Bucky McMillan hired by Texas A&M in college basketball coaching carousel

The college basketball coaching carousel is revving up.

Here’s a look at who’s in and who’s out.

April 4

Texas A&M hiring Samford‘s Bucky McMillan

Texas A&M is set to hire McMillan on a five-year deal to become the school’s next men’s basketball coach.

April 1

Maryland hiring Texas A&M‘s Buzz Williams

Just days after losing head coach Kevin Willard to Villanova, Maryland has hired Williams away from Texas A&M, according to FOX Sports’ John Fanta. The two sides agreed to a six-year deal, according to ESPN. 

Texas A&M, which was a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament before losing to fifth-seeded Michigan in the second round, went a combined 120-73 and made the NCAA Tournament three times over six seasons under Williams, who was previously the head coach at Virginia Tech and Marquette. The Terrapins, who claimed a No. 4 seed in the tournament, were eliminated in the Sweet 16.

March 30

North Texas hiring Cleveland State‘s Daniyal Robinson

Robinson spent the last three seasons at Cleveland State, leading the Vikings to 20-plus-win seasons all three years. Before that, he had stints as an assistant at Loyola Chicago and Iowa State. North Texas is coming off a 27-8 season and a second-place finish in the American Athletic Conference. The Mean Green have made the NCAA Tournament just once since 2011, but are currently playing for a spot in the National Invitational Tournament title game. 

Robinson will replace Ross Hodge, who filled the head coaching vacancy at West Virginia after two seasons at North Texas. 

New Mexico hiring UC San Diego‘s Eric Olen

New Mexico has agreed to a five-year deal to make Olen the school’s next head coach. He led the Tritons to the 2025 NCAA Tournament in its first year of eligibility. He won the Big West this year at 18-2, going 51-17 the past two years.

March 29

Arkansas State hires Alabama assistant Ryan Pannone

Pannone, 40, spent the past two seasons on the Crimson Tide’s bench as an assistant to head coach Nate Oats, who brought Pannone to Alabama from the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans, where he spent one season as an assistant. He helped the Tide reach the Final Four last season. This is Pannone’s first opportunity as a Division I head coach. He has experience as the head man as he led the Pelicans’ developmental team, the Birmingham Squadron, from 2019-2022. Pannone also coached overseas in Israel and Slovakia.  

Pannone will replace Bryan Hodgson, who was announced as South Florida’s head coach on March 28. The Red Wolves are coming off a 25-11 season in which they won a share of the Sun Belt regular season title. They haven’t appeared in the NCAA Tournament since 1999. 

South Dakota State promotes assistant Bryan Petersen

Peterson had spent the last six seasons as an assistant on Eric Henderson’s staff and when Henderson took the head coaching job at Drake on Friday, the Jackrabbits turned to Peterson. This is his first position as a Division I head coach, but he was the head man at the junior college level with Kirkwood Community College for six seasons. He led the Eagles to NJCAA Division II Championships in 2016 and 2019. The Jackrabbits are coming off a 20-12 season, in which they finished in third place in the Summit League and missed the NCAA Tournament. 

March 28

Drake hires South Dakota State‘s Eric Henderson

Henderson spent the past six seasons at SDSU, which was his first Division I head coaching position. He accumulated a 129-60 record and took the Jackrabbits to two NCAA Tournaments. SDSU won the Summit League regular-season title in four of Henderson’s six seasons, highlighted by the 2021-2022 season when they went undefeated (18-0) in league play. Henderson was an SDSU assistant from 2016-2019 before being promoted to head coach. 

Drake is coming off its best season in school history. The Bulldogs went a program-best 31-4 and won their first NCAA Tournament game since 1971. In his first season, head coach Ben McCollum restructured a roster that had lost its core when former head coach Darian DeVries left for West Virginia. McCollum brought a slew of players with him from his previous post at Northwest Missouri State, and they brought success to Drake. McCollum parlayed that into earning the head coach position at Iowa, so Drake had to go searching for a head coach yet again and landed on Henderson. After McCollum’s departure, five of Drake’s players entered the transfer portal and four others are set to graduate.

