9 potential candidates to replace Bobby Hurley at Arizona State

Arizona State has recently decided to make a major change with their college basketball program, announcing that Bobby Hurley will not return as head coach next season. Hurley is in his 11th season in Tempe and just hasn’t built the consistent success expected by the Sun Devils, who will begin their national search immediately.

Long before getting into coaching, Hurley was a star at Duke during the early 90’s, winning a pair of national titles as a point guard for the Blue Devils. He was even the Most Outstanding Player of the 1992 Final Four and later became the 7th pick of the 1993 NBA Draft. Hurley played NBA ball for half a decade and had several years as a scout before beginning his coaching career with his brother.

Dan Hurley got the Wagner head coaching job in 2010 and brought his brother onto his staff immediately. Bobby was associate head coach under Dan at Rhode Island before beginning his own head coaching career at Buffalo. Despite being with the Bulls for just two seasons, Hurley led a notable turnaround and got Buffalo back to the Big Dance in 2015. Weeks later he left for Arizona State.

These last eleven years for Hurley at Arizona State have been filled with potential that was never fully realized. He took the Sun Devils to three NCAA Tournaments but had to settle for the First Four all three times, winning two of those Dayton matchups. His Sun Devils had some nice wins but struggled to acclimate once they joined the Big 12 in 2024, finishing 15th last season before tying for 11th this year.

While Arizona State isn’t exactly a program recently revered for its basketball acumen, they’ll certainly begin this search hoping to find the right coach who can turn things around. With the necessary resources, surely the Sun Devils can be a team that actually competes in the Big 12. Time will tell on the future of this program and we’re looking at a few intriguing names who could pop up in this opening.

Randy Bennett

Realistically it’s not going to happen, but bringing Bennett to Tempe would be the home run hire that could turn this program around. Bennett is an Arizona native with more than forty years of D1 coaching experience largely on the west coast. He’s been entrenched at Saint Mary’s since 2001 and has spent the last 25 years turning the Gaels into a mid-major power, with 11 trips to the NCAA Tournament including each of the last four years. At 62 years old, it probably makes more sense for him to stay in Moraga and retire there, especially after never leaving for a bigger job all these years.

Jerrod Calhoun

Thanks to some brilliant work already in his own career, Calhoun is a rising name in coaching circles who is honestly due for a power conference job very soon. A former student assistant and staffer under Bob Huggins, Calhoun had head coaching success at Fairmont State, with a few D2 Tourney trips, and in turning around the program at Youngstown State. He’s won 51 games since taking Utah State’s top job two offseasons ago and has shown with the Aggies that he’s ready for that next step and it’s all about if the Sun Devils are the right fit for both sides.

Jase Coburn

Many fair weather college basketball fans won’t recognize the name, but Coburn is an Arizona State alum who’s done brilliant work to start his own head coaching journey. He was a very solid high school coach in the Tempe area and has spent more than a decade at Portland State, becoming the Vikings’ head coach in 2021. He’s in the midst of his best season yet as head coach, taking Portland State to the Big Sky regular season title and Coach of the Year honors. The question is if it’s too big of a jump for the former Sun Devil.

Bryce Drew

Once known solely for a miracle buzzer beater in the NCAA Tournament, Drew has really developed into a fantastic collegiate head coach. The former NBA 1st round pick starred at Valparaiso, spent six years in the NBA, and then took his alma mater to a pair of Tourney appearances before flaming out in a brief stint in the SEC at Vanderbilt. He’s bounced back quite nicely at Grand Canyon, taking the Antelopes to their first trips to the Big Dance, including a Tourney upset win in 2024. If he’s ready for a second chance at the power conference level, nearby Arizona State offers quite the potential, and he’d be in the same conference as his brother.

Bryan Hodgson

Many might not think the New Yorker will be on the radar, but Hodgson has been brilliant in his young coaching career. He came into focus on Nate Oats’ staffs with Buffalo and Alabama but his beginnings as a head coach have been awesome. Hodgson took Arkansas State to 45 wins and an NIT in two years and now has South Florida as American regular season champions in his first year in Tampa. He could certainly jump to a bigger job after limited experience, much like when Hurley was hired 11 years ago.

Justin Joyner

If head coaching experience isn’t important in the search then Joyner is definitely someone to consider in Tempe. He played at UC Santa Barbara, did great work coaching at the AAU level, and rose to attention as an assistant under Randy Bennett at Saint Mary’s. Joyner has spent the last two seasons helping shape Michigan into a national power and Big Ten champion and might be ready to run his own program. The big question is if he’s headed back to the west coast and if this job matches him, especially with his name coming up for other openings already.

Eric Olen

Despite growing up in Alabama, Olen has built his coaching career on the west coast. Much of that experience came at UC San Diego, helping build the Tritons into what they are today. An assistant for nearly a decade, he helmed the program for 12 years, leading them to D2 success and their first trip to the NCAA Tournament last year. Olen then jumped to New Mexico and has had immediate success in Albuquerque, with 22 wins in his debut with the Lobos. Arizona State could certainly appeal to him as the next step but would he bolt after just one season in New Mexico?

Josh Schertz

Basically all of these lists will bring up Schertz until he’s hired by somebody and it’s not a surprise why. The Brooklyn native has been phenomenal as a collegiate head coach, starting off with great D2 success down at Lincoln Memorial. He’s recently built incredible success at Indiana State with that awesome 2024 team that nearly won the NIT, before topping that with his work at Saint Louis ever since. His Billikens are 27-4 and have been ranked for many weeks. A power conference job seems in his near future, though you wonder if Arizona State is high up on his interest list, especially since he’s never coached on the west coast.

Travis Steele

A Butler alum and former aide at Ohio State and Indiana, Steele came to prominence at Xavier, spending years helping build success under Chris Mack before his own head coaching days. While things didn’t quite go his way across four years, his next four years at Miami-Ohio have been more prosperous. Steele put down the building blocks and has the RedHawks a perfect 31-0 right now. He’s clearly going to catch attention nationwide and likely deserves a second chance at a power conference program.