College basketball coaching changes: Maryland quickly hires Buzz Williams after Kevin Willard's messy exit

Matt Norlander's latest look at the coaching carousel, where Texas A&M is now the only high-major opening

Now that we can catch our breath for a few days before things get rolling down in San Antonio, here's the latest update on the coaching carousel in D-I men's hoops. 

The tally as of Tuesday is 48 job changes. If you told me we got to 50 by the time the Auburn and Florida tip at 6:09 p.m. ET on Saturday, I would 100% believe that.

Our most recent headline was one that moved quickly: Maryland has hired Texas A&M's Buzz Williams after Kevin Willard's controversial departure from College Park to Villanova.  

Willard's exit was the one we'd been waiting a week-plus for. Here's my newser on that, which includes a few additional reported items surrounding Willard's hostile exit from Maryland.

With the transfer portal in full swing, Maryland had to act quickly as the only high-major opening. Willard's hire was made official by Villanova on Sunday. And by Tuesday, Maryland had announced its agreement with Williams, who has 11 NCAA Tournament appearances across his stops at Texas A&M, Virginia Tech and Marquette. 

Texas A&M is now the only high-major job on the market, and it's entirely feasible that its next coach will come from a power conference, which will trigger the dominos once again. Scroll below to get a recap of all the changes in the past month-plus. There are still eight jobs waiting to be filled.