March 26

Colorado State promotes assistant Ali Farokhmanesh

Fifteen years after entering the national spotlight for his heroics as a player at Northern Iowa in the 2010 NCAA Tournament, Farokhmanesh will re-enter the spotlight in a different capacity. Colorado State has promoted him to be the school’s next head coach. The decision came two days after former head coach Niko Medved left for the same job at Minnesota. Farokhmanesh, who turns 37 in April, has worked under Medved over the past eight seasons. He spent a year at Drake as an assistant before joining Medved’s staff at Colorado State in 2018, helping the Rams reach the NCAA Tournament in three of the past four seasons. The Rams won the Mountain West title earlier in March.

VCU taps Bryant‘s Phil Martelli Jr. 

One week after Ryan Odom departed for Virginia, VCU announced the hiring of Martelli as its next head coach. The son of legendary Saint Joseph’s head coach Phil Martelli Sr., the younger Martelli spent the past two seasons at the helm of Bryant. The Bulldogs are fresh off winning the America East regular-season and tournament championships, as well as appearing in their second NCAA Tournament since transitioning to Division I. Bryant fell to Michigan State in the Round of 64. Martelli played four years at Saint Joseph’s under his father before joining the coaching ranks, with stints at Central Connecticut, Manhattan, Delaware and Niagara. He also worked in the NBA G League and spent a year as the director of program administration at Saint Joseph’s.

West Virginia hiring North Texas‘ Ross Hodge

The Mountaineers are hiring Hodge on a five-year deal, according to CBS Sports. Hodge was previously the associate head coach at North Texas from 2017-23 before becoming its head coach for the past two seasons. Under Hodge, North Texas went a combined 46-23, including a 27-8 overall record and 14-4 record in the AAC this season, good for second in the conference. West Virginia is coming off a 19-13 season (10-10 in Big 12 play) and recently lost head coach Darian DeVries, who left for Indiana, after one season.

March 25

Xavier hiring New Mexico‘s Richard Pitino

Xavier is planning to hire Pitino as its next head coach, according a report confirmed by FOX Sports’ John Fanta. Pitino led Mexico to a 27-7 record in the regular season and a first-round win over Marquette in the NCAA Tournament.

UNLV to hire Josh Pastner 

Pastner, who previously had stints at Memphis and Georgia Tech, is finalizing a deal with UNLV to become its next head coach, according to ESPN. The Runnin’ Rebels parted ways with Kevin Kruger earlier this month. 

Pastner has guided his teams to the NCAA Tournament five times in his 14 seasons as a head coach: each year from 2011-14 with Memphis and in 2021 with Georgia Tech. He has been working in TV since George Tech fired him following the 2022-23 season. 

The 47-year-old Pastner has a career record of 276-187. UNLV has not made the Big Dance since 2013.

Sacramento State to hire Mike Bibby

Former NBA star Mike Bibby, who played seven seasons for the Sacramento Kings, signed a deal to become Sacramento State University’s next men’s basketball coach on Monday, per ESPN. After retiring from the NBA in 2012, Bibby turned to a career of coaching, starting his own AAU club called “Team Bibby.”

Bibby, 46, also spent six years as an assistant at Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix, Arizona, where he played as a student. He hasn’t coached in high school, though, since 2019 and the Hornets’ position will be Bibby’s first job ever at a college program. 

The Hornets (7-25 overall, 3-15 Big Sky) finished in last place in the Big Sky conference this season, and have had just one winning season since 2015.

That being said, Sacramento State has been aggressive in its push to improve its athletic department recently. They are a candidate to join the new-look Pac-12 conference. The university is slated to open a new basketball facility on campus next fall. And now they’ve hired Bibby to run their program.

Minnesota to hire Colorado State‘s Niko Medved

Hours after nearly coaching Colorado State to the Sweet 16, Medved is headed to Minnesota to be the next head coach of the Gophers,