There have been thirty-one head coaching openings at the Division I level this offseason; that number is far lower than in previous years, which have seen firing & hiring numbers that reached the 50s and 60s in total.
For 2019, just two head coaching positions remain open: Western Illinois and South Carolina State. Twenty-nine have been filled to this point, and, barring an unexpected happening between now and February, the Coaching Carousel should be nearing its end for the year. With that in mind, we ran some statistics on the coaches that have been hired thus-far.
Just three teams from Power Five conferences made head coaching moves this offseason: Maryland, Mississippi State, and Boston College. Outside of the Power Five, Louisiana Tech and Tulsa headlined the list of schools that had to hunt for a new leader for their respective programs.
Something that stood out among the list of newly-hired coaches was the fact that a coach from every level of the game above travel ball has gained a Division I head coaching job this Carousel cycle. That includes coaches who most recently coached at the Division II; Division III; NAIA; junior college; and high school levels of the game.
Junior colleges led the way, with three coaches gaining promotions to Division I. Division II and NAIA each saw two coaches leave their ranks for D1 positions, while a Division III coach and one high school instructor completed the rare quinfecta.
Conference USA and the Ohio Valley Conference saw the most coaching moves of all Division leagues this summer, with four head coaching changes within each of those conference’s ranks. In total, seventeen conferences have endured at least one coaching change since the 2019 season ended.
Additionally, three schools chose to promote from within to fill their vacant head coaching positions; seven schools chose new coaches who had previously been Division I head coaches; and five schools held over coaches that spent the 2019 season with an interim head coach title.
Oh, and one team hired a coach that most recently was Director of Operations for a D1 women’s basketball team. That would be North Carolina A&T, who hired former Elon softball coach Patti Raduenz after she spent the better part of the last decade working in the sport of basketball.
