Cincinnati Bearcats Basketball Coaching Hot Board

This list of coaches is not based on intel but I do think Cincinnati should be involved with a few of them at minimum. Coaches are listed in order of who I like the most. The list is meant to be realistic which is why you won’t see names like Bob Huggins, Mick Cronin, Erik or Frank Martin, Nick Van Exel, Andy Kennedy, Travis Steele, Chris Beard or Bruce Pearl on it.

🏀 Josh Schertz (Saint Louis)

This segment was going to be a lot longer until things changed before I could hit ‘publish’. Josh Schertz has reportedly agreed to a lucrative extension (the rumor is 6 years $22mill) to stay in Saint Louis for at least one more season according to Stu Durando. It is unclear on whether anything has been signed, as Saint Louis has not publicly commented on the matter. ⬇

Since this is collegiate athletics and we can't rule anything out I’ll still do a little background. Schertz built D2 Lincoln Memorial (TN) into a dynasty and won 337 games there in 13 seasons before making the jump to D1 at Indiana State.

At Indiana State Schertz was the first coach to win 15+ conference games in a season since Larry Bird’s Final 4 team did so in 1979. He was also the first Indiana State coach to ever win 13+ conference games in back to back seasons and it only took one year of rebuilding to take that leap into the class of the MVC. The Sycamores would beat Cincinnati in the NIT and later lose in the 2024 NIT finals after blowing a late lead to Seton Hall.

Schertz made the decision to commit early to SLU before the NIT run thus tying him down to the Saint Louis job even though Louisville would later open. The Cardinals supposedly wanted Schertz, but didn’t want to pay the buyout to Saint Louis. It all seems to be working out in Saint Louis for him though as the Billkins are a single digit seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014. They also shared the regular season A-10 title with VCU.

I’m a big fan of Schertz’ trajectory as these guys who establish themselves as D2 studs and immediately perform at the D1 level seem to just be awesome coaches who will succeed at almost any job they go to, although I would have some skepticism about guys like this being able thrive at a blue blood where you can get turned on very quickly.

Another concern with Schertz is his health, which The Athletic’s CJ Moore did a really cool piece on in 2025.

🗒 Schertz would be a slam dunk hire for Cincinnati but it is unlikely. At this point it looks like Schertz is locking it down in Saint Louis and waiting for Tennessee when Barnes retires or going to the first available blue blood or fringe blue blood that would hire him.

🏀 Jerrod Calhoun (Utah State)

Last week I wrote an article talking about timing and why it is important for making hires. Jerrod Calhoun was a big reason why I wrote this article.

Jerrod Calhoun is not only a top tier candidate this hiring window but he is also an alum of the University of Cincinnati (2004). This is when you have to move with conviction to get your guy, and I expect John Cunningham to do so. If for some reason multiple jobs at or above UC’s level were open this spring a guy like Calhoun could easily take one of those — his name is hot right now, and for good reason.

For those who haven’t been following along, Calhoun turned down the Kansas State job with a rumored deal of 6 years $24m. Pittsburgh is a place that Calhoun has been rumored to be interested in for quite some time but is not going to open as they have announced Jeff Capel is back for another season.

As of now that leaves Cincinnati, Providence and possibly Syracuse as options for the Utah State HC.

I addressed some concerns with Calhoun’s performances in tournaments over his career in a recent podcast with Chatterbox Bearcats and he immediately rattled off wins over UNLV, Nevada and San Diego State in consecutive days to win the Aggies first MWC tournament championship since 2020. Message received.

This is also the first time Utah State has won the regular season and tournament championship since 2019. Calhoun did it in his second season in Logan behind the 28th ranked offense in the country. Concern no more!

Other than general concerns you’d have about any mid major coach making a leap up to the Big 12 the one true one that remains is defense. A member of the Bob Huggins coaching tree having issues with defense?? Yes. Jerrod Calhoun might be the only guy in that coaching tree who is known for offense, in fact he has said on podcasts that he obsesses over offense. Here are Coach Calhoun’s offense and defense ranks over the years on KenPom ⬇

Utah State had a big leap defensively this year after Jerrod Calhoun hired NKU’s defensive whiz Eric Haut who just accepted the Tarleton State HC job last week. If Calhoun comes to Cincinnati we might see some of that zone, but that’ll likely change based on whatever assistant is controlling the Bearcats’ defense next year. One thing is for sure is Coach Calhoun isn’t afraid to try new things. My concern for the defense is there, but there’s a little hope as you can see his defenses have improved the last 4 seasons as that YSU program continued to grow plus his immediate success at Utah State.

