The Landscape: Looking at Coaches Entering Year Three

Part II: The 2023 Hiring Cycle. A Look Ahead.

It's Sunday morning, February 18th, 2024. The South Florida Bulls are shockingly 11-1 and in first place in the American Conference. I arrived in Tampa very late the night before following a long drive from Tallahassee while pulling over to do two different live shows.

This is how we roll in February. After all, I had just wrapped up covering Duke's Jared McCain crazy eight-trey performance inside "The Tuck."

That entire week was full of game coverage of course, like any February should be. But nothing had my attention like the game coming up that Sunday.

I had spent the previous 14 months chasing Florida Atlantic and its incredible story across the country. In this moment in time the Owls seemed human, and there was a real chance for Amir Abdur-Rahim's seemingly out-of-nowhere Bulls to get a home win over its geographical rivals in the AAC.

The year previous, I got a real taste of the Abdur-Rahim magic. Kennesaw State's first round ASUN Tournament win over Queens by a single point, 67-66. It's a game that current Queens HC Grant Leonard and I bring up nearly every time we see each other. KSU had real magic, and of course won the ASUN Tournament eventually.

The USF Bulls hit the lottery in 2023. Hiring an incredible motivator, teacher, and human being in Amir Abdur-Rahim. He was clearly destined for a power five position. Kennesaw State was 1-28 in his first season and he still went out and signed a Top 40 recruiting class- Chris Youngblood, Brandon Stroud, and Kasen Jennings being the big three.

Time and college sports changed so drastically since that 2020 offseason that its now hard to remember building a program at the Mid-Major level in such a fashion was even possible.

Amir "AAR" was the man for the job. Ever genuine with every person I saw him communicate with. I can easily look back now and see how he got such talented players and their families to buy into playing for him. AAR was one of 13 siblings and one of six brothers to play college basketball himself. He was preaching perseverance from a place of experiences and learnings that so many cannot fully relate to, yet it was so impactful.

Following the historic run by KSU to the NCAA Tournament and near win over Xavier, South Florida was there to offer him the job.

Chris Youngblood and Brandon Stroud were two of his first transfer commits and the Amir recruited future power conference players Kesean Pryor, Kobe Knox, Selton Miguel, and Jayden Reid. In hindsight, this was a stockpile of eventual high-level talent. Making the legend of the late great Abdur-Rahim somehow even greater.

There was a downpour during pregame, but once I sprinted from the uber to my media seat inside, it was on!

Bulls vs. Owls. First place on the line! FAU was 10-2, and after speaking to Dusty May pregame it all appeared as if the Owls were ready to treat this game as its springboard road win heading towards March.

The Yuengling Center was rocking though. USF Bulls fans, coaches, and players were hungry on this given Sunday. Somewhere around 10,500 people attended the game to break the USF single-game record. The place was deafening, and went down as my favorite game attended during the 2023-24 season.

The Bulls of course prevailed that day, and later won the AAC outright with a 16-2 record. They were 7-11 the previous year under a different staff.

After the FAU win, Abdur-Rahim was calm and incredible thankful. He humbly delivered these all-encompassing remarks with gratitude to the many facets of the university that supported the team:

RIP Amir Abdur-Rahim. 2023's best hire by a mile. A tribute game has been coordinated between Kennesaw State and South Florida for the coming season called the Love Wins Classic on what promises to be a special day at KSU.

Welcome back to The Landscape, Part II. Today, we break down the class of 2023 in deeper detail and look determine any early winners or warning signs.

The 2023 Cycle, a look ahead to year three

Validating three-year examples and applying recent learnings from modern coaching trends will help identify key coaches to watch in each success tier from the 2023 hiring cycle.  This was done in a myriad of tiers.

Power Conferences:

• Ultimate Success
• Celebrating the Promotions!
• Still runway to succeed
• Under the microscope

Non-Power Schools:

• Program elevated or already moved up
• Met Expectations or has met level of the program
• Still eveolving, potential pressure now
• Parachuted away

Ultimate Success Trajectory - Power Coaches Hired in 2023

Power Coaches: We celebrate your previous success!

