Report: Amir Abdur-Rahim in connection to open jobs at Louisville, Vanderbilt

The coaching carousel is in full motion at the moment after the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. There has been plenty of movement already just in the past few days and one of the next ones could include the likes of Amir Abdur-Rahim, the head coach at South Florida.

CBS Sports’ Matt Norlander assessed the latest coaching moves across the country during a segment this morning. In regards to the job at Louisville, he said the Cardinals are having to go further down their wish list. That could put someone like Abdur-Rahim in play for their hire to replace Kenny Payne.

“Louisville? Not getting Dusty May. It’s search has kind of been recalibrated a bit here,” said Norlander. “Shaheen Holloway of Seton Hall has been involved, Amir Abdur-Rahim from South Florida has been involved”

“We wait and see. Louisville, unfortunately missing out on Dusty May, now has had to scramble a bit,” Norlander said. “We’ll wait and see on that.”

Norlander adder another job could have an eye on Abdur-Rahim too in Vanderbilt. After apparently losing out on an option like Utah State’s Danny Sprinkle this morning after his reported hire at Washington, Abdur-Rahim could become a target for the Commodores to follow in after Jerry Stackhouse.

“I also think Amir Abdur-Rahim is a name in play at Vanderbilt, by the way,” Norlander said.

Abdur-Rahim just completed his first season at USF. It was his fifth season overall as a head coach after four years at Kennesaw State. He has posted a career record of 70-82 (.461). That includes a 45-74 mark with the Owls and a 25-8 record this past campaign with the Bulls.

The last two years is what has generated the interest in Abdur-Rahim in the coaching ranks. In ’22-’23, he posted a 26-9 record and led Kennesaw State to both conference titles in the A-Sun. That got them into the NCAA Tournament where they gave Xavier all they could handle in the first round.

Then, after coming to South Florida this year, he got them to their best finish in program history en route to winning the regular season in the American. They missed out on March Madness, though, after losing to UAB in the conference semifinals before their season ended yesterday in an NIT loss to VCU.

Several gigs have already hired new coaches which, therefore, leaves fewer top options for programs that have yet to make a choice to consider. That seems to be leaving different options, like an Abdur-Rahim, on the board for some of the teams who haven’t made a decision on new leadership yet.