NCAA Basketball: Top 10 head coaching hires from 2021 offseason

10: Wes Miller – Cincinnati Bearcats

Wes Miller was named the 28th head coach in Cincinnati men’s basketball history. His contract with Cincinnati is a six-year deal worth $7,875,000.

Miller served as the head coach of the UNC Greensboro Spartans in the Southern Conference for the last decade.

“I’m excited about leading one of the greatest programs in the history of college basketball,” he said.

Miller also said one of his biggest priorities is to retain the players who entered their names into the transfer portal that have not committed elsewhere yet.

Mike Saunders Jr. who originally entered the portal, announced he will be returning to the University of Cincinnati.

The 38-year-old went 183-135 at UNCG and he does have some work to do with this roster but, I am confident he will successfully lead the Bearcats.

9: Ben Johnson – Minnesota Golden Gophers

The Minnesota Golden Gophers recently named alumnus Ben Johnson as their next coach of the program. Johnson will succeed former coach Richard Pitino who he worked under prior to serving as an assistant coach at Xavier.

The program is very familiar with Johnson who transferred in from Northwestern and went on to finished his playing career as a two-time captain with the Gophers.

Since joining the Xavier Musketeers in 2018, he has led them to back-to-back top-30 recruiting classes and played a huge role in retaining former Gopher Amir Coffey. Coffey is currently with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Johnson will have his work cut out for him as a head coach, however, we can expect a couple of big signings and recruitments to the University of Minnesota.