Will Wade's two-year commitment to McNeese benefited both parties enormously. Wade is now the new head coach at N.C. State and in great shape to thrive in Raleigh. McNeese earned back-to-back trips to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in its history, its programs first D1 NCAAT victory, and has a firm grip as the top program in the Southland Conference while also being the host school to the conference tournament.

The Ryan Odom success seeds just continue to grow into greener pastures. Arriving at VCU in 2023 after guiding Utah State to the NCAA Tournament, was a welcome back to the same region he called home at UMBC from 2016-2021. Odom, born in Durham, was also a Virginia Tech assistant for seven seasons. He is now the head of the Virginia Basketball program following an amazing double-A10 Championship season with VCU in 2024-25.

West Virginia's Ross Hodge doesn't look a day older than 35, so often times folks are surprised he is a 45-year-old with a steady and vetty head coaching background that began at Paris JC in Texas back in 2005. Hodge was 83-17 in three seasons at Paris with a trip to the NJCAA Elite Eight under his belt back in 2008. He was only a 28-years-old. He eventually rejoined D1 basketball in 2011 at Southern Miss, and spent time with Colorado State and Arkansas State before finally landing at North Texas for eight amazing seasons. After the great Grant McCasland moved to Texas Tech, Hodge's door was open for business and UNT delivered him the keys to the Mean Green program. A 46-24 overall record in Denton did enough to move West Virginia's brass to the contract table.

Danny Sprinkle's rise happened so fast for the masses, that many forgot he was with Montana State for four seasons before the one-and-done year as Utah State's MWC Title coach. Sprinkle now enters his second year at Washington, a dream job for him, with a loaded roster and a chance to get to his fourth NCAA tournament in five years.

Steve Lutz found a path to the top of the coaching food chain that few have before him. As a long-time respected assistant, Lutz finally got his chance to run a program at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi beginning in 2021. His methodology had the Islanders playing their best basketball down the stretch. He won both conference tournaments, the 2023 regular-season Southland title, and TAMUCC's first-ever NCAA Tournament win in Dayton over SEMO at the First Four. This landed Lutz the job at Western Kentucky in 2023. Lutz lightning stuck for the third straight season as he led the Hilltoppers to their first-ever CUSA conference tournament title and a trip to the NCAAs. All that March success attracted attention from the fine folks in Stillwater, and Lutz is now heading into year two at Oklahoma State. Much like the aforementioned Danny Sprinkle, Lutz has fine-tuned his roster entering 2025-26 with high hopes of making a Big 12 splash this coming season.

Next, we dive into the majority. Power conference coaches with a little or a lot still to prove. I believe each of the coaches listed (in yellow) are in good enough position to gain a fourth year, but let's do a deep dive. And eventually it will be time to approximate the pressure Adrian Autry perhaps faces at Syracuse.

Power Coaches: Still Time to Produce, let's evaluate:

Micah Shrewsberry, Notre Dame
Year 1: The Irish possessed a big disadvantage in talent yet impressed with a 7-13 ACC record plus a conference tournament win.
Year 2: Polished up a Power Five-ready roster, but the team was inconsistent and wound up 8-12 in ACC play.
Year 3 Projections per Torvik: 66 (10th in ACC)
Early 2026 Forecast: Coach Shrewsberry stepped on campus at Notre Dame on March 23^rd of 2023 ready to expand upon an incredible two-year stint at a notoriously difficult place to win, Penn State. Shrewsberry managed to win 17 Big Ten games in a two-year span, which had never been done before at PSU. He led the Nittany Lions to a second round NCAA appearance in 2023. The gut feeling I have had is he will take the prominence of Mike Brey’s amazing 23 year run as head coach and take this Irish program potentially higher. Shrewsberry’s reputation is to be a terrific relationship person and leader, which theoretically provides a haven for Irish Basketball’s immediate floor. But it has been a struggle for him as the record shows for the first two South Bend seasons. Superstar Markus Burton is back in the fold, with Brandon Shrewsberry and Kebba Njie bringing a lot of experience and value for 2025-26. The big fish was landing Grad transfer, Carson Towt, an incredible rebounder. Towt was the second-best defensive rebounder in the country with an absurd 32.1 percent rate and hauled in 12.2 boards per night. It’s a very intriguing year ahead.

