Georgia Tech Basketball: 8 candidates to replace Josh Pastner as head coach

Andy Kennedy

If you’re looking for a mid-major name on the rise, this is another coach who’s going to get interest from a number of openings this offseason. Kennedy is not your typical mid-major coach though, since he already has more than a decade of power conference head coaching experience and has led multiple teams to the Big Dance in his career.

A former player at UAB, his coaching career really got started at Cincinnati under Bob Huggins; Kennedy would even succeed him as interim head coach for one year. Kennedy was then hired at Ole Miss and led the Rebels to a pair of NCAA Tournaments and a slew of NIT appearances across twelve years in Oxford. After two years out of the game, Kennedy would return to his alma mater in 2020 and he’s been fantastic at UAB, leading the Blazers to the NCAA Tournament last season and getting them to this year’s championship game in Conference USA again.

The initial question is if Kennedy wants to leave the comfort of UAB, where he’s been really successful in his first three seasons. He did solid work at Ole Miss, especially compared to where that program sits right now, but it would be a significant challenge in the ACC with these Yellow Jackets. Kennedy would be a great hire and he knows how to win games, but leaving his alma mater for this type of rebuild seems extreme.