As is the case every year, we’re into the thick of conference tournament week and the carousel is moving more quickly by the day.
The two early headlines from Thursday are 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 is hiring 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. I’m expecting more vacancies to surface by Thursday night.
Other things I’m hearing:
• Sources told CBS Sports that Bobby Hurley is not expected to be fired at Arizona State. Next year would be his 11th with the program. The Sun Devils have been to three NCAA tourneys under Hurley, the most recent in 2023. The team went 13-19 this season • Texas is considered a lock to open unless Rodney Terry makes a huge run into the NCAA Tournament. Quin Snyder was a rumored candidate in recent weeks, but that’s not happening. The potential list is filled with sitting power-conference coaches• Villanova is an inevitability, though the search process hasn’t truly started there, and won’t, until/if the team is eliminated from the Big East Tournament• Keep an eye on Iowa and UCF. Many are waiting/watching to see what happens there in the next 24-48 hours• NC State AD Boo Corrigan flew out to Houston on Thursday to interview Will Wade in person. His candidacy seems to be picking up steam, but we’ll see about other potential players in the next 24 hours
We’re at 21 job openings right now. 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.
College basketball hot seat rankings: Where 17 underwhelming coaches stand as high-major carousel picks up
David Cobb