Kim English, Providence
Year 1: Brought in a quality roster ready to compete. Finished 10-10 in Big East play, won two in the Big East Tournament, ultimately the Friars landed in the NIT because they couldn’t win consistently away from home (7-9) and went 9-13 vs. the top two Quadrants. Devin Carter went on to be a lottery pick after an incredible season, and so this ultimately became a season of what could have been.
Year 2: The team struggled to replace key guys like Carter and Josh Oduro. Defensively, PC took a major hit going from 18^th best nationally to 134^th. Ultimately, it equated to a 12-20, 6-14 season.
Year 3 Projections per Torvik: 59 (6th in Big East)
Early 2026 Forecast: Based on the previous successful regime under Ed Cooley, and the Friars possessing one of the most impassioned fan bases anywhere in the world, this season ahead looms ridiculously large. A trip to the NCAA’s is well within reason with English and his staff doing a nice job hitting the portal to secure Jason Edwards, the leading scorer from Vanderbilt’s inspiring tourney team last season. Four other proven transfers surround Edwards and a lot of upside comes in with four-star freshmen Jamier Jones and Jaylen Harrell looking to make noise, alongside the elegant Estonian newcomers, Stefan Vaaks and Peteris Pinnis. The defense absolutely must improve back to its 2024 level to have a legit chance at finishing in the top five of the Big East and to contend for a much-desired at large bid. Some of that may depend on the development of big man Oswin Erhunmwunse. The 6-10 Erhunmwunse, showed a good amount of promise as a freshman and averaged 1.6 blocks per night in just around 20 mpg.

Damon Stoudamire, Georgia Tech
Year 1: Despite it being a rebuilding year, “Mighty Mouse” got the Yellow Jackets up for some eye-popping wins. Beating Duke, North Carolina, Mississippi State, plus winning at Clemson and Wake Forest. G-Tech landed with a one-win ACC improvement at 7-13.
Year 2: Continued to make steps towards the larger goal of bringing Georgia Tech back into the national spotlight by going 10-10 in the ACC and making an NIT appearance. However, the league had a down year overall and the result can be scrutinized to a degree. Getting to the postseason is healthy progress however and the Ramblin’ Wreck once again won at Clemson and took down Louisville at home to continue its Stoudamire-era reputation as giant killers.
Year 3 Projections per Torvik: 86 (15th in ACC)
Early 2026 Forecast: The projection seems daunting. But keep in mind, G-Tech still has not cracked the Top 100 analytically in Damon’s first two years, so it’s still a tick better than a year ago. The more interesting suggestion is that the ACC is supposed to be much deeper in 2025-26, so how will Georgia Tech attack this? Baye Ndongo is back for another ride as a Junior now, and his continuity with the program and Stoudamire is critical. Jaeden Mustaf has a chance to take a sophomore leap, and Kowacie Reeves still has eligibility! That trio is effectively the retained list. Yellow Jackets brought the highly skilled Senior transfer, Lamar Washington from Pacific. Kam Craft was productive at Miami Ohio and can really be a threat from downtown (43%). Mouhamed Sylla, an incoming four-star 6-10 Freshman, could be a game-changer. Sylla brings a stellar defensive reputation, is already 20-years old, and is built physically well beyond his years with impressive movement skills for a big. Damon Stoudamire’s team finished 73^rd in adjusted defense last year, the best defense of his career. This team has a chance to top that.

