Arguably one of the most unstable programs in college basketball will be heading in a new direction once again. Chicago State has announced that head coach Scott Spinelli will not return as head coach, having spent just the last season in that post. He had originally been promoted to head coach less than a year ago after Gerald Gillion departed the program.
Spinelli is a longtime collegiate coach who had been a high school coach back in the 90’s but hadn’t any previous full-time head coaching experience in college ball. He played guard at Boston University back in the late 80’s and has been in coaching for more than three decades, spending time at nearly a dozen D1 institutions.
NEWS: Chicago State is parting ways with Scott Spinelli, sources told @TheFieldOf68 pic.twitter.com/VRfSFLLILf
— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) March 7, 2025
After that early high school experience, Spinelli caught on as an assistant at Wyoming and later coached in the IBL and briefly as an NBA scout. He worked nearly a decade for Mark Turgeon at three different schools and was a longtime assistant at Boston College, serving as interim coach for four games in 2021. Chicago State hired him in 2023 on Gillion’s staff before spending this past year as the head coach.
The program made significant strides in Gillion’s three years at the helm, winning 13 games during his final season. However, Spinelli’s lone season represented quite the setback, as Chicago State fell back towards the very bottom of the nation in many metrics and won just four games, backsliding in their first season in the NEC.
There’s not a lot of good in recent history for Chicago State basketball and it’s hard to say what it could have looked like under Spinelli’s leadership. However, the brass felt like it was time for a change and it’s an understandable move. Gillion’s departure likely blindsided the athletics department and Spinelli was seen as a stable enough replacement.
Now Chicago State descends into a full-fledged coaching hunt that could have any number of results. Gillion was a Samford assistant without any head coaching experience, meaning the potential for a good coach could be found anywhere. Who do you think the Cougars will bring aboard as the next leader of this program? Can that new coach make them a legitimate contender in the NEC at some point?