Major-conference changes

1	Florida St.
Out: Leonard Hamilton | In: Luke Loucks After 22 seasons, Hamilton, 76, is leaving his post in Tallahassee. He won more than 450 games at FSU and molded nine first-round NBA picks. But the program slipped in recent seasons and a reboot is in order. Hamilton is also being sued by five of his former players over disputed non-payments tied to NIL opportunities from the 2023-24 season. Loucks is an FSU alum and most recently worked as an assistant with the Sacramento Kings.
2	Indiana
Out: Mike Woodson | In : Darian DeVries The program failed to hit the upper echelons of the sport in Woodson's four years, and thus IU has now hired its sixth coach in a quarter century, plucking DeVries from West Virginia. The search was interesting, with Drake's Ben McCollum getting significant interest, but IU AD Scott Dolson and school president Pamela Whitten circled back on a few other targets before going all-in on DeVries. Indiana missing the tournament freed up a little more time for Dolson to work the search. Indiana is banking on at least $7 million in NIL and revenue-sharing money, per one source.
3	Iowa
Out: Fran McCaffery | In : Ben McCollum After 15 seasons, the McCaffery era has come to an end for the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Hawkeyes went 17-16 and missed the NCAAs for the second straight season. McCaffery took Iowa to the NCAA tourney seven times, and it would have been eight if there had been a 2020 tourney. But Iowa didn't make the Sweet 16 once under McCaffery; the school last advanced that far in 1999 under Tom Davis. AD Beth Goetz wanted either DeVries or McCollum, so ultimately it's as big of a win imaginable for Iowa.
4	Maryland
Out: Kevin Willard | In: Buzz Williams What a messy ending for Willard in College Park. It got so bad on the Maryland end, fan-wise, that he had no choice but to leave for Villanova. He was not wanted back around those parts at this point. Maryland's search kicked into high gear on Monday and the hire of Texas A&M's Buzz Williams on a six-year deal was finalized on Tuesday. Williams is well-traveled but has never coached in the Big Ten. Across stops at Marquette, Virginia Tech and Texas A&M, he's made 11 NCAA Tournament appearances. He brought the Aggies to the last three tournaments, but never advanced beyond the Round of 32.
5	Miami
Out: Jim Larranaga | In: Jai Lucas When Larranaga retired the day after Christmas, it sent a bad Miami team skidding into trouble full-on off the cliff and into an all-time plunge. The 7-24 Hurricanes had one of their worst seasons in program history. It's wild to look back at this program now vs. where it was less than two years ago when it made the Final Four. Lucas has left Duke for good; ultimately, it was decided it would be best to not have too many distractions for him to stay on. A massive roster flip is underway in Coral Gables. Highly respected ace player development coach Andrew Moran (who has deep ties around Miami) will be joining Lucas' staff, sources told CBS Sports, in addition to Georgia assistant Erik Pastrana.
6	Minnesota
Out: Ben Johnson | In: Niko Medved Four years and out for Johnson, a Minnesota alum, who will be replaced by another Minnesota alum. This is an OK job with a solid ceiling that is desperate for a lot more financial support. Medved is also a Minneapolis native and was the clear-cut top choice dating back to before AD Mark Coyle decided to fire Johnson. Getting Minnesota to at least $4 million in NIL resources will be a big challenge, but possibly necessary in order to get the Gophers out of the Big Ten cellar next season.
7	NC State
Out: Kevin Keatts | In: Will Wade What a year for Keatts and NC State. From nearly being fired in 2024, then reeling off nine straight win-or-go-home games to make the Final Four ... to being fired on the heels of a 12-19 season. State will pay nearly $8 million to send Keatts packing. Wade got traction after some big money people pushed his candidacy. The local fan base was howling over the prospect of landing Wade, who was a lock to land somewhere at the Power Five level this cycle. Add in the tournament success and this is about as good of a rebound after firing Keatts as State could have asked for.
8	Texas
Out: Rodney Terry | In: Sean Miller A huge change in Austin, as Miller is the most experience and accomplished coach Texas has hired in a long time, in terms of overall wins and NCAA Tournament experience. Terry was never able to win over the power players in Austin, and because of it, he was fated to have a short shelf life here, fair or not. Miller will try to move Texas into the top 10 of the sport, but it won't be easy. Sources said Miller's desire to try and win a national championship, and the belief it was more possible at an SEC program like Texas, was part of the reason why he left Xavier.
9	Texas A&M
Out: Buzz Williams | In: TBD Buzz Williams is officially off to Maryland, leaving Texas A&M as the lone power conference program with a head-coaching vacancy. Williams spent six seasons in College Station and compiled a 120-73 record. Things started slowly, but A&M went a combined 96-49 over his final four years in charge, including appearances in the last three NCAA Tournaments. This year, the Aggies lost in the Round of 32 as a No. 4 seed. Where will A&M athletic director Trev Alberts turn next? Chris Beard (Ole Miss), Grant McCasland (Texas Tech), Brad Underwood (Illinois) and Fred Hoiberg (Nebraska) could all get a look.
10	Utah
Out: Craig Smith | In: Alex Jensen Utah AD Mark Harlan's awkwardly timed firing of Smith didn't do him any favors in the industry; a lot of people around college athletics panned Harlan for how he handled it. Turns out, that timing enabled him to convince Jensen to take the job and get a head start on the inevitable portal purge. Utah's NIL situation is near the bottom of the Big 12. Will this hire create a surge of financial support? With fellow former Ute Andre Miller in the mix to join Jensen's staff, that would only help the cause. More big changes in the Beehive State.
11	Villanova
Out: Kyle Neptune | In: Kevin Willard The school did the inevitable and moved on after Neptune's Wildcats went 19-14 this season and finished well off the bubble cutline. The standard on the Main Line is clear-cut: NCAA Tournaments every year, and competing for Final Fours often. Is Willard good enough to meet that standard? He's coming off the first Sweet 16 appearance of his career. He wanted to be back at a university where basketball mattered more, and he got his wish. Let's see what he does with it.
12	Virginia
Out: Ron Sanchez | In: Ryan Odom Virginia reached out to other prospective coaching candidates dating back to February, sources said, but it abandoned all other contenders for the job not longer after. Odom -- who has Charlottesville ties -- had privately been the guy for weeks. His father, Dave, previously served as an assistant at Virginia in the 1980s. This feels like a good fit. Odom has a 201-117 record as a Division I coach. I'm told UVa expects to have north of $7 million to provide in NIL and anticipated revenue sharing for the 2025-26 season.
13	West Virginia
Out: Darian DeVries | In: Ross Hodge After just one season in Morgantown, DeVries departed for Indiana, leaving the West Virginia brass to search for a new coach yet again. West Virginia went 19-13 (10-10 Big 12) in DeVries' lone season before a surprising snub from the NCAA Tournament field. WVU AD Wren Baker has interviewed a litany of candidates and missed out on a few who turned it down, but his longtime relationship with Hodge dating back to being the AD at North Texas played a big role. Hodge also has a reputation as one of the best X-and-O defensive schemers in college basketball. He's viewed as a long-term fit in Morgantown.
14	Xavier
Out: Sean Miller | In: Richard Pitino Well, this one's still hard to intake so soon after Miller's decision to leave for Texas. It's not stunning, given he was rumored for the job, but still, there's an element of risk to leaving a good job for one in the cutthroat SEC. Pitino feels like a solid hire, though I'm a little surprised Charleston's Chris Mack didn't wind up with the job. That said, the circumstances under which Miller abandoned Xavier quite clearly affected school AD Greg Christopher's decision-making here. The Big East gets a big boost in PR by having two Pitinos in one league. That should be a lot of fun.

