A year ago at this time, Florida Atlantic’s then-coach Dusty May was the obvious candidate to jump from the mid-major to the high-major level. Charleston’s Pat Kelsey wasn’t far behind. The 2023 cycle had more big names moving around, but in 2022, the contingent of Todd Golden, Matt McMahon, Chris Jans, Dennis Gates and Lamont Paris all went from mid-major programs to the SEC. Most of them moved up in predictable fashion.
Who is in the next crop of mid-major coaches ready to make the leap to the big leagues in 2025? After the exodus of the past few cycles, it’s not as clear. So, we reached out to more than a dozen industry sources involved in the coaching carousel: agents, power brokers, etc. We polled them on the top five names they think are ready to move during the 2025 coaching cycle.
The only criteria: The coaches couldn’t have been at the high-major level previously, and they couldn’t be clients of the voter.
First, a few names you won’t find on the list, including two who will likely be mentioned for several high-major openings.
Will Wade, McNeese: Wade is wrapping up a second consecutive dominant campaign in the Southland, going 36-2 in league play overall. He’ll be linked to nearly every vacancy, given his track record of winning and winning quickly. Wade has led three schools to the NCAA tournament and took the LSU Tigers to the Sweet 16 in 2019. Athletic directors are more likely to overlook his past NCAA baggage at this point.
Richard Pitino, New Mexico: The younger Pitino was linked to the Miami opening before the Hurricanes zeroed in on Jai Lucas, and is also involved in the Virginia vacancy. He will lead the Lobos to their second straight NCAA tournament and their first regular-season championship since 2013. Pitino spent eight seasons as the head coach at Minnesota, going to a pair of NCAA tournaments.
Given both coaches have already been at the high-major level, we excluded them from this exercise. Dayton‘s Anthony Grant falls in the same bucket. And, he’s unlikely to go anywhere else anyway.
Craig Smith, who was recently fired by Utah, should garner looks.
Charleston‘s Chris Mack was also among those ineligible for the vote.
It’s worth noting the likes of Randy Bennett, Brian Dutcher and Leon Rice received only a couple of mentions, with most respondents saying they didn’t consider the three coaches due to their track record of showing no interest in leaving their current posts at Saint Mary’s, San Diego State and Boise State, respectively.
And, while both are in mid-major leagues, Gonzaga‘s Mark Few and Memphis‘ Penny Hardaway unsurprisingly didn’t receive any votes, given their schools aren’t considered true mid-majors.
OK, enough waffling, on to the poll rankings. Here are the coaches industry insiders feel are ready to make the jump to the Power 5 level.
1. Ryan Odom, VCU Rams
This was a fairly unanimous pick for the top spot. He checks nearly every box. He was a high-major assistant at Virginia Tech, led both UMBC and Utah State to the NCAA tournament as a head coach, and has VCU poised to win the Atlantic 10 regular-season championship. He also has an NCAA tournament win under his belt from when he led UMBC to its 16-over-1 upset against Virginia. He has the name, the pedigree and the track record. He has been linked with Virginia and will likely be named as a candidate at Villanova should it open.
2. Alan Huss, High Point Panthers
Huss’ head coaching résumé isn’t nearly as long as Odom’s, but he is now 2-for-2 when it comes to winning regular-season championships. He’s 53-14 in two seasons at High Point, going 27-5 in the Big South. He has high-major recruiting experience from his time as the head coach at high school powerhouse La Lumiere, as well as six seasons as an assistant at Creighton. High Point does have a resource advantage over the rest of the league, but the two-year dominance is noteworthy. As one agent said, “He’s playing with pocket aces, but he’s [still] very good.”
3. Bucky McMillan, Samford Bulldogs
“Bucky Ball” nearly took the country by storm last March, when a blown call against 4-seed Kansas in the first round cost Samford a potential upset win. But the longtime high school coach did lead the Bulldogs to back-to-back SoCon regular-season titles and an NCAA tournament appearance in his first four seasons in charge, before notching his fourth straight 20-win season this year. He plays an up-tempo style, and while some have concerns about whether that can translate to a higher level, those were outweighed by the credit many give him for winning at a place where nobody had won in 25 years.
