Help Wanted: These Five Schools Are Still Looking For Head Coaches

The coaching carousel in college basketball is just starting to slow its rotation over a month after the season's end. Most of the nation's coaching vacancies have been filled, but a few schools around the country are still looking for someone to lead their program. Here's a quick rundown of what's available on the college basketball job market nowadays.


Alabama A&M - The Aggies have been to the NCAA Tournament as recently as 2005, when they were the regular season and tournament champion in the SWAC. Now the small historically black university located in Normal, Alabama is looking for a coach that can make them a conference contender again. Former Northern Illinois coach Ricardo Patton [pictured] would be an ideal hire for the Aggies.

Murray State - This is the best available job in the country right now. The Racers are a perennially successful team in the OVC, and are a threat to make the tournament every year. Former coach Billy Kennedy left this job for a high profile position at Texas A&M. He leaves behind a program that could serve as an ideal stepping stone for another young head coach.

The United States Naval Academy - This is one of the most difficult head coaching jobs in the country. For starters, the Naval Academy does not recruit student-athletes taller than 6'7 (I wonder how David Robinson got in), making the hoops program permanently undersized. There is no tougher task in college basketball than convincing potential recruits to sign up for life at Annapolis and the two year commitment that comes after graduation. Navy's former coach Billy Lange [pictured] was so desperate to find greener pastures that he decided to take a demotion of sorts. He has moved on to Villanova where he will serve as an assistant coach. Whoever replaces Lange at Navy must be prepared to take on a vast rebuilding project. The Middies need a coach that can recruit difference-making guards and post players that rely on strength and positioning rather than height.

Radford - Two years ago, Radford was playing in the NCAA Tournament. Now they are looking for a head coach. Former coach Brad Greenberg, brother of Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg, was fired after a disappointing season that saw Radford go winless on the road and finish 5-24 overall. Somehow, the bottom fell out of a program that had won 40 games over the previous two years including that tournament appearance. Whoever replaces Greenberg will be expected to win soon.

Vermont - This job is on par with Murray State as a potential stepping stone for coaches. They don't do much at Vermont besides win basketball games, and the program gets excellent support. Former coach Mike Lonergan took the Catamounts to the postseason four out of his six seasons with the team, including a trip to the Big Dance in 2010. The new coach at Vermont will inherit a squad that won 23 games last year and were a last second bucket away from being in the NCAAs for a second straught year. This program is set up to succeed, and a good coach could run this program on auto-pilot for at least four years. Mike Jarvis II, assistant coach and son of current Florida Atlantic coach Mike Jarvis, is mentioned as a possible candidate for this job as well as at Navy.