Mike Rhoades, Penn State
Year 1: PSU went 9-11 in the Big Ten and eliminated Michigan at the Big Ten Tournament. Five non-conference losses, headlined by a home loss to #276 Bucknell kept the Nittany Lions under .500 overall and out of the postseason.
Year 2: A promising 12-2 start of the season finished at 16-15 with no trip to the conference tournament. The Nittany Lions went 6-14 in the expanded Big Ten after a 2-1 beginning. It was a tale of two seasons. Puff Johnson missed 14 conference games, which was rough to the skill level and depth of the team in this rugged conference.
Year 3 Projections per Torvik: 114 (18th in B1G)
Early 2026 Forecast: As noted, this Big Ten is ridiculously deep, and Penn State may not have the horses to keep up once again. Last year’s roster was ready many felt, but the feeling in the summer of 2025 is less than confident. Sasa Ciani was a beastly fun player to watch at UIC last season, he transferred in to help the Nittany Lion frontline alongside Josh Reed via Cincinnati. Kayden Mingo is PSU’s most promising freshman, a four-star guard with a good chance to be a starter. Rhoades loaded up the roster with a trio of Europeans. Melih Tunca, a 6-5 Turkish-born wing player has a lot of promise. So does Slovenian-born Tibor Mirtic, who stands at 6-9 and has been praised for his footwork, strength, and ability to play multiple positions. Lastly, Ivan Juric is a 7-foot Croatian prospect who enters Happy Valley with another 7-foot newcomer- Justin Houser, a freshman. Rhoades roster construction by sheer size and roles, matches what was built a year ago. Yet this version is far younger and the Big Ten mountain seems even steeper to climb.

Ed Cooley, Georgetown
Year 1: Rebuilding the Hoyas program proved to be much tougher than just hiring a successful Big East coach in Cooley. Georgetown once again went 2-18 in the Big East but did improve about 20 spots in prominent national ranking models like KenPom.
Year 2: Jumped to 8-12 in Big East play and made a postseason appearance at the inaugural Crown Tournament, where GU also picked up a win thanks to the Malik Mack Show (37 points on eight triples vs. Washington State). Hoyas wrapped the season at 18-16. The campaign included feel-good wins over Creighton, Villanova, Providence, at Syracuse, Xavier, and a sweep of Seton Hall.
Year 3 Projections per Torvik: 72 (9th in Big East)
Early 2026 Forecast: Serious doubts existed following the 2023-24 season. Ed Cooley’s body language in the dog days of that season demonstrated the difficulties of trying to turn around Georgetown. For over a decade, Capital One Arena has resembled a deserted NBA arena at Hoya games. In 2024-25, that began to finally change. Thomas Sorber, who later became the 15^th pick in the NBA Draft, was a program changer. Hoyas went 15-9 in the games when Sorber played. At 6-10, 255 lbs., Sorber brought a tenacity to rebound on both ends, and swatted shots to the tune of a 7.5 block percentage rate, fifth best in the Big East. He will surely be missed. Optimism and improved projections reign supreme, however. Mack is back! Langston Love (via Baylor) and KJ Lewis (Arizona) are Big 12 imports who are used to winning a lot of games. Vincent Iwuchukwu (via St. John’s) will look to gain full health and provide critical experience in the middle, standing at 7-1. Georgetown’s health will be critical to become a complete team at any point, but the momentum hasn’t been this strong in a long time, and the Hoyas improved the schedule by adding Clemson, Maryland and North Carolina to a multi-year series. Such scheduling clues are typically representative of the internal confidence level of how ready the team is to compete at a high level.

