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Win or else? 10 college basketball coaches entering season on the hot seat
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- Win or else? 10 college basketball coaches entering season on the hot seat
With the start of a new men's college basketball season comes the chance for a fresh start for coaches and their programs — some of whom need that blank slate more than others.
In an increasingly transactional sport where fans and administrators expect results, the pressure to perform that was always here for college basketball coaches has ratcheted up in recent years. This season, with eight more spots available in the NCAA tournament , it will only get more intense.
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At the start of every season, some coaches face more questions over their job security than their peers. In some instances, they're able to overachieve and fend off that speculation. In many others, though, an ill-fated tenure reaches its natural conclusion.
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Heading into the 2026-27 season , a number of major-conference coaches find themselves on the dreaded hot seat, needing a big season or at least avoiding a disastrous one.
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Who's in that group this year?
Here's a look at 10 coaches on the hot seat entering the 2026-27 season:
College basketball coaches hot seat: Who is feeling the heat?
Mark Pope, Kentucky
At most places, a beloved alum going 46-26 in two seasons with a pair of NCAA tournament appearances wouldn't land a coach anywhere near the hot seat — let alone a team captain from one of the most celebrated squads in program history. Then again, Kentucky isn't most places. After a Sweet 16 run in his first season, Pope's second team with the Wildcats, a roster that reportedly cost north of $20 million, dramatically underachieved, going 22-14 and needing a desperation heave at the buzzer to avoid a first-round tournament loss to Santa Clara. In Pope's two seasons, Kentucky hasn't finished higher than sixth in the SEC. In 15 seasons under his predecessor, John Calipari, the Wildcats finished outside the top four just once.
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A turbulent offseason marred by a series of high-profile recruiting whiffs got a nice late boost from Iowa State transfer Milan Momcilovic, arguably the top shooter in the sport. With Momcilovic, Malachi Moreno and Furman transfer Alex Wilkins, Kentucky could have a nice bounce-back season. If it doesn't, it'll probably be looking for a new coach come March.
Porter Moser, Oklahoma
The success that Moser achieved at Loyola Chicago, which he led to a miraculous Final Four appearance in 2018, hasn't been replicated at Oklahoma . In five seasons under Moser, the Sooners are just 95-75, including a 33-57 mark in conference games. Perhaps more damningly, they've made the NCAA tournament only once, a first-round exit back in 2025, at a program that had gone dancing in March in seven of the eight seasons in which the tournament was held before Moser was hired. When announcing Moser's return after a 21-16 season in 2025-26, the school said it was providing him with more NIL money, which he used to put together an intriguing roster. With that group, though, he'll need to deliver.
Penny Hardaway, Memphis
Hardaway has been largely successful in his eight seasons at Memphis , winning two-thirds of his games, attracting some high-end players and making three NCAA tournaments, including as a No. 5 seed in 2025. Last season, though, was his worst with the Tigers, who went 13-19 and failed to win at least 20 games for the first time in Hardaway's tenure. Even before that, there were reasonable questions about why Memphis, with its resources and history, wasn't dominating a stripped-down American Conference that no longer featured the likes of Houston and Cincinnati. Hardaway's Memphis basketball royalty, a son of the city who's arguably the best player in program history, which could make any decision on his future even more complicated.
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Ed Cooley, Georgetown
Cooley's arrival at Georgetown in 2023 was widely hailed as a move that had the potential to reshape the Big East and bring one of its preeminent programs back to national relevance. It hasn't quite worked out that way. The Hoyas are 43-57 under Cooley, who had previously won 61.3% of his games in 12 seasons at Providence before his highly contentious move to Washington, D.C. As disappointing as his tenure has been thus far, Georgetown has been .500 since Cooley's 9-23 debut season and though his contract details aren't publicly available since Georgetown's a private school, he's reportedly making about $6 million a year, which could make for a hefty buyout.
Jeff Capel, Pitt
Capel inherited a dumpster fire from his predecessor, Kevin Stallings, and did so in a pre-NIL and pre-transfer portal era in which quick turnarounds were exceedingly rare. Still, he's made just one NCAA tournament appearance in eight seasons and whatever momentum he generated from going 46-23 from 2022-24 is effectively gone. The former Oklahoma and VCU head coach likely would have already been fired were it not for two ill-advised contract extensions from former athletic director Heather Lyke that made it financially untenable to buy him out in 2022 and 2026. If there's a silver lining, the Panthers brought in a nice transfer portal haul led by Baye Ndongo, Naithan George and Jonathan Powell. The last time Capel needed a vote of confidence from his AD, he responded by going 24-12 and making the Round of 32 with a veteran-laden, transfer-heavy roster. Can it happen again?
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Mike Rhoades, Penn State
Elsewhere in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Rhoades enters what could be a make-or-break Year Four after a 12-20 finish last season that included a 3-17 mark in Big Ten play. Rhoades has proven he can coach, going 129-61 and making three NCAA tournaments in six years at VCU before the Pennsylvania native made the somewhat surprising move to State College in 2023. With the Nittany Lions , he's largely struggled while overseeing rosters put together by what's believed to be one of the lowest NIL budgets in the Big Ten. That lack of financial commitment may be hamstringing the program, but it could also buy Rhoades some extra time and patience at a school where men's basketball is far from a priority.
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Danny Sprinkle, Washington
Sprinkle will be heading into just his third season with the Huskies, but it's getting late early. Washington has gone just 29-35 in two seasons under Sprinkle, including an 11-29 mark in Big Ten play. Last season, a talented roster managed just a 16-17 record and Sprinkle again missed out on the NCAA tournament after making it in each of the previous three seasons at Montana State and Utah State. Washington is widely projected to be among the bottom five teams in the Big Ten this season. If that comes to pass, it will only raise more questions about the direction of the program.
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Lamont Paris, South Carolina
Two years ago, Paris was one of the hottest names in coaching after going 26-8 in his second season with the Gamecocks. Little, if anything, has gone right since then, with Paris' teams going 25-39 and 6-30 in the SEC over the past two seasons. Thanks to a new six-year, $26 million contract he signed in 2024, Paris would be owed just shy of $10 million if he were fired after this season, but if South Carolina continues to fall further behind in the SEC, it may not have a choice, especially since it's increasingly looking like it won't have to pay its head football coach a buyout, too.
Micah Shrewsberry, Notre Dame
Everything about the Shrewsberry hire at Notre Dame made sense three years ago. An Indiana native who had coached under Brad Stevens and Matt Painter and who had just led Penn State to its best season in a generation was heading home to take over what had been a consistent winner under Mike Brey until his final seasons. What seemed great in theory hasn't been that in practice. The Fighting Irish are 41-56 under Shrewsberry and have never finished better than 15-18 or higher than 12th in the 18-team ACC. Last season, they failed to qualify for the conference tournament. To make matters worse, his top three scorers transferred out, making the upcoming campaign another uphill climb.
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Steve Forbes, Wake Forest
The Demon Deacons might well be the best power-conference program over the past five seasons to have never made the NCAA tournament, having gone 104-66 over that stretch and narrowly missing out on the 68-team March Madness field in 2022 and 2024. Last season's team, however, finished with a losing record in ACC play for the first time in five years and lost several key players, including guard Juke Harris. Wake Forest was picked to finish 14th in the ACC's preseason poll, offering little hope this season will end with Forbes' first NCAA tournament berth at the school.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Win or else? 10 college basketball coaches entering season on the hot seat
