College basketball is past the midway point of the regular season, and a few low- and mid-major programs are starting to pull away as the top contenders from outside the power conferences to make the 2026 NCAA men’s tournament.
That means the coaches of those smaller programs are also starting to gain attention across the sport — potentially even for jobs at bigger programs once the coaching carousel starts.
There were numerous mid-major coaches to jump to power programs after the 2024-25 season, with Will Wade heading to North Carolina State from McNeese after an tournament win and Bucky McMillan taking his up-tempo style from Samford to Texas A&M. Richard Pitino, the son of Rick Pitino, also moved from New Mexico to Xavier, a team that commonly faces his dad’s St. John’s squad, and Ben McCollum went from Drake to Iowa.
Some of the top recent coaching hires among Power Four teams have come from the mid-major level. Michigan’s Dusty May and Vanderbilt’s Mark Byington, from Florida Atlantic and James Madison, respectively, have achieved turnarounds in their second seasons at new schools.
So, which coaches are in line to make a similar jump after this year? Here’s a look at the top college basketball coaches who could be the next in line for a bigger job after the 2025-26 season:
Top college basketball head coaches on the rise
Josh Schertz, Saint Louis
Schertz will be likely one of the top names in the upcoming coaching carousel, as he has led Saint Louis to a 20-1 record and a No. 22 ranking in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.
The 50-year-old former Indiana State coach finished 32-7 in his final season with the Sycamores in 2023-24, and was one of the first four teams out of the field after falling to Drake in the Missouri Valley Conference championship game. He went 19-15 last season at Saint Louis.
Saint Louis features seven players averaging nine or more points per game this season, with his leading scorer averaging 13.1 points per game. The balanced attack could make Saint Louis a tough out in the tournament, should it get there.
Jerrod Calhoun, Utah State
Jerrod Calhoun, hired away from Youngstown State, led Utah State to an No. 10 seed in his first season in 2024-25. The Aggies are on track to reach March Madness again in 2026.
Calhoun and Utah State are 17-3 and tied for second in the Mountain West standings. He has done a nice job keeping the Aggies’ forward momentum after former coach Danny Sprinkle left for Washington after the 2023-24 season.
Takayo Siddle, UNC Wilmington
Takayo Siddle has done nothing but win since taking over at UNC Wilmington in 2020-21, accumulating a 122-49 record through six seasons, with a CBI Championship in 2021-22. The former longtime Kevin Keatts assistant led the Seahawks to a tournament appearance last season and is primed for another bid this season.
Siddle, 39, will be an intriguing option for numerous potential power conference openings.
Travis Steele, Miami (Ohio)
Travis Steele’s tenure didn’t go well at Xavier, as he was fired after the 2021-22 season without reaching the NCAA tournament. He has turned it around at Miami (Ohio) with the 21-0 RedHawks one of two unbeatens left in the country. He could be in line for a jump back to a bigger school.
Steele went a combined 27-37 in his first two seasons at Miami (Ohio) but has a 46-9 record the past two seasons. His team runs a fast-paced offense, which leads the country in scoring (94.6 points per game).
Tony Skinn, George Mason
Tony Skinn took over as a first-time head coach at his alma mater in 2023-24, and is nearing his third consecutive 20-win season after winning Atlantic 10 coach of the year honors last season.
Skinn, 42, has the Patriots at 19-2 and in second place in the league standings behind Saint Louis. He was a key member of George Mason’s Cinderella run to the Final Four in 2006, when he averaged 12.6 points per game as a senior.
Skinn was twice an assistant for now-Villanova coach Kevin Willard, serving as an assistant coach at Seton Hall from 2018-21 and again as an assistant at Maryland from 2022-23.
Eric Olen, New Mexico
Eric Olen landed one of the top mid-major jobs in college basketball last offseason after spending more than 20 years at UC San Diego as an assistant and head coach.
Olen led UC San Diego to four consecutive NCAA Division II tournament berths from 2015-19 and was 30-1 in 2020 before the tournament was canceled. He then oversaw the Tritons’ jump to Division I and led the program to its first-ever Division I bid last season after finishing the regular season with a 30-5 record in the Big West.
Olen has kept things rolling in his first season at New Mexico, leading the Lobos to a 17-4 record with an 8-2 mark in Mountain West play. New Mexico’s roster was gutted after Richard Pitino left for Xavier, but Olen has managed a roster led by two freshmen leading scorers.
Bryan Hodgson, South Florida
Bryan Hodgson spent eight seasons as an assistant at Buffalo and Alabama under Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats from 2015-23. Hodgson is in his third season as a head coach, and first at USF.
The 38-year-old New York native went 45-28 in his first two seasons at Arkansas State and has led the Bulls at 14-7 with a 6-2 record in American play so far this season.
Hodgson deploys a similarly high tempo offense like Oats’, as USF ranks 17th nationally in adjusted tempo, per KenPom. USF also ranks No. 12 nationally in scoring offense, averaging 89.8 points per game.
Scott Cross, Troy
Scott Cross was fired by Texas-Arlington after the 2017-18 season despite being the school’s all-time wins leader and the only coach in program history with a winning record.
He spent a season as an assistant at TCU during the 2018-19 season under Jamie Dixon before taking over at Troy, which he led to its third-ever tournament berth in 2024-25. The Trojans are 15-6 with an 8-1 mark in Sun Belt play with Cross looking for his fifth consecutive 20-win season after the Trojans won 20 combined games in his first two campaigns.
The 51-year-old coach has 19 years of head coaching experience and has a winning record in all but five seasons at two unassuming programs.
Ryan Miller, Murray State
A longtime assistant, Miller got his first head-coaching gig this season, and has led Murray State to a 16-6 record while sitting second in the Missouri Valley standings.
Miller, the older brother of 17-year NBA veteran Mike Miller, was an assistant at Creighton under Greg McDermott from 2021-25, and was also an assistant under Dixon at TCU from 2016-21. He also coached at Memphis as an assistant under John Calipari, along with stints at Pepperdine, New Mexico, Auburn and UNLV.
Miller might need a year or two at Murray State, but depending on how the Racers finish, he could be a hot name this cycle.
Matt Braeuer, Stephen F. Austin
Texas Tech coach Grant McCasland already has a solid coaching tree despite being in his third season at Texas Tech.
Braeuer is a first-year coach at Stephen F. Austin and is off to an 18-3 start this season with a first-place standing in the Southland. McCasland assistants have done well, with Ross Hodge at West Virginia, Dave Smart at Pacific and Braeuer at SFA.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Top college basketball head coaches on the rise for high-major jobs