NCAA Basketball: Coaching Carousel Update and Firings from early March

Cal Poly

The Mustangs are looking for a new leader after an unsuccessful half decade led by John Smith, who was fired last week. Cal Poly sits just 4-26 this season and has fared rather poorly in his five years with the Mustangs, with a career record of just 30-115. The Big West isn’t exactly one of the best mid-major leagues, though these Mustangs won barely 10% of their conference games during Smith’s tenure.

Smith came to the school after six years assisting Dedrique Taylor at Cal State Fullerton, helping lead those Titans to a Big West title in 2018. Unfortunately, he couldn’t experience the same success in San Luis Obispo. Smith had previously been a junior college head coach for more than a decade, though these tough seasons were his first D1 head coaching experience.

This job is tough and it’s not just Smith’s tenure that demonstrates this fact. The Mustangs snuck into the Big Dance just ten seasons ago, though that was a 14-20 season that took an amazing run in the Big West Tournament. This program hasn’t been a consistent winner for more than a decade and hasn’t even won 10 games in a season in seven years.

While Smith did have successful at Riverside CC and at junior college level in California, he failed to replicate that success at Cal Poly. Despite this, the best choice for the future for this program might be another head coach who’s having success on the West Coast, perhaps at the D2 or D3 level. It’ll be a really tough road ahead, but there’s talent in the coaching circles in California.