Mark Madsen, California
Year 1: Madsen did about as good a job as anyone to attract talent to Berkeley following the 3-29 rock bottom finish to the Mark Fox era in 2023. Behind the scenes, Cal Athletics was struggling to find a new conference. It was the final year of the Pac-12 and Madsen built a terrific top six in his rotation, led by Jaylon Tyson (now a Cleveland Cavalier). Cal was 9-8 with three regular season games left before ending the season on a four-game losing streak at the Pac-12 Tournament. Overall, it was an impressive opening season given how far Cal had to climb.
Year 2: More change was introduced with the move to the ACC. Four cross-country trips to the east became a rite of passage for Cal (and Stanford) to integrate within the Atlantic Coast Conference. In hindsight, that became the story. Outside of a win at N.C. State on January 18^th, Cal went 0-9 in its other ACC road chances to close at 6-14. A pair of highly entertaining games at the ACC Tournament in Charlotte may have been the highlight, eliminating Virginia Tech in two OTs on the opening day.
Year 3 Projections per Torvik: 86 (16^th in ACC)
Early 2026 Forecast: Several reflections are ongoing as we enter year three. Many are confident in Madsen’s ability to eventually win. Resources have been an obstacle, and travel clearly is. Perhaps the biggest red flag was the porous shot selection and defense a season ago. Cal was 350^th in defending the perimeter last year out of 363 squads and 307^th at successfully connecting efficient field goals. The Golden Bears are looking to guys like John Camden, who did it all at Delaware last year, to provide much improved defense and add scoring to replace the deadly Andrej Stojakovic. Chris Bell had a ton of hype and promise when he got to Syracuse. Bell is now a senior and switches coasts as a member of Cal’s roster. Can Cal’s staff tap into Bell’s abilities on both ends of the court? Dai Dai Ames understood defensive principles under Tony Bennett at Virginia and adds a lot of quality shooting. Nolan Dorsey was the CAA Defensive Player of the Year at Campbell. Dorsey was good for nearly two steals a night and is a shifty 6-5 multipurpose player who can defend several positions. Pretty quickly, you can see that Cal has vastly upgraded the defense, and early summer practice reports that stacking consecutive stops has been a primary focus. Important year ahead.

Under The Microscope:

Adrian Autry, Syracuse
Year 1: "Red" Autry came in with limited expectations. The Orange were picked 10th out of 15 in the preseason. Yet, the team played well late in the year to finish 11-9 and alone in 7th place. The Orange were more than solid and if they had prevented a few early losses, had a case to be on the bubble. The team played at a fast pace, protected the rock, and got to the line often.
Year 2: Expectations rose and excitement gained steam entering last season. A blowout loss at Tennessee and in Brooklyn against Maryland flipped the psyche quickly. Orange were just 6-6 overall when the meat of league play took over. Some of the fan frustrations stemmed from high TO rates (14.1% of possessions), poor shot selection, and a lack of rim protection which yielded the 152nd-ranked defense nationally. The cuts were deeper than the stats however. Orange nation suffered through seven additional double-digit losses during ACC play and a February loss to lowly Miami sent several folks over the cliff calling for a change. Ultimately, Syracuse ended at 7-13 in the league and scooped up a win at the ACC Tournament to at least gain some offseason momentum.
Year 3 Projections per Torvik: 63 (9^th in ACC)
Early 2026 Forecast: A public statement in support of Adrian Autry's return from Syracuse Athletic Director, John Wildhack, was important to restore faith in the program's post-Jim Boeheim direction. The money is always the most important element as we know. Wildhack made his goal clear, a return back to the NCAA Tournament. It is crazy to believe that Syracuse has not been there since 2021. Four straight misses at Syracuse just did not exist ever before in my lifetime, and likely yours too. You can tell by the projection of 63rd that the Torvik model at least gives the Orange a fighting chance. The NIL era was crushing this program, but reportedly a lot of folks in Syracuse's massive alumni base have contributed significantly for this season. JJ Starling and Donnie Freeman's return to the roster after combining to average nearly 31 points combined could not have been cheap. Excitement with caution exists with a trio of four-star players enrolling: Kiyan Anthony (son of Carmelo), Sadiq White, Jr., and Luke Fennell. This three-pack promises to be special, the question is how soon? Nate Kingz was brought in from Oregon State after a superb Junior season. Kingz held sixth most efficient Offensive rating in the WCC at 128.4 and was in the top five in the league in effective FG percentage - a key measure of shot decisioning. You can reasonably still question the depth of this roster, but raw talent is here. Autry needs them to perform urgently.

