While nothing is official quite yet, it seems increasingly likely that Maryland will find itself looking for a new men’s basketball head coach after Kevin Willard takes the job at Villanova.
There are several avenues Maryland could pursue to replace Willard, so let’s take a look at three types of coaches they could hire: power conference coaches, coaches with local ties and mid-major coaches.
POWER CONFERENCE COACHES
Buzz Williams, Texas A&M
Pros: Williams has been coaching at power conference schools for over a decade and has made it to at least the Sweet 16 in four different seasons, reaching the Elite 8 in 2012-13 with Marquette. His most impressive coaching job came at Virginia Tech, where his 2018-19 Hokies reached the Sweet 16 for just the second time in school history before losing to Zion Williamson’s Duke by just two points. His tenure at College Station didn’t include a Sweet 16, but this year’s Aggies team did rank first in the country for offensive rebounding percentage. He’s a 2x SEC Coach of the Year.
Cons: A&M had absolutely dreadful shooting stats for a team that was good enough to earn a 4-seed in this year’s tournament. They ranked 328th for three-point percentage and 278th for two-point percentage. Their ability to get offensive rebounds clearly helped them win games, but their shooting percentages are still pretty ugly for a team with power conference talent.
Brad Brownell, Clemson
Pros: During the 2023-24 tournament, Brownell led 6-seed Clemson to its first Elite Eight since 1980, beating 3-seed Baylor and 2-seed Arizona to get there. Brownell put together a strong regular season this year to follow up on that success, going 18-2 in the ACC while being the only team in the conference to beat Duke. Brownell was also linked to the Indiana job, seemingly demonstrating that he isn’t quite fully committed to remaining at Clemson. He’s a 2x CAA Coach of the Year.
Cons: Clemson followed up their Elite Eight by being one of the very few teams to suffer an upset in the first round of this year’s tournament, losing to 12-seed McNeese State. While an Elite Eight is nothing to sneeze at, it’s also one of just two times Brownell has reached the second weekend since taking the Clemson job in 2010-11.
LOCAL COACHES
Tony Skinn, George Mason
Pros: In just his second year as a head coach, Skinn had the George Mason Patriots just one game away from the NCAA tournament. GMU was the 2-seed in the Atlantic-10 conference tournament and lost to 1-seed VCU in the title game by five points. GMU is currently ranked #78 on Kenpom, sitting above power conference schools like Colorado, Stanford, Georgetown and Minnesota. Skinn will also be familiar with Maryland after serving as Willard’s assistant during the 2022-23 season where the Terps made the round of 32. He was named the Atlantic 10 Head Coach of the Year this season.
Cons: GMU’s offense was incredibly turnover-prone. The Patriots had a turnover percentage of 19.8 percent, which ranked 329th in the country. Skinn is also in just his second year as a head coach and it might be a tall task to ask him to inherit a team that will seemingly be returning zero players from its starting five.
Duane Simpkins, American
Pros: In just his second year on the job, Simpkins led American to their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2013-14 after a 13-5 record in the Patriot League. He is also a Maryland alum who played for Gary Williams in the mid-90s and went to DeMatha Catholic High School. It seems incredibly unlikely he’d view Maryland as a stepping stone like Willard did.
Cons: Hiring an alum doesn’t magically make him better than any other candidate for the job. Patrick Ewing didn’t work at Georgetown, Chris Mullin didn’t work at St. Johns and Juwan Howard did worse at Michigan than John Beilein. Maryland obviously won a national title with an alum as the head coach, but Williams got the Maryland job after spending four years in the Big East and three years in the Big Ten. Meanwhile, Simpkins has only spent two years in the Patriot League.
MID-MAJOR COACHES
Eric Olen, UC-San Diego
Pros: If you want a program builder to take over a team that will seemingly be building next year’s roster from scratch, Olen could be your man. Olen became the head coach at UC-San Diego when they were in Division 2 and guided the Tritons all the way to being a D-1 school who were four points away from upsetting 5-seed Michigan. Olen’s teams did an exceptional job with turnovers on both sides of the ball, ranking sixth for turnover percentage on offense and second on defense. He’s a 2x Big West Coach of the Year.
Cons: If you want the next coach to be either a local or someone who has already coached in a major conference then I’m afraid Olen is 0-for-2 there. It’s also entirely possible that Olen might want to continue coaching on the west coast and would find a job at a former Pac-12 school more enticing.
Alan Huss, High Point
Pros: High Point had the 27th-best offense in the country according to Kenpom. The Panthers went 14-2 in the Big South and won their conference tournament, earning them a 13-seed before losing to Purdue. High Point enjoyed a balanced offense, ranking 15th in two-point percentage and 46th in three-point percentage. Their offense shot a three on 39.4 percent of their field goal attempts, a rate almost perfectly in-line with the national average of 39.0 percent. He’s a 2x Big South Coach of the Year.
Cons: Huss is lacking in both head coaching experience and local connections. This is his second year as a head coach and prior to taking the High Point job in North Carolina, he spent several years with Creighton in Nebraska.
BSL Analyst
Rose Katz is a recent graduate of the University of Maryland’s journalism school, where she worked for The Diamondback as the online managing editor and a sports blogger. As a student, she spent almost all of her time on campus in The Diamondback’s newsroom or at Xfinity Center, Ludwig Field and Maryland Stadium. Rose gained intern experience with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).