Virginia Basketball Coaching Search HQ: Candidates List, Carousel Updates

Virginia will not be retaining interim head coach Ron Sanchez. Thrust into the role only weeks before the season's start following Tony Bennett's abrupt retirement, Sanchez led the 'Hoos to an up-and-down, 15-17 (8-12 ACC) season that culminated in a loss to Georgia Tech in the second round of the ACC Tournament. With the coaching carousel moving quickly, Virginia will have to act accordingly in the coming days and weeks.

This story will serve as our Virginia Basketball Coaching Search Headquarters, where we'll keep you up to date on the major coaching vacancies, the primary options to fill those openings, and how it all impacts the Cavaliers' efforts to find their next head men's basketball coach.

Virginia Basketball Coaching Candidates

Mid-Major Options
1. Ryan Odom, VCU
2. Ben McCollum, Drake
3. Richard Pitino, New Mexico
4. Tony Skinn, George Mason

High-Major Options
1. Shaka Smart, Marquette
2. T.J. Otzelberger, Iowa State
3. Mark Byington, Vanderbilt

Major Conference Coaching Changes & Vacancies

Virginia
Candidates: VCU's Ryan Odom, the field

Villanova
Candidates: Oklahoma's Porter Moser, Northwestern's Chris Collins, the field

West Virginia
Candidates: Drake's Ben McCollum, the field

Iowa
Candidates: Drake's Ben McCollum, Mississippi State's Chris Jans, Wake Forest's Steve Forbes, the field

Minnesota
Candidates: Colorado State's Niko Medved, the field

Major Conference Vacancies - Filled
Miami - Jai Lucas (Duke associate head coach)
Florida State - Luke Loucks (Sacramento Kings assistant coach)
Utah - Alex Jensen (Dallas Mavericks assistant coach)
Indiana - Darian DeVries (West Virginia head coach)

NC State - Will Wade (McNeese State head coach)

Latest Coaching Carousel News

March 19th: McNeese State's Will Wade will return to power-conference hoops, having accepted the position at NC State. His team hasn't yet played their first-round game against Clemson. Wade had apparently informed them of his talks with the Wolfpack, so this shouldn't come as much of a surprise (although the timing is odd). Wade's move won't affect the coaching carousel. He has won at all of his stops and led McNeese to two consecutive NCAA Tournament berths after receiving the boot from LSU in 2022 due to recruiting violations. He can flat-out coach, though. - William Smythe

Clemson's Brad Brownell is reportedly signing a six-year extension to stay at Clemson. He was rumored to be in the mix for Indiana's vacancy, but DeVries' surprising hire nipped that possibility in the bud. Brownell is the longest-tenured coach in the ACC. - William Smythe

March 18th: The carousel continues to spin. The Indiana head coach vacancy has been filled by West Virginia’s Darian DeVries. Of course, that means that while one of the major conference vacancies comes off the board, another is created as West Virginia looks for yet another new coach, its fourth different head coach in as many years. There were rumors of Drake’s Ben McCollum being in the running for the Indiana job, but those rumors have obviously been laid to the rest, which means that we can keep McCollum on our board of candidates for the Virginia job. - Matt Newton

March 17th: The NCAA Tournament bracket has been released and many of the top coaching candidates for major conference job openings have qualified for the Big Dance. That means we've reached something of a recess in the coaching carousel as programs seeking new leadership will have to wait to make their hires until those coaches have their seasons come to an end. Of our eight coaching candidates listed above for Virginia, seven of them are coaching in the NCAA Tournament. The big one to keep an eye on is Ryan Odom and the VCU Rams, who are the No. 11 seed in the East Region and will take on No. 6 BYU on Thursday at 4:05pm ET. Odom still appears to be UVA's top candidate, but with the Villanova job coming open, the Cavaliers might have to fend off the Wildcats to get their guy. But first, the NCAA Tournament. - Matt Newton

March 16th: This one was inevitable. Villanova has parted ways with head coach Kyle Neptune after three seasons. Given the impossible task of replicating Jay Wright's success, Neptune fell far short of expectations and did not make the NCAA Tournament once in his tenure. As with Virginia, it might come down to how much of Villanova's brand is attributable to a National Championship-winning coach. Their NIL war chest and comfortable spot in the Big East will be a major pull, however, alongside their track record of success in the modern era. Who wouldn't want to coach against Rick Pitino, Dan Hurley, Greg McDermott, Sean Miller, Shaka Smart?

Rumors have speculated that Oklahoma's Porter Moser, formerly of Loyola-Chicago, is the next in line. Could Villanova poach a bigger fish, considering that they have two national titles in the last ten years? This is shaping up to be a tough and competitive carousel cycle. - William Smythe

March 15th: Fran McCaffery is out at Iowa, adding another major conference opening to the mix. The buzz has surrounded two Iowa natives, West Virginia's Darian DeVries and Drake's McCollum. There's no shortage of quality coaches with ties to the Hawkeye State, including Mississippi State's Chris Jans. It's looking more and more as if Virginia will not hire McCollum, who has risen up the Indiana job ranks and would presumably be the second choice behind DeVries in Iowa City. He's also a Midwesterner through and through. - William Smythe

See below for more Virginia Basketball coaching search content, including a breakdown of the case for VCU's Ryan Odom, a summarization of the other top candidates, and an analysis of how openings at other major conferences have impacted UVA's approach towards hiring its next head coach:

UVA Basketball Coach Search: Is Ryan Odom the Frontrunner?

Revisiting the Coaching Carousel: Who is UVA Competing With This Offseason?

Revisiting Potential UVA Basketball Head Coaching Candidates

UVA Basketball Coach Search: Kevin Keatts' Firing Spins the Carousel Again