As of the publishing of this piece, there is no official word on the future of head coach Bill Self.
Following Kansas’ heartbreaking 67-65 defeat to St. John’s in the round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament, Self relayed that he had not decided whether or not he would return next season, sending Lawrence, Kansas, rightly into a frenzy.
Self has compiled one of the best coaching careers in the history of the sport, and whoever eventually fills his role will have massive shoes to fill. Our job today, is to try to scour the market for potential candidates who could fill said role.
No. 3 Dusty May
May is currently leading the Final Four-bound Michigan Wolverines to what they hope will be their first national title since 1989.
In May’s two years with the Big Ten side, his record stands at a nice 62-13, and a 35-3 mark this season. May was able to acquire high-level talent last season in the No. 1 transfer product, Yaxel Lendeborg, along with four four-stars in Aday Mara, Morez Johnson Jr., and Elliot Cadeau. According to KenPom, this year’s Michigan side is the fifth-rated offensive side in the country with a rating of 128.2, and the nation’s best defensive side, with a rating of 89.2.
Michigan runs a deep nine-man rotation, which enlists four scorers who average over 10 points per game, and an offense that knocks down 51.1% of its shots, which is good for third in the country.
What keeps May with the Wolverines is the fact that this could be his program. Every stat and result show he is a great coach, but does he want to go and fill the seismic gap Self leaves, when he can build an elite dynasty at one of college sports’ crown jewels?
No. 2 Ben McCollum
Heading into this season, McCollum was not towards the top of “Bill Self replacement lists” because, as great as his record had been heading into Iowa, he was only going to Iowa.
McCollum’s four Division II national titles and 31-4 record at Drake point to an obvious quality coach, and his first year at Iowa mostly saw that as well.
With a transfer-heavy class, led by Bennett Stirtz, McCoullum and the Hawkeyes finished the regular season with a 20-11 mark, good enough for the tournament in most years.
A third-round exit to the Ohio State Buckeyes marked an abrupt end to the Big Ten Tournament, but it ended up propelling one of the best NCAA Tournament runs of the season.
The No. 9-seeded Hawkeyes would go on to take down No. 8 Clemson in the Round of 64, then pull off an epic 73-72 upset over the defending national champs and No. 1 seed Florida Gators, before another nailbiting 77-71 win over the No. 4 Nebraska Cornhuskers, before finally meeting their match in a 71-59 loss to No. 3 Illinois.
There is no doubt of McCoullum’s postseason brilliance; scoff at DII basketball as much as you want, but there is real substance in that much winning over 15 seasons. McCollum’s sole year at Drake is elite as well.
We just have to consider two things. The first being that McCollum grew up an Iowa fan, with his mom being an alumnus of the program, and him spending many years as a player in that area, along with his one year at Drake inside the state. Is he willing to bail on Iowa so soon? He actually once already answered that question of rumors of him leaving for a top program with a “Yes...those [rumors] are all lies."
But even if those rumors aren’t lies, are Kansas fans jumping the gun a little bit at McCollum’s elite postseason runs, and the fact that it has been four years since Kansas made it to the second weekend of March? Maybe.
No. 1 Tommy Lloyd
This should be every team’s dream candidate. The once Gonzaga coach in waiting has put the Arizona Wildcats in a phenomenal position. This weekend will see Arizona attempt to make a national title game for the first time since 2001, and it is no lightning-in-a-bottle scenario as Lloyd’s 148-35 record over five seasons with the program shows steady progress nearly every year.
Arizona’s overall KenPom ranks them as the second-best team in the nation, with the country’s fourth-best offensive and second-ranked defensive ratings.
However, like McCollum, prior to Arizona’s demolition of the Arkansas Razorbacks in the Sweet 16, Lloyd was quoted “I already have one of the best jobs in the country. And one thing we talk about in our program all the time and I think I've gotten better at it, and I think our team's been crushing it this year is just the ability to have full focus and be present in the moment."
Of course, no coach is going to openly admit to thinking about leaving a program in the midst of a NCAA Tournament, but beyond that, Lloyd himself is quoted saying that Arizona is the “only” job he would have left Gonzaga for, so it is hard to pinpoint any coaches true motives which means right now you have to take their own statements as truth and sit tight. Oh, and there is also the very strong chance that this talk is rendered useless for now if Bill Self decides to stay.
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