Offensively? Calhoun could enter conversations as one of the best offensive coaches in the country if he has immediate success at the power level. He’s had two top 30 offenses at Utah State and even had a top 50 offense at Youngstown State which feels impossible to achieve. Cincinnati only has FOUR top 50 offenses (2006, 2017, 2018, 2019) in the last 20 seasons while Calhoun has three in four.

It might not mean anything because the whole Roy Williams thing didn’t help Wes Miller at Cincinnati, but Jerrod Calhoun’s best friend is currently a top 5 coach in the NBA — Boston Celtics HC Joe Mazzulla. Calhoun hired Mazzulla away from Glenville State in 2013 to be an assistant for him at Fairmont State. Calhoun would later hand the HC reigns over at Fairmont State to Mazzulla as well. Their connection obviously goes back to Morgantown as Calhoun coached him for the entirety of his career at WVU.

Since we are on the topic of West Virginia it’s important to mention Jerrod Calhoun’s connections to legendary Cincinnati Bearcats HC Bob Huggins. There aren’t many quotes out there but Calhoun did say “I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve taken from him. You’ve got to be relentless in what you do each day.” Calhoun worked for Huggins in Morgantown from 2007 to 2012, but it started before that.

Here is a pic of the 2004 Cincinnati Bearcats with Jerrod Calhoun as a GA ⬇

Last year Calhoun was in play for the opening at West Virginia before the Mountaineers hired North Texas HC Ross Hodge. It’s pretty clear Calhoun really wanted the job as part of his pitch was that he was okay with not having Huggs as part of the program as WVU was trying to distance themselves from him after his firing. I don’t think this would have any effect on his status with Cincinnati as Bob Huggins is now 72 years old and lives in a different state plus he would very likely still visit 5/3 Arena as much as he wants to. The Dominion Post reported this ⬇

Recruiting? Development? It’s hard to tell at the Youngstown State level, but Calhoun has passed those tests with flying colors at Utah State. Calhoun retained a strong core when he arrived as Mason Falslev has developed into an absolute star (16/6/3) plus Karson Templin (9/4/1) is now a high energy big man. The guys Calhoun recruited are also having an impact.

True freshman Adlan Elamin is a 6’9 185 big man who averages 6.5ppg and 3 rebounds per game while showing some flashes from 3 point range already. Calhoun got him to go across the country to Logan, Utah from Virginia when he had offers from Arizona State, Iowa, Penn State, and Old Dominion.

Another true freshman, PG Elijah Perryman, was a 3 star from California with offers from Montana State, Montana, Cal Baptist, and San Jose State. Calhoun had a great scout there as Perryman has already had a big impact on the Aggies with 5 points and 3 assists per game.

In terms of development star senior guard MJ Collins Jr. is the best example of it. Collins never shot over 42% from the field or 30% from long range in his previous three seasons at Virginia Tech and Vanderbilt. Collins decided to spend his final year of eligibility with Calhoun at Utah State and is averaging nearly 18ppg on 49%/37%. Massive leap as his previous career high for ppg was 7.4.

🗒 Jerrod Calhoun is the perfect fit and an absolute slam dunk hire for the Cincinnati Bearcats to try to make. Just need John Cunningham to finish the job. Calhoun has been a HC since he was 29 years old and would very likely at least have some form of success in Cincy. While I like Josh Schertz slightly more as an overall candidate I think Calhoun’s fit into the Clifton Culture makes him the best possible hire the Bearcats can make this spring. Jerrod Calhoun should be the guy who brings the Bearcats back to relevance at the power level.

🏀 Luke Murray (40 years old, UConn assistant)

Luke Murray is a big time wildcard for the Cincinnati search if AD John Cunningham wants to take a risk on a longtime assistant. Many believe Murray will be the next big named assistant to take a power job. Murray has been very selective waiting for his first job (think of Tommy Lloyd at Gonzaga waiting for the Arizona job) and will only make his move when he feels like the perfect program opens up. Is Cincinnati that program?

Murray began coaching AAU as a teenager and shot up the ranks almost immediately after graduating college at Fairfield in 2007. His path has been all over the place despite also being very faithful to his current HC Dan Hurley. Murray did leave Hurley in Rhode Island to take a job under Chris Mack at xavier and was a part of Mack’s disastrous stint in louisville, but other than that most of his stops were met with success.

Murray is known as the offensive mastermind behind UConn’s elite offense. Since his arrival to UConn the Huskies have finished in the top 25 offenses in the country every single season. Prior to this impressive 5 year run that included back to back championships Dan Hurley’s teams had a top 50 offense in the country ONCE (2021 where they finished 22nd). UConn’s offense since Murray arrived ⬇

Notice the tempo? Slow! Murray’s teams play very patiently and attempt to get the best possible shot out of every possession. While they’ve shot 3s well every season they also don’t hunt them, very middle of the pack in the 3pt volume department. Some consistent things you’ll see on UConn’s KenPom profile is strong offensive rebounding (top 25 4 out of 5 seasons), 2 point FG% (top 30 the last 3 seasons) and most importantly assist %. The Huskies have been 8th, 5th, 4th and 8th in the country in assists per field goals made. These guys pass the ball well and there is very little iso play early in possession. A lot of assists and a high 2pt FG% suggests a ton of clean looks at the rim.

