2025 coaching carousel: Grading every high-major college basketball hire as Miami, Utah get early start

The 2025 college basketball coaching carousel is not even fully underway yet. But that has not stopped the teams that already know the task ahead from doing early research.

Miami became the first to jump at their opportunity to build for the future by reaching a deal with Duke assistant Jai Lucas to take over as head coach. Just one day later, Utah made a move for NBA assistant Alex Jensen.

The moves send a clear message to other programs to move quickly, because the best candidates will come off the board fast. Whether looking to poach a sitting head coach, promote a promising assistant, or draw in a former coach who sat things out for a while, there are plenty of viable candidates for every job.

The final grades for every college basketball hire do not come until their tenure ends – whether in a matter of years or decades. However, initial grades take into account the expected prestige of the job and the current pedigree of the coach. Take a look at the early grades for every high-major coach hired during the 2025 offseason so far.

Miami

Out: Jim Larrañaga
In: Jai Lucas
Grade: B+

Miami was in need of a hard reset, with Jim Larrañaga ready for retirement. The program has recent NCAA Tournament success to lean on but suffered a dramatic fall from glory to the bottom of a weak ACC. Enter a young, up-and-coming coach with experience in the conference, a long list of recruiting successes, and multiple stops working or playing for some of the best coaches in the sport.

With the NIL resources that Miami has boasted for the college basketball program and the obvious location bonus, Lucas promises to continue his strong recruiting in a new spot. The question here comes with a jump in responsibility from assistant to head coach at such a high level with such a gap to make up.

Utah

Out: Craig Smith
In: Alex Jensen
Grade: B

After deciding to move on from Craig Smith early, Utah worked quickly on Dallas Mavericks assistant Alex Jensen in a deal that draws a striking resemblance to the 2024 cycle. Like their rival BYU did last year, the Utes turned to a coveted NBA assistant with ties to the area.

The next step for Utah is raising NIL funds to a level which can compete with not only their in-state rivals, but the rest of the Big 12 as well. Given the current state of the program, there is no extreme makeover neccisary to enter NCAA Tournament consideration early.

Open jobs

Multiple high-major jobs have already come open this cycle, making it look active already. Many more will make decisions on the future at the conclusion of the regular season, or after a postseason exit.

Without a set number of jobs, those which are already open could get first look at the top candidates. That might give those schools a leg up on the competition.

Remaining jobs with vacancy to fill: Florida State, Indiana, Virginia

The jobs listed have seen their coach retire — just like Miami’s Jim Larrañaga — and have already been linked with a handful of candidates. Indiana appears to be the job with the most attention, although multiple potential candidates have already ruled themselves out of the running.