How March Madness Turns Into a Mid-Major Coaching Raid

From Michigan’s Dusty May to NC State’s Will Wade, men’s college basketball has an off-court tradition during March Madness: Mid-major coaches get picked off by high-major teams when their programs get bounced from the Big Dance. 

And given that the transfer portal opens in just two weeks (at the conclusion of the men’s Final Four in April), schools with vacancies are heavily incentivized to lock down their coaches in March, often as the tournament is still going. 

This year, the carousel has already led more than half a dozen coaches to new homes—including several teams that have already participated in the tournament. 

Perhaps the most high-profile move: Syracuse’s hiring of Gerry McNamara, a former star player at Syracuse (and member of the 2003 national championship team) and assistant coach under Orange coaching legend Jim Boeheim. 

McNamara has spent the last two years as the men’s basketball head coach at Siena. Amid the rumors that he was a contender for the Syracuse role last week, McNamara led the No. 16 Saints, who also won the MAAC tournament title, to a stunning performance against No. 1 overall seed Duke—though the Saints ultimately lost 71–65, the Blue Devils trailed for the first 35 minutes of the game. 

“College basketball has changed,” said McNamara, who replaces Adrian Autry. “How you build a program, recruit talent, compete for resources, and win looks different than it did even five years ago. I know that. I’m ready for it.” 

On Tuesday, Syracuse, which also just hired a new athletic director in Bryan Blair, launched a men’s basketball donation link to help him “recruit the very best student-athletes.” 

Around the Carousel

On Sunday, Providence, also a member of the Big East, hired South Florida coach Bryan Hodgson to replace Kim English, who it fired after the Friars lost in the Big East tournament. The official statement came just three days after the Bulls, the American Conference tournament champions, lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to No. 6 Louisville. 

Then, on Monday, Arizona State announced the hiring of Saint Mary’s coach Randy Bennett to replace Bobby Hurley; Bennett’s contract is reportedly for five years and starts at $3 million. Bennett is renowned for the 25 years he spent building the Gaels into a mid-major powerhouse alongside Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference. Saint Mary’s appeared in the Big Dance this year, but fell to Texas A&M in the round of 64.

On Tuesday morning, Cincinnati announced the hiring of alum Jerrod Calhoun away from Utah State just days after the Aggies’ brief but impressive run in the NCAA tournament. Calhoun signed a six-year deal starting at $3.7 million per year, with an annual raise of $100,000 per year, the school said. During the round of 64, the nine-seed Mountain West tournament champions took down No. 8 Villanova before falling to No. 1 Arizona during the round of 32. 

One mid-major that was able to retain its coach, however, was VCU. The Rams announced that head coach Phil Martelli Jr. signed an extension just one day after losing to Illinois in the round of 32. Martelli’s contract now extends to the end of the 2031–32 season.

The carousel is expected to keep spinning over the next week as UNC considers whether to fire Hubert Davis after another early-round NCAA tournament loss and longtime Kansas coach Bill Self considers whether to retire.