🗒 High risk high reward is all I can think of when having internal debates with Luke Murray’s fit in Cincinnati. Could he be our Tommy Lloyd? Probably not, but the upside around candidates is always exciting because we really don’t know how good of a coach he can be. The other side of this is he could be absolutely awful and fired after 2 seasons. I personally have Luke Murray tied with Eric Olen in my rankings and would be excited with either hire, while also understanding the downside of a Murray hire. A hire like this would be an extreme risk for AD John Cunningham and if he did make the hire it would be a big gamble on what he thinks Murray can be. For what it’s worth there are rumors that Luke Murray is showing interest in the BC job.

🏀 Eric Olen (45 years old, New Mexico)

Olen is more of a personal favorite of mine than a likely candidate for the Bearcats job, but you have to at least reach out. Olen has spent his entire coaching career out west at UC San Diego and New Mexico, but he spent his entire childhood and college life in Alabama so I don’t think he’s necessarily tied down to that region.

Olen’s story should be talked about much more than it is in CBB circles — I imagine that’ll change when he does make the leap to the P5. Eric Olen is UC San Diego basketball. Olen took an assistant job at UC SD in 2004 and was later promoted to HC in 2013 when the job opened. He then guided the Tritons as the HC over the next decade to get them from D2 to D1 because of how much on court success they were having.

Olen’s incredible 21 year run in San Diego came to an end last year when he finally took the leap up to New Mexico. I honestly admire that he stayed there so long to finish the job and helping a program he cares so much about transition to the D1 level. The most remarkable part of it is how it ended — UC San Diego went 30-5 (18-2) plus got an NCAA Tournament bid in their 5th season at the D1 level ⬇

Olen has had immediate success as New Mexico as the Lobos are currently 49th in KenPom and are at large candidates for the NCAA Tournament. Olen even brought over a 3 star true freshman (ranked in the 400s!) named Jake Hall who has been one of the biggest surprises in the country this year. The 6’4 guard averages 16ppg on 49%/44% splits. Talk about talent identification.

Olen’s last few teams after establishing himself at the D1 level have been balanced offensively and defensively. I also find it interesting that he drastically upped the pace this year at New Mexico with a lot of success. To me great coaches respond to their personnel year to year and have success in multiple ways throughout their careers ⬇

🗒 Eric Olen would be a risky hire but I love that Olen built his own D2 program, transitioned them to D1, won at the D1 level, then finally took his shot at a bigger program like New Mexico and is having immediate results. I love trajectories like this and believe Eric Olen will be a stud for years to come. There would be general panic around a hire like this in the UC community due to Olen’s lack of success at the D1 level, but I think after the dust settles fans would be pretty excited about it.

🏀 Bryan Hodgson (38 years old, USF)

Hodgson is a member of the Nate Oats coaching tree as he followed him from Buffalo to Alabama as an assistant. He had immediate success in his first HC gig at Arkansas State (2024 and 2025), which he then parlayed into a strong mid major job at South Florida this year.

In his first year at Arkansas State the Red Wolves won 11 conference games for the first time since 2017 (Grant McCasland’s lone season at Arkansas State was 2017, name ring a bell?). They took it to the next level in his second season finishing top 100 in KenPom for the first time since Dickey Nutt did it in 1999. Not a great basketball program but Hodgson figured it out quickly.

Hodgson’s success at USF was even more immediate as the Bulls are 23-8 (15-3) and on a collision course with Tulsa to fight over the AAC auto bid. Hodgson doesn’t do the full Nate Oats experience by having his team chuck 3s every possession down the court, but he is definitely an offensive minded coach and his teams shoot a lot from 3. In terms of shot distribution his ‘24 Arkansas State team scored 35% of their points from 3 (62nd). ‘25 team was also 35% (now 83rd, trends change quick!) and his current USF team scores 32.8% of their points from 3 (144th).

Here are the basics of Hodgson’s young KenPom profile and you will notice offense and pace as this year’s Bulls team is 14th in the country in adjusted tempo ⬇

🗒 I am a little down on Hodgson compared to most, but if Cincinnati were to land him he’s a guy people would be excited about. Hodgson, a New York native, has been strongly linked with Syracuse due to his ties to the area, but it would not shock me at all to see him take Providence or even stay in Tampa Bay. While he is qualified to coach at a school like Cincinnati I don’t really see this one happening.