Non-Power Program Coaching Praise

George Mason's 2024-25 Atlantic-10 regular season co-title for the first time in its 12-year history as league members. Tony Skinn has proven to be the perfect match for GMU's revival. He signed a contract extension through 2029-30 at the end of March. The Patriots were mere minutes away from the NCAA Tournament last season, and are poised to keep building. Skinn has won 47 games in two quick years, the best two-year span (.703 win percentage) for a GMU coach navigating their first two head coaching campaigns.

Skinn's new nemesis with A10 and in-state rival VCU, is now Phil Martelli, Jr. Martelli Jr. had bounced around as a career assistant beginning in 2003 at Central Connecticut. He'd later make stops at Manhattan, Niagara, Delaware, the G-League, and ultimately Bryant. The Bryant ride was unexpected. A sudden change at the top when Jared Grasso was let go, gained Martelli, Jr. the Interim tag. Phil was the steady leader that the Bulldog program longed for. He maintained the access to talent, which Grasso was heralded for, while also producing more consistent play and winning. His 45-25, 25-7 America East record in two seasons was much more like Vermont than anything Bryant University had experienced. It led to a Round of 64 NCAA Tournament appearance for the first time in school history. At the age of 43, with a plethora of coaching pedigree, while in his prime, VCU lands Martelli, Jr.

South Florida's journey in 2024-25 was understandably derailed by the loss of AAR as discussed. The Athletics department saw all they needed to see back in 2023-24 however. This place and the Yuengling Center can really rock and can put USF (along with Football) back on the Power school radar. Enter Bryan Hodgson. I have had Hodgson pegged for years as an eventual power conference head coach. Arkansas State was fortunate to land him in 2023, and unsurprisingly Hodgson delivered new found excitement to Jonesboro. Back when the Buffalo Bulls were scorching the earth, circa 2019, a fella named Nate Oats was leading the re-imagined offensive concepts after 15 years or so of studying NBA game flow. Buffalo's talent pool ballooned with most credit going to Hodgson. A Western New Yorker through and through, born in Olean, NY and played at local Jamestown CC. During the Buffalo program surge between 2015-19, he was the talent finder and relationship guy. When Oats and Hodgson got to Tuscaloosa, the rest of the world found out about how these two operate together. Most famously, Hodgson led recruiting efforts for eventual player of the year, Brandon Miller. The question in my head for years was who is going to hire this guy, he had earned it. Now with USF, he's not officially a power conference head coach, but the roster is better than several power conference rosters. After falling in two straight Sun Belt title games at Arkansas State, the hunger is huge for this Bulls team. Joseph Pinion and Izaiyah Nelson will be extensions of the staff on the floor, as they join Hodgson in Tampa this coming season.

Life in Green Bay has mostly been rough in the 2020's. Outside of one resurgent year in 2023-24. Sundance "Sunny" Wicks brought his larger-than-life personality to a Horizon League program trying to tap into its distant past success. In one season, Wicks brought the Phoenix from a 2-18 record to 13-7. The models projected Green Bay to finish near the bottom of D1 (351st), and he guided them to 230th in Ken Pomeroy's database. A perimeter based attack, yielded great results. Green Bay attempted triples on 48.2% of their possessions (10th in NCAA) and held opponents to 30.2% shooting from distance (12th best in NCAA). Noah Reynolds, who became an instant star, followed Wicks from Wyoming to Green Bay to lead the team in several ways, most importantly as the on-floor catalyst within the Wicks methodology. All of the unexpected success made it easy for the University of Wyoming to make the call to Wicks once the job became available, late last spring. Wicks now has his first full offseason to build some Laramie magic in 2025-26.

