The college basketball coaching carousel continues to churn with Mark Pope the latest seismic move to take place. Andy Enfield leaving the USC Trojans to become the head coach at SMU has allowed dominoes of epic proportions to fall in it's wake. After Eric Musselman left Arkansas for the USC job, the Razorbacks responded by snagging John Calipari from Kentucky.
It was a major domino that left arguably the biggest program in the country without a head coach. After swinging and missing on big names like Danny Hurley, Nate Oats, and Scott Drew, the Wildcats named one of their own their new head coach. Kentucky hired BYU basketball head coach Mark Pope to be their new man in charge.
Now, BYU is the one who will scramble to find a new men's basketball head coach. Luckily for them, Pope left this job in a better spot than he found it.
He helped them make the transition from the West Coast Conference to a power conference in the Big 12 and made a couple of NCAA Tournament appearances along the way. BYU will be an attractive job and has a few options to choose from as their Pope replacement.
Mark Madsen, California
BYU hiring a former Utah Valley head coach? It worked out for them the last time they did that with Pope. Perhaps it could again with another former NBA big man turned college head coach.
Mark Madsen started out slow with Utah Valley after Pope's departure, but his four-year run at Oren, Utah was better of the two head coaches. Madsen and Pope had the same winning percentage (57.9%), but Madsen won or shared two WAC regular season crowns while Mark Pope had none. Utah Valley also made the NIT semifinals under Madsen's watch. They never made that tournament with Pope at the helm.
The primary issue with BYU's chances at hiring Madsen is that he is now already at a power conference school. The California Golden Bears' program has been dormant since Jaylen Brown spent a one-and-done season there, but Madsen is looking to bring them back to relevance. He went 9-11 in the Pac-12 last year. That is especially impressive considering they had won 10 conference games in the previous three seasons.
Madsen can really coach, but California wants to keep him. His buyout is just under $7 million according to USA Today. That's a hefty price to pay, but it would be worth it. He is one to keep an eye on regarding this coaching search.
Barret Peery, UNLV
One of the leading candidates to get the BYU basketball job is UNLV associate head coach Barret Peery. Peery understands the landscape of Utah basketball quite well. He's from Payson, Utah, and played his college ball at Southern Utah University. He also was an assistant there and other programs in Utah for over ten years.
Peery doesn't have a ton of Division I head coaching experience, but he has won big during his other stops as the main man. He has a combined 181-29 record as the head coach at the NCJAA level with programs like Southern Idaho and Indian Hills. He eventually got his first Division I gig at Portland State and had success there. He went 63-57 there in four seasons.
Peery seems ready for a shot at a bigger Division I school. He knows the area well too. It sounds like there's a fit for both sides.
Eric Duft, Weber State
Perhaps a sleeper option for this job could be Weber State's Eric Duft. Duft has been an assistant for 25 years before eventually getting the job at Weber State in 2022. He's had two seasons in charge there and has done a decent job. Duft has posted a 38-27 record there and a 23-13 mark in the Big Sky conference.
Perhaps it's too soon to fully tell whether or not Duft has what it takes to be the guy at a place like BYU. But, his coaching career has gotten off to a strong start. He might be a candidate for jobs like this down the road, so it may not be hurt to be a year or two too early than too late.
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