College Basketball Coaching Carousel 2023

Story posted March 24, 2023 in CommRadio, Sports by Aidan Torok

With only 16 teams remaining, it is officially the time of year programs start looking for a new head man. Schools wasted no time this year, as schools started the coaching cycle immediately on Monday.

The offseason hasn’t even started yet, but most of the head coaching positions have already been filled. And this year’s coaching carousel is not without its controversy, with multiple big names leaving marquee jobs for what they consider a better program.

Ed Cooley to Georgetown

No head coaching move this cycle has caused as much controversy as Ed Cooley to Georgetown. Cooley had tremendous success at Providence, taking the school to seven NCAA tournaments and winning a Big East regular season title in 2022.

However, Cooley did the rare move of switching schools in conference. Despite being from Providence, Cooley decided to leave for a former powerhouse and the rival of his hometown school.

Cooley is taking on an impossible job. He hopes to rejuvenate a program with a lot of history, but not much success in recent memory. However, if there is anyone that can succeed in this job, it would be Cooley.

Cooley made the move because of the history of the school and his relationship with former Hoya coach John Thompson Jr.  Cooley grew up idolizing the Hoya great, and hopes to bring Georgetown back to its glory days. It also helps that Cooley’s daughter is graduating from Georgetown.

Cooley will most likely take star Fryer point guard Jared Bynum with him to Washington D.C. While Providence has decided to replace the face of their program with former George Mason head coach, Kim English.

Rick Pitino to St. Johns

One of the more storied head coaches in college basketball is returning to the Big East. Pitino is leaving Iona and heading back to one of the power six schools for the first time since the scandal that forced him to leave Louisville.

There might not be a more accomplished head coach in college basketball right now than Pitino.

Pitino has taken three teams to the final four, Providence, Kentucky and Louisville. If Pitino takes the Red Storm to the Final Four, he will become the first head coach to take four different schools to the Final Four.

Similarly to Cooley, Pitino has a difficult task ahead. St. Johns is another historic program with very little success of late. The last time St. Johns made the final four was in 1985. However, expect Manhattan to be the last stop for Pitino.

Micah Shrewsberry to Notre Dame

This cycle’s hot coaching commodity was Micah Shrewsberry. Shrewsberry brought life to a dead basketball program. Penn State hasn’t been to the NCAA tournament since 2011, and Shrewsberry got the school back to postseason play in his second season.

Penn State had an historic season, making it into the Big Ten title game before falling to Purdue, and winning a first-round matchup against seventh-seeded Texas A&M.

Despite being rumored to offer a “significant, long term financial commitment” to Shrewsberry, Penn State was unable to keep its head guy. It seems Penn State gave it its best shot, but again failed to build on the momentum of a successful season.

Shrewsberry has a ton of ties to the state of Indiana, and that might’ve been the deal breaker. But nevertheless it’s a failure on Penn State’s part not being able to keep their top-tier head coach. Penn State is a huge school, and should not have its coaches poached to other programs that have a comparable basketball program.

The Nittany Lions will now undergo another rebuilding year, while Notre Dame has its guy for at least the next seven seasons.

 

Aidan Torok is a third-year majoring in telecommunications and minoring in broadcast journalism and political science. To contact him, email ajt6051@psu.edu.

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Aidan Torok

Sophmore / Broadcast Journalism

Aidan Torok is a sophmore from West Caldwell, New Jersey majoring in broadcast journalism at Penn State. He produces content and does play-by-play announcing and beat writing for the CommRadio sports department. If you’d like to contact him, email him at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).