Three inspiring days last March in Asheville, sent Dwight Perry and Wofford to the NCAA Tournament. Amazing how quickly perspectives can change with that shiny conference tournament trophy. The Terriers had a third consecutive rollercoaster SoCon season under Perry, but brought it in Asheville. Beating East Tennessee State, routing VMI, and staying hot in a shootout win to knock off Furman in the Finals. Kyler Filewich and his Rick Barry-style underhand Free Throws provided undeterred Terrier destiny. The Wofford Way has been carried into the Perry era as the Terriers splashed through the SoCon Tourney, making 11, 12, and 13 triples during the three-day run as a team. Brendan Rigsbee comes in from D2 Georgia College, boasting 43-percent numbers from downtown, and Cayden Vasko arriving via Central Michigan shot the rock at 39-percent from distance.

American University may have fell to Alabama State in one of the best First Four games we've ever witnessed, but that does not change the fact that Duane Simpkins led this Eagles program to the top of the Patriot League in 2024-25. Simpkins has quickly become the winningest coach since legendary Gary Williams, who left in 1982. A second-place finish in 2023-24 and roster continuity built around star Matt Rogers, led to two titles in this past campaign. Until this breakthrough, Colgate and Bucknell had the Patriot League effectively on lockdown for over a decade. Simpkins had his name tossed around for major jobs including Maryland during the 2025 cycle, and ultimately is back for another ride with the Eagles. At the young age of 51, Simpkins is on the cusp of the finest years of his life.

East Tennessee State continues to evolve their program under HC Brooks Savage, who will not turn 40-years-old until next month. Savage is continuing to stress test every facet of a D1 men's basketball program. Savage's latest trend is to not spend the bigger money on a talented big, and instead load up on tremendously mobile basketball athletes at the one through four positions. The Bucs will not have a player taller than 6-8 this year, but do boast limitless mobility. Quimari Peterson (now at Washington) was sensational last year in earning SoCon player of the Year. Many will forget that he had the second-best steal rate in the SoCon, and ETSU played highly-communicative defensively. That lead to several stops and "turkeys" (a common practice term for stacking three stops in a row). The Bucs went 12-6 in the SoCon while holding opponents to under 60 points in six of the 12 victories. The next natural step is for Savage to get the Bucs, who tied for third last season, a championship of some variety. A run to the conference finals in 2024 laid the foundation for the much more consistent 2025 season. If 2026 is the year, it will be organized defense and more turkeys leading the way. A look at last year's SoCon top defensive team:

If we chose to measure coaching success purely by preseason expectations compared to actual season results, you'll be hard-pressed to find any better example than Cal State Northridge's Andy Newman. CSUN hasn't been anywhere near the Top 100 analytically since Bobby Braswell's tough as nails 2009 squad, who scared the daylights out of 2-seed Memphis in the opening round. A fun and fond Vegas memory for yours truly. The program has been under resourced for the better part of the 15 years since. Well-known coaches in Mark Gottfried, Reggie Theus, and Trent Johnson all tried and mostly failed, with the exception of 2014 - CSUN's miracle run under Theus to the Big West Title game, which ended with a two-point loss. When the 2023 offseason got rolling, Andy Newman was coaching Cal State San Bernadino at the D2 Final Four. Newman had guided the Yotes to back-to-back CCAA trophies and the deep run into D2's NCAA Tournament was no surprise to CSUN athletics director Shawn Chin-Farrell. Chin-Farrell himself had come to CSUN from CSUSB in 2022. Making the Matador marriage a comfortable one. Newman's success has caught the Western region and Big West's attention. Season one included a rise to 9-11 in the Big West, a stunning upset win at UCLA in December, and ultimately a five-win improvement and a 233rd ranking nationally, nearly 90 spots higher than expected. This past season produced a 14-6 Big West record, a massive road win at UC Irvine, and yet another five win leap and gigantic leap to 117th in the nation with an NIT appearance. As we look ahead to 2025-26, talent needs to be replaced and it will look different, but it would be foolish to not think Newman and his staff will get things rolling again. Perhaps the only nugget slowing the CSUN train down at all is that Chin-Farrell stepped down in the Spring. Something to monitor in next season's carousel.