Non-Power Five changes

1	Alabama A&M
Out: Otis Hughley | In: TBD Hughley spent the past three seasons with the Bulldogs, who will hire their sixth coach since moving to Division I in 1998.
2	Alcorn St.
Out: Landon Bussie | In: TBD After five seasons in the SWAC, Bussie was offered the Chicago State job and left to head north. The Braves last won the SWAC in 2002.
3	Arkansas St.
Out: Bryan Hodgson | In: Ryan Pannone After going 45-28 in two seasons, Hodgson became a buzzy name and was expected to take a bigger job. He's off to South Florida and the AAC. Pannone is the second straight former Alabama assistant to get this job. And for Arkansas State, it's a nice development in this sense: Pannone is a grinder's grinder of a coach. He will completely embrace moving to Jonesboro, Arkansas.
4	Bellarmine
Out: Scott Davenport | In: Doug Davenport Scott Davenport was an institution at Bellarmine, guiding the program from D-II to D-I in recent years. He won a national title in 2011 and went to four D-II Final Fours in total, in addition to 426 games across 20 seasons. In total, he spent more than four decades coaching basketball in Louisville. A fixture in that city. With his retirement, Bellarmine has allowed Scott to hand the job to his son, Doug, who has been on staff for nine years.
5	Bryant
Out: Phil Martelli Jr. | In: TBD Bryant will need its third coach in three years' time, as Martelli is off to VCU. The program just made the NCAAs and is solidly positioned in the America East.
6	Campbell
Out: Kevin McGeehan | In: John Andrzejek McGeehan lasted 12 seasons with the Fighting Camels but was fired following a 15-17 campaign. He went 184-199 and couldn't bring Campbell to the NCAAs during his dozen years. The school moved from the Big South to the CAA two years ago and will seek a reboot under Andrzejek, who will finish out Florida's run (he's an assistant there) before making the move.
7	Chicago St.
Out: Scott Spinelli | In: Landon Bussie A one-year experiment gone awry under Spinelli. Chicago State went 4-28 and finished 361 at KenPom in its first season in the NEC. Truly one of the five toughest jobs in all of Division I. Bussie was previously the coach at Alcorn State for five seasons.
8	Clev. St.
Out: Daniyal Robinson | In: TBD The Vikings got three years and 65 wins under Robinson, who is off to North Texas. Cleveland State has appeal at the mid-major level, thanks to Dennis Gates stabilizing the program prior to Robinson doing a really nice job with it.
9	Denver
Out: Jeff Wulbrun | In: TBD Four years and out for Wulburn, who was put on leave mid-season for actions not disclosed publicly. Denver is in the Summit League and has never made the NCAAs dating back to its Division I start in the late 1990s.
10	Colo. St.
Out: Niko Medved | In: Ali Farokhmanesh Medved had a great situation in Fort Collins, but home is home and Minnesota was one he couldn't turn down. CSU went through a brief search to replace him, but made the smart choice to promote from within. Farokhmanesh is a name forever attached to the NCAA Tournament for the shot he hit against Kansas in 2009, but he's paid his dues as a GA and assistant coach for more than a decade at this point. He was critical in helping Medved build tournament teams at CSU.
11	Columbia
Out: Jim Engles | In: Kevin Hovde Engles was with the Lions for nine years but never wound up with a season above .500. This is a tough gig, but it is in a great part of New York City. Florida assistant Kevin Hovde was the favorite from the start and officially accepted the job during the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. He was previously an assistant there under Kyle Smith during the 2010s.
12	Drake
Out: Ben McCollum | In: Eric Henderson Drake's done well for itself. Consider: McCollum, Darian DeVries and Niko Medved are its three former coaches. They were all hired to Big Ten jobs in this year's cycle. If Drake had to lose McCollum to anyone, Iowa is the softest blow. The perception of this job has altered drastically in the past decade. Henderson is a worthy next man up in Des Moines.
13	Fordham
