The 2024 men’s college basketball coaching carousel has been the craziest in recent memory, with 63 total division 1 coaching changes. On top of this, 3 of the best and highest acclaimed jobs came open this year, creating a massive movement in this year’s coaching carousel. Let’s take a look back on what led to each firing and hiring.
March 11th, Louisville Head Coach Kenny Paine fired after 2 seasons
Of every firing in this year’s carousel, this was the least surprising. Paine had been hired prior to the 2022-2023 season, as he had the tall task of rebuilding one of the most storied programs in college basketball. However, Paine’s 2 years at Louisville were an absolute dumpster fire. There is nothing positive to say about the state of Louisville basketball in the time under Kenny Paine. Just 10 years after being the best program in the sport, Paine led Louisville to a 12-52 record across 2 seasons, the worst across all power conferences in the sport.
Once Paine was out, it was the first of many dominos falling in this coaching carousel. The Louisville job is regarded as a top 10, if not better job in the sport. With loads of NIL money, one of the biggest brands in the sport and a massive support system, all of the biggest names would be in the mix to be the next head coach of the Louisville Cardinals. The two main names surrounding the job were FAU coach Dusty May, and Baylor coach Scott Drew. With both coaches and many other names surrounding the job coaching in March Madness, it was going to be a long wait before the Cardinals found their future coach.
March 15th, Michigan Head Coach Juwan Howard fired after 4 seasons, Michigan job opens
After a complete disaster of a season, Howards job was immediately in question. Howard did have some early success at Michigan, leading them to a 1 seed in 2021 and a sweet sixteen in 2022. Since then, however, it has been an absolute disaster. Howard had the program in the national spotlight for the wrong reason, after hitting a Wisconsin assistant coach after a loss in 2022. After this, Michigan missed the tournament in 2023 after going 18-16. Howard was given grace, which he followed up with a horrendous 8-24 record. After 2 bad seasons, Howards time at Michigan was up.
March 24th, Dusty May takes Michigan job
After FAU was eliminated from March Madness, Dusty May quickly accepted the Michigan job opening. May will have the task of rebuilding a once dominant Michigan program, and he is off to a solid start. Bringing in transfers Max Wolfe, Roddy Gale and former FAU player Vlad Goldin, the Wolverines will be in prime position to rebound from last year’s disappointment.
March 27th, Andy Enfield takes SMU job, USC job opens
After 11 years at the helm at USC, Enningfield resigned from his position after a disappointing season. There was speculation of Enningfield losing his job after a 15-18 season, an especially underwhelming year after holding a top 25 spot in the preseason poll, as well as having the top freshman in the country Isaiah Collier. Enfield had made his splashes with 5 tournament appearances and multiple lottery picks, but with no deep tournament runs, it was time for a change of scenery.
March 28th, Pat Kelsey takes Louisville job
A month prior to Louisville’s job opening, there was no talk of Pat Kelsey taking the Louisville job. With names like Scott Drew, Dusty May and Jerome Tang floating around the Cardinal’s job, it was expected that they brought in a big name. However, with May taking the Michigan job and Tang and Drew never showing interest, Louisville felt College of Charleston Coach Pat Kelsy was the next best thing. The fact is, Kelsey is a winner. He holds a 261-122 record in his time as a head coach, and has built multiple mid majors into consistent tournament teams. Kelsey is a young and energetic coach, who will have millions of NIL dollars to play with. So far Kelsey has brought in big names like Chucky Hepburn and Terrance Edwards Jr. in his attempt at rebuilding one of college basketball biggest brands. In his first year at Louisville Kelsey simply needs to have Louisville be competitive, and find themselves in talk of their first tournament appearance since 2021.
