Coaching Carousel Conference Preview: CUSA

Conference USA went through an extreme makeover: conference edition. Six teams out, four teams in. As a result, schools enjoy traveling anywhere from Miami, F.L. to Las Cruces, N.M. for league games. As for the coaches, there’s only one on the hot seat, but we’re even skeptical how hot that seat actually is. Let’s dive into the CUSA coaching carousel preview.

Newcomers

Jason Hooten (New Mexico State)

New Mexico State’s season was a complete and total nightmare. We won’t rehash the specifics, but the university needed to make a hire that changed the trajectory of the basketball program. They landed on the right guy in Sam Houston State’s Jason Hooten. Hooten spent the last 19 seasons in Huntsville, with 13 of those seasons as the head coach. He put together a 261-169 record and won two regular season conference titles. Hooten only had one losing season during his tenure and last year’s squad was his best team yet. It was a difficult decision for him to move on from Sam Houston, so much so that they nearly kept him after making a counter-offer. Ultimately, Hooten takes over a historically strong New Mexico State program and should have the Aggies humming again in the near future.

Chris Mudge (Sam Houston State)

Sometimes athletic directors will try to capitalize on their team’s success by going out and hiring a splashy name. In most cases, the best solution is already sitting on the bench. Chris Mudge was promoted to head coach after Jason Hooten’s departure to New Mexico State. Mudge is as loyal as they come, spending 13 years as an assistant on Hooten’s teams. Mudge knows Texas like the back of his hand. He was born in Round Rock and went to the University of Texas for undergrad. He stayed on as a graduate assistant and later landed his first job at Midland College. After two years there, he moved over to Sam Houston where he’s been ever since. Mudge is a no-brainer hire for a school looking to keep up its winning ways.

Steve Lutz (Western Kentucky)

Western Kentucky always had a roster full of talent, but they couldn’t put it all together under Rick Stansbury. He became the first coach in WKU history to never make the NCAA tournament. Athletic director Todd Stewart made a change and one of the best hires of the cycle when he landed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi head coach Steve Lutz. Lutz paid his dues as an assistant at every level. His stops include Incarnate Word, Garden City CC, Stephen F. Austin, SMU, Creighton and Purdue. When he got his shot to be a head coach, he won immediately. In two seasons, he’s 47-23 with back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances and a regular season Southland title. Imagine what he could do at a place with great resources and fan support. Lutz should have the Hilltoppers competing for the CUSA title every year.

Potential Movers

Ritchie McKay (Liberty)

Ritchie McKay turned Liberty into an ASUN power in his second stint as the Flames’ head coach. McKay bounced around early in his career and was never able to get it going at Oregon State or New Mexico. He took the job at Liberty in 2007, but left to become the associate head coach at Virginia in 2009. He returned to Lynchburg in 2015 and has rattled off seven straight 20-win seasons. He’s won at least a share of the regular season title in four of the last five years running and has made three NCAA tournaments in that span. It’ll take a big job to lure McKay away from Liberty, but everyone has a price.

Hot Seat

Jeremy Ballard (Florida International)

Is Jeremy Ballard on the hot seat? Depending on who you talk to, the answers vary. Outgoing athletic director Pete Garcia signed Ballard to an extension in 2021 that has him under contract until 2026. The buyout isn’t prohibitive, but who would FIU hire that’s better than what they currently have? Ballard is 77-79 in five seasons, but hasn’t had a winning season since year two. His teams have consistently fallen victim to the transfer portal and FIU is one of the toughest jobs in the country. Another season under .500 might be enough for new athletic director Scott Carr to make a move.

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