Xavier Basketball: 7 candidates to replace Travis Steele as head coach

Jeff Boals

For decades, whenever a Xavier head coach leaves for another job, the Musketeers have usually promoted one of their own assistants to the top job, a process that was working smoothly until the recent road bumps with Steele. That being said, there are a number of fantastic candidates outside the Xavier program, including this one doing great things in their very state.

Boals has been an assistant at number of schools, including a long stint under former Xavier head coach Thad Matta at Ohio State. He had a solid three-year run at Stony Brook to begin his head coaching career before taking over at Ohio in 2019. His work at his alma mater has already been impressive, getting the Bobcats back to the NCAA Tournament last season before putting together a pretty talented squad this season, one that’s accumulated 24 wins on the year.

Boals was good at Stony Brook and great at Ohio and could be even better with the resources at Xavier. He has plenty of experience recruiting the area and his record speaks for itself. Boals isn’t the flashiest name, but he’s been successful in his career, including that stint on the Buckeyes staff. It’s a very solid hire if Boals wants to leave his alma mater, and it’s the kind of hire this program should’ve made four seasons ago when Chris Mack left town.