More news from Sunday: Drake’s Darian DeVries agreed to be the next coach at West Virginia. One more high-major should pop.
• 16 min read
The past 56 hours have been outrageously busy on the college basketball coaching carousel. Everything started with Dusty May. On Saturday night, his decision came in; May is off to Michigan. He chose the Wolverines over Louisville and Vanderbilt, accepting a five-year deal that will pay him $3.75 million on average over the life of the contract.
And as expected, the domino effect of May’s pick led to a cascade on the carousel that sparked almost every other remaining power-conference job to fill over the next two days.
The next to get scooped up was West Virginia, which on Sunday landed Darian DeVries, its top target for weeks. DeVries left Drake after six seasons and three NCAA Tournament appearances. After more than a week of diligence and interviews, Mountaineers AD Wren Baker hired his top man and got DeVries to Morgantown on a five-year deal.
In wake of WVU, the carousel kicked into another gear Monday morning. The first vacancy to fill was one that got done late Sunday night: Kyle Smith leaving Washington State for Stanford. Danny Sprinkle passing on Vanderbilt and signing where he was long expected to land: Washington. Sprinkle has a six-year deal that averages out to $3.75 million. Less than an hour after Sprinkle took Washington, word leaked that James Madison coach Mark Byington had accepted a deal to go to Vanderbilt. I’m told it’s for five years; Vandy is private and doesn’t disclose financial terms.
Five jobs filled in less than a 48-hour span — and opening five more in the process. We’re now over 50 job changes and it’s inevitable we’ll get to 60 this cycle. There are just three high-major jobs still on the clock heading into Tuesday: Louisville, Oklahoma State and SMU. I have updated information on those openings in the capsules below, including a burst of hirings that were made. Notable among them: Rice bringing on Rob Lanier (after his unjust firing at SMU) and Missouri State bringing Cuonzo Martin back home. Martin’s head coaching career began at Mo State in 2008.
