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Good afternoon! We are two days out from the release of the bracket. Before we get to the madness, carousel chaos is mandatory — and we got our first dose Friday.
A day after its exit from the Big Ten Tournament, Iowa fired longtime coach Fran McCaffery after 15 seasons leading the program. The winningest coach in Hawkeyes history failed to lead his team to the NCAA Tournament for a second straight season, and now there’s a fairly prominent opening in the Big Ten that could be enticing for an up-and-coming coach.
Early names: West Virginia’s Darian DeVries is high on Iowa AD Beth Goetz’s list, I’m told, in addition to Drake’s Ben McCollum. Mississippi State’s Chris Jans and Colorado State’s Niko Medved are also potential targets.
What I’m monitoring/hearing:
• Villanova opening is an inevitability. I’d be surprised if an announcement isn’t made sooner than later. When that happens, the search process will officially begin
• Keep an eye on UCF. Many are waiting/watching to see what happens there in the next 24 hours
• Texas is considered a lock to open unless Rodney Terry makes a huge run into the NCAA Tournament, even with UT potentially playing its way into the NCAAs after beating A&M in dramatic fashion on Thursday. Atlanta Hawks coach Quin Snyder was a rumored candidate in recent weeks, but that’s not happening. The potential list is filled with sitting power-conference coaches
• Elsewhere, NC State AD Boo Corrigan flew out to Houston on Thursday to interview Will Wade in person, according to my sources. The school is arranging another meeting with a sitting head coach on Saturday, one source added. Wade’s candidacy seems to be gaining some steam, but New Mexico’s Richard Pitino, Tennessee assistant Justin Gainey and others are still under consideration.
Two headlines from Thursday were a firing and a hiring. The former: Ben Johnson’s overnight dismissal at Minnesota. He’s out after four seasons. I’ve got more on the situation in Minneapolis in the capsule below. The latter: Murray State hired Creighton assistant Ryan Miller. He interviewed in NYC this week with school leadership and accepted the offer Thursday morning, sources told CBS Sports, and added that Ja Morant had a voice throughout the process, including supporting another promising candidate in Dayton assistant James Kane. Morant is represented by Miller’s brother, NBA player-turned-agent Mike Miller.
Remember to check back in here every morning, afternoon and evening; this story will get frequent updates.
We’re at 22 job openings right now and that number is going to increase Friday. We’ll almost definitely hit at least 40 coaching moves in this cycle — and 50-plus wouldn’t be a surprise at all. That said, I don’t expect 2025 to hit the levels of absurdity that 2024 did, when there was a record 68 job swaps. Be sure to bookmark this page. It will get daily updates moving forward.
Major-conference changes
Non-Power Five changes