Out: Keith Urgo | In: Mike Magpayo This opening had been rumored about going back to January. Fordham made it official on the first weekend of the NCAAs. Urgo went from 25-8 in Year 1 to 13-20 and then 12-21 this year, including a last-place finish in the A-10. Magpayo is coming from UC Riverside, but he spent time in the NYC area as an assistant under Kyle Smith more than a decade ago. Could wind up being a really good hire.
14	Iona
Out: Tobin Anderson | In: Dan Geriot Iona administration is getting dragged for how poorly it treated Anderson, who was fired Monday after just two seasons. The coach who led FDU to the 16-over-1 upset of Purdue in 2023 went 33-34 with the Gaels. Expectations in the post-Rick Pitino phase in New Rochelle got really high, really fast, but still: pretty harsh stuff. New Orleans Pelicans assistant Dan Geriot, who played at Richmond, is yet another NBA-to-college hire, which has become the trend in this year's cycle.
15	La Salle
Out: Fran Dunphy | In: Darris Nichols The 76-year-old Philly legend is retiring this month after nearly 50 years in college basketball coaching. Dunphy won more than 600 games and is among the most well-liked and accomplished coaches in the storied history of Philadelphia basketball. La Salle's program is among the more cash-strapped at the multi-bid-league level. Nichols got the nod after a few low-major coaches from the northeast were heavily looked into. La Salle has made one NCAA tourney in the past 33 years.
16	Longwood
Out: Griff Aldrich | In: Ronnie Thomas The Lancers promoted Thomas after Aldrich left after seven seasons (and two NCAA tourney appearances) to be the top assistant under Ryan Odom at Virginia.
17	Louisiana
Out: Bob Marlin | In: Quannas White After a 15-year run that included two Sun Belt auto bids (2014, 2023), Marlin was fired in December. After some wait-and-see and a few tussles with contract negotiations, Louisiana got White to the finish line. He's 44 and been ready to run a program for a few years now after spending the past eight with Kelvin Sampson. He'll join the program after Houston's season ends.
18	UL-Monroe
Out: Keith Richard | In: Phil Cunningham Richard began his time as coach of the Warhawks in the Sun Belt in 2010, but he was never been able to break through and make the NCAAs. Program last made the Big Dance in 1996. Cunningham was hired from within; he previously was a head coach at Troy from 2013-19.
19	McNeese
Out: Will Wade | In: Bill Armstrong With Wade off to NC State, Baylor assistant Bill Armstrong was officially announced as the next Cowboys coach on Tuesday. The program will look to keep the momentum it built over the past two years and stay atop the Southland.
20	Murray St.
Out: Steve Prohm | In: Ryan Miller Prohm's second go-round with the Racers wasn't fruitful. He resigned following Murray State's loss to Bradley, leaving with a 45-52 record in three years. Word in the Missouri Valley is Murray State is ready to invest more money into its program than any other school in that league for the 2025-26 season. Miller, a Creighton who has been in the running in recent years at a number of jobs, beat out a litany of power-conference assistants.
21	Navy
Out: Ed DeChellis | In: TBD DeChellis announced his retirement on March 19, stepping away from Navy after 14 seasons and 196 wins. DeChellis was also a head coach previously at East Tennessee State and Penn State, totaling for 29 seasons and 415 wins, making him one of just seven coaches active this past season with at least 100 wins at three schools. Sounding like this is going to be a promotion from within.
22	New Mexico
Out: Richard Pitino | In: Eric Olen Pitino leaving was inevitable. He had too much interest from too many jobs, and importantly, New Mexico will soon be in a Mountain West that includes the likes of Hawaii, UC Davis and UTEP. The program has good tradition, a great home environment and supportive community. But its league affiliation is set for a downgrade. This is still a quality job, but it's a downgrade from what it used to be. Olen is a really nice get after what he did at UC San Diego.
23	North Texas
Out: Ross Hodge | In: Daniyal Robinson The Mean Green lost Hodge to West Virginia, and prior to that, Grant McCasland. Now Robinson will try to keep UNT as a top-four program in the American Athletic Conference.
24	Oral Roberts
