LEXINGTON, Ky. — Here’s the offseason storyline for SEC basketball: Out with the old, in with the new. Literally. When it comes to league coaches, we’re witnessing a changing of the guard, with an emphasis on youth.
Take South Carolina, where 55-year-old veteran Frank Martin found himself unemployed at season’s end. His replacement: Lamont Paris, a 47-year-old Ohio native with five seasons of head coaching experience at Chattanooga.
Take Missouri, where 50-year-old Cuonzo Martin was shown the door after going 12-21 this season. Martin’s replacement: Dennis Gates, a 42-year-old former California guard with three seasons of head coaching experience at Cleveland State.
Take Georgia, where 45-year-old Mike White landed after leaving Florida. White replaces Tom Crean, who turns 56 on Friday, and could never lift the Bulldogs off the ground in Athens.
Take Florida, where upon White’s surprise departure, Athletic Director Scott Stricklin went even younger, picking 36-year-old Todd Golden to lead the Gators. Golden’s head coaching experience: Three years at the University of San Francisco.
Even when a young coach didn’t quite work out, his replacement is another young coach. LSU is replacing embattled 39-year-old Will Wade with 43-year-old Matt McMahon of Murray State.
And while new Mississippi State coach Chris Jans is 52 years old, the former New Mexico State boss is more than a decade younger than his predecessor in Starkville, the 64-year-old Ben Howland.
Where does all this leave the “It Just Means More” league on the seniority track? Tennessee’s Rick Barnes is the SEC’s elder statesman at 67 years old, with John Calipari next chronologically at 63. Auburn’s Bruce Pearl and Ole Miss’s Kermit Davis are both 62. Ten of the league’s 14 coaches are under 60. Eight are under 50.
As for the new guys, all are up-and-comers. McMahon’s Racers defeated Golden’s Dons in overtime in the first round of this year’s NCAA Tournament. Jans directed New Mexico State to the last three NCAAs, including a first-round win over No. 5 seed Connecticut last week. Paris got Chattanooga into this year’s Big Dance, where the Moccasins lost a 54-53 heartbreaker to No. 4-seed Illinois.
Gates was 39-19 in his last two seasons at Cleveland State, including a 2021 NCAA Tournament trip where the Vikings were bounced in the first round by eventual Final Four participant Houston.
Several have spent significant time as power program assistants. Gates coached under Leonard Hamilton at Florida State. Paris coached under Bo Ryan and Greg Gard at Wisconsin. Golden was on Bruce Pearl’s staff at Auburn before leaving to join Kyle Smith at San Francisco. Smith is now head coach at Washington State.
McMahon coached under Steve Prohm at Murray before becoming head coach in 2015. All McMahon has done is win four OVC titles and record two NCAA Tournament wins. He also signed and developed the No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft. Kid named Ja Morant. Perhaps you’ve heard of him.
Jans took a different route. The Iowa native was a successful junior-college coach before leading Bowling Green to a 21-12 record in 2014-15. He went 122-32 in five seasons at Las Cruces.
Nothing against Howland, Crean or the two Martins, but it’s good to pump some new blood into a league that has fallen on its face this NCAA Tournament. No. 6 seeds Alabama and LSU lost in the first round. So, too, did No. 2 seed Kentucky, though BBN could do without the reminder. No. 2 seed Auburn and No. 3 seed Tennessee were eliminated in the second round.
Of the league’s six representatives, only No. 4 seed Arkansas has made it to the Sweet 16. So excuse the NCAA Selection Committee if it feels vindicated after a certain coach argued that nine SEC teams deserved to be included in the field of 68.
That’s the past, as they say. Time to look to the future. SEC basketball in 2022-23 will feature new faces in new places. Out with the old, in with the new. It’ll be fun to see what new can do.