🏀 Chris Holtmann (54 years old, DePaul)

3 tournaments in 3 years at Butler. Butler has made the tournament 1 time in the 9 seasons since Holtmann left, and that was in LaVall Jordan’s 1st season with players like Kelan Martin and Kamar Baldwin that Holtmann recruited to Indianapolis.

Gonna count the covid year with Ohio State here for Holtmann as the Buckeyes were #8 overall in KenPom in the shortened season. Would have had 5 straight tournament appearances at OSU before missing it in his final 2 seasons and getting fired for performance. He could never put all the pieces together in Ohio State and kind of got punished for developing his players too fast. Sounds crazy, I know, but Holtmann turned two 4 star freshmen into NBA one and dones — Malaki Branham (2022) and Brice Sensabaugh (2023). If Branham did not blow up that 2023 team would have been crazy. Other NBA players from his reign in Columbus: PF EJ Liddell, C Micah Potter, and PF Jamison Battle.

Holtmann was known for his struggles in March by Ohio State fans as he lost to 15 seeded Oral Roberts in the 1st round and did not get past the 2nd round in any of his 4 appearances.

Now tasked with reviving a dead DePaul program Holtmann got the Blue Devils to 8 Big East wins for the first time since 2007. Impressive for his second season in Chicago, but it remains to be seen if he can take DePaul to the next level and actually compete for things.

Holtmann is known as an offensive minded coach. He has 7 seasons of top 25 offenses on KenPom at Butler and Ohio State. Some perspective here — UC Basketball has had ZERO top 25 offenses on KenPom in the last 20 seasons. The last time it happened in Clifton was Bob Huggins’ 2004 team that was 13th in the country. ⬇

🗒 Holtmann is my personal favorite power parachute backup plan as I think there is some untapped potential there if he can put it all together at a power program that has a lot of financial support. There’s also a chance he just isn’t cut out for the NIL/transfer era. I love his offense and hope to one day see my Bearcats play great offense again. It’s been far too long.

🏀 Chris Collins (51 years old, Northwestern)

Collins is a big “what if” in the coaching industry as he has only ever been at Northwestern, a school not exactly known for caring about athletics. Collins is on pace to become the winningest coach in Wildcats history in the next few seasons. Northwestern has 3 tournament appearances in their 121 year history and Chris Collins is responsible for all 3 over his thirteen seasons in Evanston. His teams are typically more defense minded as he has had 6 top 50 defenses on KenPom. Offensively he has hit that mark only once in 2024. Northwestern has finished in the top 6 of the Big 10 3 times during his tenure.

🏀 Chris Jans (56 years old, Mississippi State)

Jans got fired for cause by Bowling Green back in 2015 which slowed his trajectory into power basketball, but he finally got there after reaching 3 tournaments at New Mexico State in 5 seasons. Could have made a 4th as he had a solid team during the covid shortened season. Jans has made 3 tournaments in 4 seasons for Mississippi State after the program previously had 1 tournament appearance in their previous 13 seasons. Tough year for the Bulldogs this season as they went 13-19 (5-13). While I do think Jans will eventually try to move to a better basketball school, the timing might be bad after how bad they were this year.

🗒 I doubt we hire a guy with a shady past, but if we did it could be Jans as happened over a decade ago. Could be a backup plan.

🏀 Herb Sendek (63 years old, Santa Clara)

Coach Sendek is an old man but might want one last go of it at the power level. Santa Clara is rumored to be offering Sendek an extension that could keep him there until he retires as the 26-8 Broncos are in the midst of their best season since the 1960s.

Sendek went to 5 straight tournaments at NC State in the late 2000s and took Arizona State there twice as well in 2009 and 2014. He is a solid offensive minded coach, but has never peaked in a way that would excite Cincinnati fans, especially considering his age.

🗒 I don’t see this one happening, but it wouldn’t totally shock me if Sendek was a backup backup plan for Cincinnati.

Eric Konkol (Tulsa), Phil Martelli Jr. (VCU), Chris Caputo (George Washington), Mike Magpayo (Fordham), Ali Farokhmanesh (Colorado State), Chris Gerlufsen (San Fran) and Clint Sargent (Wright State).

Shaka Smart (Marquette), Ronald Nored (NBA), Mike Boynton (Michigan assistant), Mike Rhoades (Penn State), Mike White (Georgia), Bryce Drew (Grand Canyon) and Shaheen Holloway (Seton Hall)

John Groce (Akron), Porter Moser (Oklahoma), Micah Shrewsberry (ND), Matt McMahon (LSU) and Ryan Pedon (Illinois State).

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