | Donnie Lind |
| New Orleans | Southland | Mark Slessinger | TBD |
| Ohio State | Big Ten | Chris Holtmann | Jake Diebler |
| Oklahoma State | Big 12 | Mike Boynton | Steve Lutz |
| Old Dominion | Sun Belt | Jeff Jones | Mike Jones |
| Pacific | WCC | Leonard Perry | Dave Smart |
| Pepperdine | WCC | Lorenzo Romar | Ed Schilling |
| Rice | American | Scott Pera | Rob Lanier |
| Siena | MAAC | Carmen Maciarello | Gerry McNamara |
| SMU | ACC | Rob Lanier | Andy Enfield |
| Southern Illinois | Missouri Valley | Bryan Mullins | Scott Nagy |
| St. Louis | A-10 | Travis Ford | Josh Schertz |
| Stanford | ACC | Jerod Haase | Kyle Smith |
| UIC | Missouri Valley | Luke Yaklich | Rob Ehsan |
| USC | Big Ten | Andy Enfield | Eric Musselman |
| USC Upstate | Big South | Dave Dickerson | Marty Richter |
| UT Martin | OVC | Ryan Ridder | Jeremy Shulman |
| Utah State | Mountain West | Danny Sprinkle | Jerrod Calhoun |
| UTRGV | WAC | Matt Figger | Kahil Fennell |
| UTSA | American | Steve Henson | Austin Claunch |
| Vanderbilt | SEC | Jerry Stackhouse | Mark Byington |
| Washington | Big Ten | Mike Hopkins | Danny Sprinkle |
| Washington State | WCC | Kyle Smith | David Riley |
| West Virginia | Big 12 | Bob Huggins | Darian DeVries |
| Western Carolina | SoCon | Justin Gray | Tim Craft |
| Western Kentucky | Conference USA | Steve Lutz | Hank Plona |
| William & Mary | CAA | Dane Fischer | Brian Earl |
| Wright State | Horizon | Scott Nagy | Clint Sargent |
| Youngstown State | Horizon | Jerrod Calhoun | Ethan Faulkner |
definitely a random move with the timing, but he's a midwest guy and those are the areas he recruits hard, especially the Houston area.
I might be wrong, but I think Mason was his first job as an actual assistant coach. He held a lot of other roles at previous schools. Great opportunity to move up, make more $ and get to recruit in his backyard again.