Out: Russell Springmann | In: Kory Barnett A semi-surprise, as Springmann only made it two seasons before getting sacked. The Golden Eagles went 7-23 this year and sunk to the bottom of the Summit League.
25	Penn
Out: Steve Donahue | In: Fran McCaffery It was a decade for Donahue in Philly, with the Quakers making the NCAAs in 2018. This year was the worst yet, with Penn going 8-19 and finishing 292 at KenPom. Fran McCaffery is an alum, and at 65, is the guy in Philly. That's an interesting late-career stop for the former Iowa coach.
26	Radford
Out: Darris Nichols | In: Zach Chu The Highlanders had four years with Nichols (off to La Salle), which totaled a 68-63 record at the Big South program. The school has made three NCAA Tournaments since 1998. Chu is a head-turning hire; he wasn't even considered to be in the initial list of finalists for the job. The 34-year-old SMU assistant previously spent time in the analytics departments of the Indiana Pacers and Dallas Mavericks.
27	Sacramento St.
Out: Michael Czepil | In: Mike Bibby David Patrick resigned last May (and eventually joined Matt McMahon's staff at LSU), which led to Czepil being the interim. The Hornets finished the regular season 7-24. Bibby, the longtime Sacramento Kings guard, has accepted the job. Completely out of left field.
28	S. Dak. St.
Out: Eric Henderson | In: Bryan Petersen Henderson spent the past six seasons with the Jackrabbits and took SDSU to the NCAAs in 2024 and 2022. With him going to Drake, the program promoted Hendereson's long-time assistant, Petersen, to run the show in Brookings.
29	SF Austin
Out: Kyle Keller | In: Matt Braeuer Keller coached SFA for nearly nine seasons and won 18 or more games in six of those years. He was fired in January. He also was responsible for one of the biggest upsets in college basketball history, when his Lumberjacks team upset No. 1 Duke in November of 2019 . Braueuer comes via Texas Tech, but his ties within Texas date back to being on Grant McCasland's staff at North Texas as well. He'll join the program after TTU's run ends in the NCAA Tournament.
30	UC Riverside
Out: Mike Magpayo | In: TBD After five seasons and 89 wins in the Big West, Magpayo is moving cross-country to take a job in the A-10 at Fordham. UC Riverside is one of the least-funded schools in the West. Tough gig at a place that's been D-I since 2000 but never made the NCAAs.
31	UC San Diego
Out: Eric Olen | In: Clint Allard With Olen going to New Mexico following a 30-5 season and Big West title, Allard was the pick to promote from within. He's an alum to boot. UCSD was something of a revelation this season and it'll be interesting to see if the Tritons can continue to be a mid-major force, post-Olen.
32	UNLV
Out: Kevin Kruger | In: Josh Pastner The Runnin' Rebels went 18-15 this season, falling in the Mountain West quarterfinals to Utah State. Vegas never made an NCAA Tournament under Kruger's watch, and beyond that, never had a season where it finished better than 73rd at KenPom. The school is not in a good financial situation, and sources said a few candidates involved walked away not that enthused, given the challenges ahead. Pastner was pushing for this job for a few weeks, and his experience running Memphis and Georgia Tech gave him an edge as the search progressed over the weekend.
33	South Florida
Former coach: Amir Abdur-Rahim | In: Bryan Hodgson A sad inclusion to the tracker, as Abdur-Rahim tragically died in the preseason at 43 , leading to Ben Fletcher serving as the interim head coach over the past four-plus months. Abdur-Rahim was a rising star. The American Athletic Conference named Abdur-Rahim its Honorary Coach of the Year for 2024-25. Hodgson comes over on a six-year deal after two years with Arkansas State. If he continues on his trajectory, USF will be in the top three of the American in no more than two years.
34	VCU
Out: Ryan Odom | In: Phil Martelli Jr. VCU is one of the best mid-major jobs in the country, and because it's that, it's prone to coaching turnover at a rate that's more volatile that most other schools. But this is a really good job with one of the strongest home-court environment and fan bases you'll find in college hoops. With Odom gone, VCU AD Ed McLaughlin picked his 1b option after his 1a (Richard Pitino) went to Xavier. Martelli Jr. went 43-25 the past two seasons with Bryant in the America East.