4. Ben McCollum, Drake Bulldogs
McCollum is one of the more fascinating candidates of this coaching cycle, and a name we’re already seeing linked to potential vacancies in the Big Ten. He was wildly successful at the Division II level at Northwest Missouri State, winning four national championships before leaving last spring to replace Darian DeVries at Drake. McCollum brought most of his Division II team with him and promptly led the Bulldogs to the Missouri Valley regular-season title and a likely NCAA tournament appearance. The only concern from voters was his lack of Division I recruiting experience.
5. Jerrod Calhoun, Utah State Aggies
Losing back-to-back games by a combined 44 points recently wasn’t ideal, but Calhoun is likely to take Utah State dancing in his first season at the helm. The Aggies have been an assembly line when it comes to producing high-level coaches the past few years, with Craig Smith, Ryan Odom, Danny Sprinkle and now Calhoun all going to Logan and winning quickly. All that shouldn’t necessarily count against Calhoun, given that he won a league title at Youngstown State in 2023 and won 46 games over his last two seasons with the Penguins.
6. Niko Medved, Colorado State Rams
Medved has a strong résumé at three different schools: He built up the program at Furman before leaving for Drake, turned things around at Drake for a season and then left for Colorado State, where he has gone to the NCAA tournament in two of the past three seasons. This campaign looked lost after 10 games, but the Rams have won 10 of 12 to get back into tourney consideration. It’s Medved’s fifth 20-win season in the past six years.
7. Russell Turner, UC Irvine Anteaters
Turner was a hot name on the carousel a few years ago but is once again an intriguing option after leading the Anteaters to back-to-back Big West regular-season titles — while sitting one game back of UC San Diego this season. Irvine has won seven of the past 11 conference titles under Turner and gone to a pair of NCAA tournaments. He also has plenty of high-major assistant experience at Wake Forest and Stanford and was an assistant for the Golden State Warriors for several seasons.
8. Takayo Siddle, UNC Wilmington Seahawks
Siddle has yet to get over the final hump and earn a trip to the NCAA tournament, but he has had consistent success at UNCW since taking over in 2020. An assistant under Kevin Keatts at both UNCW and NC State, Siddle struggled in his first season with the Seahawks but has since rattled off four straight 20-win seasons, winning 96 games and one regular-season championship in the process. If Siddle could guide the Seahawks to a CAA tourney title this season, he could be an interesting name to watch.
9. Tony Skinn, George Mason Patriots
Skinn was part of the George Mason team that went on a historic Final Four run as an 11-seed in 2006, and after several seasons playing professionally overseas and spending time as an assistant at three different high-major programs, he returned to the Patriots in 2023 when Kim English left for Providence. All he has done in the two seasons since is win 20 games in each and position George Mason in the regular-season title race.
10. Eric Olen, UC San Diego Tritons
Olen has been at UCSD since 2004, spending a decade as an assistant coach and then leading the Tritons in the move from Division II to Division I in 2020. In the Tritons’ first year of eligibility for the NCAA tournament, they have been one of the best mid-major teams in the country, with Olen guiding them to a 26-4 record, the lead in the Big West and a legitimate chance at an at-large bid.
11. Daniyal Robinson, Cleveland State Vikings
A difficult final month cost Cleveland State the Horizon League regular-season title, but Robinson has now won 20-plus games in each of his three seasons in charge and had a pair of top-two finishes. He also has plenty of high-major experience from two different stints as an assistant coach at Iowa State. If he gets to the NCAA tournament, it’s not hard to see him getting in the mix.
12. Ross Hodge, North Texas Mean Green
Hodge has a tremendous reputation in the coaching industry, even if he has been a Division I head coach for less than two seasons. The Mean Green went to the NIT last season but are on Memphis’ heels in the AAC standings this season, winning 15 of their past 18 games entering the week. Hodge doesn’t have any high-major experience, but he worked under Grant McCasland at both Arkansas State and North Texas and has strong ties in the Texas area.
