Top 5 Mid-Major Basketball Coaches Most Likely To Be Part of Next Season’s Hiring Carousel

The Mid-Major Basketball Coaches Likely High On The List of High Major Conference Athletic Directors

After each season, the top coaches in mid-major basketball get courted by Athletic Directors looking to hire their next basketball coach. Inevitably, there will be a team that makes a surprise run in the NCAA tournament and their coach will receive a large pay raise to lead a team in a major conference.

We’ll rank the top 5 mid-major basketball coaches most likely to be high on the list of a hiring Athletic Director.

* This list excludes Gonzaga’s Mark Few because they are often part of the major conference discussions and, quite frankly, he’s not taking that Athletic Director’s call.

Grant McCasland – North Texas
Athletic Directors have an eye on McCasland because of his success at North Texas and his time at Baylor as an assistant.

Pat Kelsey – College of Charleston
It was a disappointing first season for Kelsey and College of Charleston. If Kelsey can get produce wins at CoC like he did at he previous stop, Winthrop, he’ll have multiple job offers to choose from.

Mark Pope – BYU
If Pope can get BYU into the NCAA tournament this season, he’ll be getting job offers.

Rick Pitino – Iona
After a surprisingly successful two season run at Iona, Pitino, despite his advanced age, will likely get one more shot to lead a high major program.

Kelvin Sampson – Houston
Houston will move to the Big 12 in 2023. The number of wins Sampson has racked up at Houston, puts his NCAA sanction days at Indiana behind him in the minds of Athletic Directors.

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