April 4th, Eric Musclemen takes USC job, Arkansas opens
Similar to Enfield, Musclemen needed a change of scenery after a disappointing season. However, unlike Enfield, Musclemen is one of the most accomplished coaches in the last half decade in college basketball. Musclemen saw great tournament success, with two elite 8’s and a sweet 16 in his 5 years at Arkansas. This success is credited greatly towards his ability to adapt to the current landscape of college basketball and his ability to recruit in the transfer portal and find instant impact players. Even though Muss was beloved by the Arkansas faithful, he was under one of the most high pressure jobs in the sport. After a disappointing year that sent their fanbase into outrage, Mussclemen was quick to jump ship and take on a job with much less pressure and expectations
After the news of Musclemens departure broke, the main names surrounding the opening included the likes of Chris Beard, Jerome Tang and Will Wade. After two days, there was no movement after Beard and Tang confirmed they would be staying in their current jobs. With the two top candidates no longer in contention, there was
April 7th, John Calapari takes Arkansas job, Kentucky opens
The day before the national championship, around 10PM, one of college basketball’s biggest names left one of college basketball’s biggest brands. A national championship, 3 final fours, and 7 elite eights, are just a few of John Calapari’s accolades in his legendary career at Kentucky. However, none of these came after 2019. Calapari hit a wall when it came to the tournament in the last 5 years, with embarrassing first round losses to Saint Peters, and most recently Oakland. At the program with some of the highest expectations in the country, not making it past the round of 32 is simply not acceptable at Kentucky. Calapari’s relationship with Athletic Director Mitch Barnheart was reportedly at a very low point, as well as feeling lots of tension between fans and Kentucky media. The main criticism of Cal was his inability to adjust to the current landscape of college basketball. He wanted to stick to the formula of a group of young talented freshmen, which simply does not work in today’s day and age. It came to a tipping point, and Calapari knew his time was up with the big blue nation.
In his month at Arkansas, things have gone off to a great start from a recruiting standpoint. Calapari has brought in 3 top 25 recruits in Johnell Davis, Jonas Aidoo and Zvonimir Ivisic. The question is, can Cal continue to fill out his roster with experienced transfers, something he never did at Kentucky. With reportedly 5 million dollars of NIL money to work with, Calapari has all the resources he needs to take Arkansas to its highest heights in years.
April 11th, Mark Pope takes Kentucky job
It was a wild 4 days for Kentucky fans after Calaparis departure. After running their once beloved coach out of town, Kentucky fans had sky high expectations for their next hire. Names like Dan Hurley, Billy Donavan, Nate Oats and Scott Drew were the main four front runners for the Kentucky job. Unfortunately for the big blue nation, none of them even showed interest. Oats was the first to shoot down the rumors after taking Alabama to the final four, as just a day later he announced he would remain at the helm of the Crimson tide. Next, after winning his 2nd straight national championship, Hurley laughed at the possibility of taking the Kentucky job saying “I don’t think that’s a concern”. After Hurley’s announcement, the big blue nation was certain Baylor coach Scott Drew would make the jump. Then on April 10th, Drew confirmed his commitment to staying at Baylor after tweeting a picture of him and friend Eric Shero getting lunch in Waco.
Now, the mood turned to desperation in Lexington. Legendary college coach Billy Donavan was becoming a heavy favorite, however, due to him coaching the Chicago Bulls who were in the play-in, he never even addressed the rumors. Now, there was no true direction in the coaching search. Anyone from Sean Miller and Bruce Pearl to Rick Pitino had been thrown around, until news broke that former Kentucky player and BYU coach Mark Pope was in contention for the job. Later that night, the news broke that Mark Pope was taking over Big Blue Nation.
The hire was viewed as underwhelming by the public, especially by Kentucky fans. Pope’s resume lacks the same accolades of former Kentucky coaches, with no tournament wins or conference championships in his time coaching. Thankfully for Pope, the tide began to shift after his opening press conference. Pope made his entrance in front of a sold out Rupp arena, as he got off of a bus alongside the other members of Kentucky’s 1996 national championship team, before an upbeat and energizing press conference, something less common under Calapari. In his time since, Pope has dominated the portal, bringing in the top three point shooters in the nation Kobe Brea and the Mountain West DPOY Lamont Butler. There is no doubt that Pope will have a strong roster to work with in his first season with the Wildcats. The challenge is piecing it all together, and helping Kentucky find the tournament success their fanbase has been missing so badly.
