The NCAA basketball coaching cycle is heating up. Moments after the Cincinnati Bearcats hired former Utah State head coach Jerrod Calhoun, the Arizona State Sun Devils have agreed to hire former Saint Mary's HC Randy Bennett. This is a massive hire for the program after they move on from the Bobby Hurley era. Jeff Goodman was on the news.
“Arizona State is hiring Saint Mary’s head coach Randy Bennett, source told thefieldof68.
Bennett, 63, is from the Phoenix area and has long been intrigued by the job. Bennett took over in Moraga in 2001, and has built the program into one of the best on the West Coast.
Bennett has gone to the NCAA tourney 12 times, including each of the past five years, and has won at least a share of the WCC regular-season title each of the past four years.
Arizona State parted ways with Bobby Hurley earlier this month after 11 seasons at the helm.”
Hurley did a lot of great things with Arizona State. This program had a very hard time competing in the Big 12 conference after leaving the Pac-12. However, they did well enough to barely make it into the bracket each year. Hurley coached the Sun Devils to three First Four matchups, winning two of those three. The issue was that they could never make it past the Round of 64.
Randy Bennett has had a ton of success with Saint Mary's. He pretty much built that program up to become one of the best in the West Coast Conference. They were Gonzaga's biggest threat each season. Now, Bennett returns to a familiar area with an opportunity to rise in the coaching ranks.