OVERALL LANDSCAPE:

Other Key Names to Watch in 2025-26:

Paul Mills, Wichita State - Always been a big proponent of Coach Mills - especially the guard magic he helped produce while at Oral Roberts. Things in Wichita are sensitive, however. Shockers fans have been starving for a winner after suffering through a couple of down years under Isaac Brown and the rebuilding project with Mills. Between 2012-2021, Wichita State went to every NCAA Tournament besides one. The big success landed the program into the American Conference. With Memphis reloading, there is a sense across the American that the league is fairly open. Wichita State has a bunch of influential newcomers, many who shined last year at the mid-major level, to go along with 7-2 transfer Will Berg from Purdue. Big opportunity and season ahead for Shocker nation.

Rob Jeter, Southern Utah - All types of angles to explore in Cedar City entering 2025-26. The fact is the Thunderbirds were soaring before Todd Simon took off for Bowling Green. SUU has struggled in the two seasons since, compiling a WAC record of 9-27. Now, Grand Canyon is out of the picture and the league is down to seven squads for one automatic bid. So no matter how rocky the season becomes, any of the seven have a real chance to go dancing in the WAC. The roster was overhauled with each of the top eight projected contributors being new to the school. Five of them are in their last year of eligibility, which screams, "We need to win now!" And the last of the wrinkles in this, AD Doug Knuth just resigned on June 17th of this year. He hired Jeter in 2023. A very uncertain future for more than just Jeter, as Southern Utah also announced they will rejoin the Big Sky Conference in 2026-27.

Antoine Pettway, Kennesaw State - Pettway surprised many with a super talented freshman class last season led by Adrian Wooley (now at Louisville) and older leadership behind star Simeon Cottle. The Owls, who were preseason picked last in Conference USA, ascended to finish fourth. Pettway allowed KSU to continue to play fast, but with improved possessions. His first year was a buzzsaw system that produced the fourth-fastest tempo in the nation. By scaling this slightly, the Owls finished 44th in 2025 with much more success. Pettway's ability to recruit is clearly proven and his network with Alabama and in the Atlanta area are so perfect for KSU. As long as he stays, I expect Kennesaw State to continue climbing new mountains as a program.

Industry Movement:

Since the 2023 coaches have been hired, so much of the head job responsibilities have shifted within non-power levels specifically. Most programs do not have a full-time GM, they have turned to celebrities like Dame Lillard at Weber State or even Shaq at Sacramento State to help attract revenue streams and talent instead. Based on the example earlier of how Brooks Savage prefers to allocate resources, the evidence is that you need to pick a lane and die by that sword if it doesn't pay off. I still tend to believe that a X's and O's master can still win these leagues with consistency. But as Bryant and American showed Vermont and Colgate last year, even the genius coaches can't do it without access to enough talent.

The landscape has become even more about access to money than ever before. Athletic directors referenced are on a shorter job span than I can remember. That trickles down to the Men's Basketball coach, which trickles down to who you play and for how much. The scheduling landscape is impacted daily by a ton of teams refusing to play each other. The biggest reason is typically unspoken. Fear of being terminating. Stockpile Non-D1 games and any team that is a sure-fire win. That's job security for many as we enter another campaign. Raise money at all costs, as Radford, Iona, and Murray State have done with its latest wave of hires and roster spending moves. The pool of NBA candidates like Geriot of Iona, Loucks at FSU or Young at BYU, continue to open revolving doors between college basketball and the NBA. I have seen friends in the business go from College Hoops to the G-League in hopes of returning to College Basketball with their polished GM hats on.

All of these facts and emerging trends bring us back to the Class of 2023 hires. You can see by the giant evaluation table above, mid-to-low major hires with their grades to date, how these coaches are positioned entering their third year. Always curious which ones will adjust, which ones will win without changing much, and who will be left behind? The Landscape's journey is only just beginning.