13. Matt Langel, Colgate Raiders
Had we done this exercise six months ago, Langel likely would have been much higher on the list. One agent still had him in contention for his No. 1 choice. Prior to this season, Langel had guided Colgate to five Patriot League regular-season championships in the past six years, and each of the past five NCAA tournaments. This season, however, the Raiders are just 13-18 overall and 10-8 in the league. With multiple Big 5 schools expected to open this season, Langel could still make a move. But, as one agent said, “He picked a bad year for a bad year.”
14. Preston Spradlin, James Madison Dukes
Spradlin’s trajectory is clearly on the way up. After leading Morehead State to two regular-season Ohio Valley championships and two NCAA tournaments in his final four years with the Eagles, Spradlin replaced Mark Byington at James Madison — and immediately won a share of the Sun Belt title. “I don’t know how the best Spradlin was offered the last few years was James Madison,” one agent said. “It’s crazy to me.”
15. Drew Valentine, Loyola Chicago Ramblers
Another name that would have likely been higher on the list had we done this in the preseason, Valentine has actually done a pretty good job this season given the Ramblers’ injuries. Entering the week, Loyola Chicago was tied for third in the Atlantic 10, one year after winning a share of the regular-season title. Valentine also led the Ramblers to the NCAA tournament in his first season at the helm in 2022. He has a lot of positives on his résumé, and it seems like only a matter of time before he makes the jump.
16. Eric Henderson, South Dakota State Jackrabbits
Scott Nagy and T.J. Otzelberger both had it rolling in Brookings, South Dakota, and Henderson has continued the tradition. In the past five seasons, he has led the Jackrabbits to at least a share of four Summit League titles and two NCAA tournament appearances. They finished third in the standings this season, but it was yet another 20-win season. He has also been linked to high-major jobs in the past.
17. Mike Morrell, UNC Asheville Bulldogs
Morrell was a longtime Shaka Smart assistant who made the jump to UNC Asheville in 2018. After going 4-27 in Year 1, Morrell quickly flipped the program and has now rattled off three straight 20-win seasons — including a regular-season title and NCAA tournament appearance in 2023. The Bulldogs finished tied for second this season, despite losing two-time Player of the Year Drew Pember. “This might have been his best year,” one agent said, “to lose Pember and do this.”
18. Bryan Hodgson, Arkansas State Red Wolves
Hodgson seems well-suited for the modern era of college basketball, excelling at stockpiling talent in the transfer portal. He was an assistant under Nate Oats at Alabama for four seasons, and he has carried over some of the same offensive principles: pace and shooting 3s. Arkansas State made a run to the league title game last season and won a share of the regular-season title this season, also notching a road win at Memphis in December.
19. Mitch Henderson, Princeton Tigers
Henderson is another coach who would have likely been higher at this time last year, when Princeton was coming off its third consecutive Ivy League regular-season title, and he was just one year removed from making a Sweet 16 run in the 2023 NCAA tournament as a 15-seed. He’s been at Princeton since 2011, and this will be just the second time he has finished lower than third in the league. He spent 11 years at Northwestern as an assistant and could be a name there if Chris Collins ever left.
20. Bob Richey, Furman Paladins
Did Richey miss his best chance to jump? That’s a popular concern among industry sources after he went to the 2023 NCAA tournament and beat Virginia in the first round — capping a six-year stretch in which he won at least 22 games five times, earned a share of the 2023 SoCon regular-season title and never finished lower than third in the standings. But he opted to stay at Furman and has now finished fifth in the league in back-to-back seasons. The résumé is still good enough, however.
Others receiving mentions: John Griffin, Bucknell; John Becker, Vermont; James Jones, Yale; Brian Wardle, Bradley; Josh Schertz, Saint Louis; Dustin Kerns, App State; Dan Earl, Chattanooga; Darris Nichols, Radford; Brad Korn, Southeast Missouri State; Mark Schmidt, St. Bonaventure; Pat Skerry, Towson; Talvin Hester, Louisiana Tech; Duane Simpkins, American University; Brian Earl, William & Mary; Chris Markwood, Maine; Steve Smiley, Northern Colorado
