The 2020-21 college basketball regular season is officially in the past. Already, March is upon us with the time for conference tournaments and the NCAA Tournament finally here.
However, amidst the celebration of the return of one of sport’s most celebrated events, will be the inevitable coaching carousel that occurs annually in college basketball. Already some notable jobs appear to be opening up headed into the offseason.
According to a report from Jeff Ermann of InsideMDSports.com, two Power Five jobs are “very likely” to be available after the 2020-21 year reaches an official close. Both Kansas State and Arizona may be in need of new program leaders in just a few weeks.
“Two big jobs I’m hearing are very likely to open after this season: Kansas State (likely Bruce Weber retirement) and Arizona (Sean Miller past the breaking point with NCAA violations). Seems like it could be a busy coaching carousel,” Ermann wrote on Monday evening.
Two big jobs I’m hearing are very likely to open after this season: Kansas State (likely Bruce Weber retirement) and Arizona (Sean Miller past the breaking point with NCAA violations). Seems like it could be a busy coaching carousel.
— Jeff Ermann (@Jeff_Ermann) March 8, 2021
Bruce Weber, 64, has been in charge of the Kansas State basketball program since 2012, helping leading the program to four NCAA Tournament appearances. However, the Wildcats labored this year, going 8-19 in the regular season. No official announcement has come from Weber’s camp, but a retirement could be on the table soon enough.
Current Arizona head coach Sean Miller has been at the center of multiple NCAA violations over the past few seasons, with his latest infractions emerging in newly-released documents revealed by the university last Friday. Five of these charges are Level 1, the most serious, and one of them details “a lack of head coach responsibility against men’s basketball coach Miller and a lack of institutional control against the university.”
Noted Miller-critic and college basketball analyst, Dick Vitale, expressed his own frustration with the Arizona program earlier on Monday.
“All I can say is WOW / a PROUD UNIVERSITY has been EMBARRASSED & HUMILIATED by the actions of their coaching staff,” Vitale wrote on Twitter. “University of Arizona should be bigger than any individuals.”
At this point, with violation after violation, it’s hard to see Miller being back in Tucson next year.
Ermann’s report is just the beginning. With many college basketball programs reaching a crossroads, there could be numerous other vacancies over the coming weeks.
The post Report: 2 Major College Basketball Jobs ‘Very Likely’ To Open Up appeared first on The Spun.
Leave a Reply